A lot of alternative therapies have recently come under scrutiny. Some are expensive, patients fork out a lot of their hard earned money for them. If they work then that’s great but the fact is that very few have actually been tested and beyond unsubstantiated claims and ancient lore, there’s very little to back them up. If any modern treatments didn’t have the medical research to back them up, they simply wouldn’t be put on sale and the chances are they’d be sued if they slipped past the researchers!
Rheumatoid arthritis has had all sorts of alternative therapies claim to be beneficial for it. It’s a chronic inflammatory condition without a cure and as such patients are often looking for ways to deal with the symptoms and make their lives more bearable. Over 21 alternative treatment methods were tested for effectiveness in treating rheumatoid arthritis and only three showed positive results and of these three most were only useful in some cases. Acupuncture, massage and tai chi showed positive effects for arthritic patients with acupuncture showing the most promising results.
Other alternative therapies may be effective for individuals, even a psychological improvement would be a good thing when it comes to dealing with a chronic condition. If you’ve been using a therapy for years and it’s not on the list of those that are medically effective and it works for you then condition using it. Only if it’s been shown to be harmful should you stop.