Our readers’ Top Ten integrative therapies list shows that we’re not as “alternative” as the mainstream would portray us.
In a previous issue, we discussed the Mayo Clinic’s “Top Ten Alternative Therapies,” and we countered with our own Top Ten. (If you would like to review those selections, here’s a link to the original article, or see the table below.) We then asked for your own choices. Today we present our readers’ favorite integrative treatments—250 of you commented, so we were able to get a fine sampling.
We found a remarkable degree of agreement between your choices and ours, and had we listed a Top Fifteen or Twenty, we would have been in complete agreement.
It should be noted that some of these groupings are perhaps a bit arbitrary—some of you would undoubtedly group things differently or insist that some of the following not be listed together. Such is the difficulty of looking for consensus and consistency among 250 unique health advocates!
Your Top Ten, in descending order of popularity, are:
| 1. | Dietary supplements—vitamins, minerals, nutraceuticals, and herbs (including herbs from Traditional Chinese Medicine) |
| 2. | Diet and nutrition (emphasis on organic, hormone-free, pesticide-free foods; whole grains and vegetables; staying away from sugar and processed foods, and limiting “diary” and caffeine; more raw foods in the diet) |
| 3. | Exercise (cardio, resistance weight training, and mind–body exercise such as yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong) |
| 4. | Chiropractic and specialized osteopathy |
| 5. | Acupuncture and acupressure |
| 6. | Homeopathy and Bach Flower Essence therapy |
| 7. | Massage, Chinese bodywork, Rolfing, craniosacral therapy, neuromuscular therapy, visceral manipulation, Bowen Treatment, and reflexology |
| 8. | Energy therapy (Reiki, healing touch, energy medicine, etc.) |
| 9. | Body detoxification (through chelation, or through sauna or special dietary methods) |
| 10. | Meditation; spirituality (including shamanic and Sufi healing practices) |
Other treatment modalities you mentioned frequently include
- Avoiding doctors and drugs; naturopathy; education about natural health
- Avoiding toxins/chemicals; environmental medicine
- Natural Hormone Replacement (NHR) therapy
- Testing for food and other allergies; annual blood level testing
- Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
- Oxygen and ozone therapies
- Social interaction (being with friends and loved ones, laughter, etc.)
- Sun exposure and being outdoors
- Aromatherapy; use of essential oils
- Drinking plenty of good water
- Ayurveda
- Light therapy; music/sound therapy
- Sleep
- Biological dentistry
- Cold or low-level laser therapy
- Thermography for breast examination pre-screening
In the table below, boldface entries indicate a Top Ten selection, though some selections needed to be combined or made separate to harmonize with items from others’ lists.
| Pulse readers (in order of preference) | ANH-USA | Mayo Clinic |
| Dietary supplements—vitamins, minerals, nutraceuticals, and herbs (including herbs from Traditional Chinese Medicine) | Emphasis on dietary supplements; key nutraceuticals like vitamins B, D, and C, fish oil, resveratrol, and CoQ10Herbs for a great many health issues, including the treatment of allergies and prostate health More acid, in most cases, for stomach problems, not acid blockers; the use of probiotics for stomach and colon health | |
| Diet and nutrition (emphasis on organic, hormone-free, pesticide-free foods; whole grains and vegetables; staying away from sugar and processed foods, and limiting “dairy” and caffeine; more raw foods in the diet) | Emphasis on healthy food | |
| Exercise (cardio, resistance weight training, and mind–body exercise such as yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong) | Emphasis on exercise | Tai Chi Yoga |
| Chiropractic and specialized osteopathy | Spinal manipulation | |
| Acupuncture and acupressure | Acupuncture | Acupuncture |
| Massage, Chinese bodywork, Rolfing, craniosacral therapy, neuromuscular therapy, visceral manipulation, Bowen Treatment, and reflexology | Therapeutic massage | Massage |
| Homeopathy and Bach Flower Essence therapy | ||
| Energy therapy (Reiki, healing touch, energy medicine, etc.) | ||
| Body detoxification (through chelation, or through sauna or special dietary methods) | ||
| Meditation | Meditation | |
| Spirituality (including shamanic and Sufi healing practices) | Spirituality | |
| Avoiding doctors and drugs; naturopathy; education about natural health | General avoidance of prescription drugs General avoidance of antibiotics; use of effective and largely forgotten bacteriocidal agents, which do not lead to drug-resistant bugs | |
| Avoiding toxins/chemicals; environmental medicine | ||
| Natural Hormone Replacement (NHR) therapy | Natural Hormone Replacement (NHR) therapy | |
| Testing for food and other allergies | Identification and elimination of food allergies | |
| Annual blood level testing | Annual multifactor blood testing (which is different from and more extensive than conventional tests), including tests for heavy metal and chemical exposure, and omega 3 and vitamin D levels | |
| Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) | ||
| Oxygen and ozone therapies | ||
| Social interaction (being with friends and loved ones, laughter, etc.) | ||
| Sun exposure and being outdoors | ||
| Aromatherapy; use of essential oils | ||
| Drinking plenty of good water | ||
| Ayurveda | ||
| Light therapy; music/sound therapy | Music therapy | |
| Sleep | ||
| Biological dentistry | ||
| Cold or low-level laser therapy | ||
| Thermography for breast examination pre-screening | ||
| Avoidance of harmful heart surgery (research suggests that far too much heart surgery is counterproductive) and other unnecessary elective surgery; avoidance of many conventional cancer treatments | ||
| Guided imagery | ||
| Hypnosis |