Future docs back alternative medicine

The time has come: We’re going mainstream.

Future doctors overwhelmingly back alternative medicine. In fact, a new survey sent to students at 126 medical schools finds that most believe knowledge of complementary and alternative medicine will help them do a better job.

Out of 1,770 respondents, 77 percent said knowledge of alternative medicine combined with standard Western care would help patients. In addition, 74 percent said both medical philosophies are better together than either one is alone, according to the survey published online in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

That’s great news — but it gets even better: 84 percent of the students said beliefs, ideas and therapies in complementary and alternative medicine would improve conventional medicine. And more than 60 percent of the respondents said they would like more education on alternative medicine.

Of course, the survey results could simply be youth and optimism speaking… before they reach the real world, where many succumb to the pressures and temptations of the Big Pharma sales force.

So saying it’s one thing… but having the time, energy and willpower to put these beliefs into practice is quite another. Don’t forget that many of these alternative ideas aren’t taught in traditional medical schools… so learning them could add years to an already lengthy education.

“Most physicians still know little about nonconventional forms of medicine,” study author Michael S. Goldstein, senior research scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a press release.

Too true… but even among practicing doctors, those attitudes are changing.

One recent survey of rheumatologists found that most were open to alternative care — especially bodywork treatments such as chiropractic, massage therapy and acupressure. Acupuncture was also given a thumbs-up by more than half of the respondents, according to the study published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Clearly, attitudes are changing. If you haven’t been asking your own doctor about natural treatments… maybe it’s time to start.

His answers might surprise you.