According to a recent study, the number of people visiting complementary health practitioners has risen by fifty percent in the last ten years. What is a complementary health practitioner? Do they work well with "regular" doctors? Why would someone choose to visit a complementary health practitioner"isn‚t a "regular" doctor enough? This article will answer all of these questions.
Who are complementary Health Practitioners?
A complementary health practitioner is someone who offers medical/health services that can be used to compliment the treatment a person is already receiving from a "regular" medical professional. These professionals practice things like chiropractic medicine, osteopathy, physiotherapy, alternative medicine, acupuncture"things of that nature. Usually these treatments are meant to help the treatments prescribed by a "regular" doctor.
Why do Patients choose complementary Health Practitioners?
Readers might not believe this but "regular" doctors do sometimes tell their patients to find a complementary health practitioner to help them keep their recovery progressing at a rapid pace. A physiotherapist can work in the same office or hospital as "regular" doctors and will often work alongside the medical team to make sure a patient recovers from his/her injury. Patients can also be sent to chiropractors and Osteopaths for additional help.
Sometimes, however, a person will choose to visit a complementary health practitioner before visiting a "regular" doctor and this is why there are rumours of animosity between the two types of medical professionals. There are a number of reasons that a person would choose an osteopath or alternative medicine professional instead of a traditional western medicine doctor.
Some people do not trust or are afraid of "regular" doctors. Others have more faith in alternative therapies. In many cases a person will not have enough money to visit a traditional doctor, but can afford to see a complementary health practitioner as their services are usually offered at a much lower rate than those of a "regular" doctor.
What is the Relationship between Regular Doctors and complementary Health Practioners?
There are strong rumours that complementary health professionals and traditional doctors have a hard time getting along but those rumours are false. The two schools of thought are complimentary and it is not unheard of for a "regular" doctor to send his patient to a complementary health professional for extra treatment and therapy. This is also true for complementary health practioners.
The truth is that a patient can find a lot of benefit in visiting both a "regular" doctor and a complementary health practitioner. This way the patient can feel comforted in knowing that he is receiving all of the therapy and treatment they can get!
The content of this page is informed by feedback from clinics in Essex and also osteopaths in the Birmingham area. Further input was received from a practitioner in Edinburgh and osteopathic practitioners in Southampton. Finally a contribution was made by practices in Cambridge.