Find Alternative Medicine Schools in the United States and Canada. Teaching students how to use natural therapy and medicines to restore and maintain health, alternative medicine schools also elaborate on how these natural therapies date back to 420 B.C.; around the time of Hippocrates.

Students of alternative medicine schools will begin to understand that alternative medicine is considered a practice beyond the realm of conventional modern medicine. For example, naturopathy, chiropractic, Ayurvedic, homeopathy, acupuncture and so many other alternative medicine treatments are readily taught in a variety of alternative medicine schools because the demand for these treatments is on the rise.

Because our bodies are composed of chemical and physical reactions, holistic practitioners, who have gained training through one of several alternative medicine schools, affirm that illness is not directly caused by pathogens such as viruses or bacterium; instead is the consequence of the body’s reaction (in an effort to shield and heal itself) to a pathogen. Naturopathic and holistic doctors assist potential clients through alternative medicine by plainly alleviating symptoms of disease. This, among other valid motives, is a great reason for students to pursue an education through alternative medicine schools.

Successful graduates of alternative medicine schools learn to treat most conditions like headaches, sore throats, flu and cold, indigestion, ear infections, dermatitis, urinary tract infections, sprains and strains. Some chronic conditions such as migraines, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, cancer, muscle-skeletal pain, depression, stress, and even pregnancy and childbirth may be treated with alternative medicine as well.

Alternative medicine schools teach students proper nutrition in conjunction with vitamin and mineral supplements, and because plants and herbs are commonly used in alternative medicine to treat illness, students enrolled in alternative medicine schools will also attain a comprehensive education in other natural and non-invasive therapies. Some of these natural therapies may include hydrotherapy and hypnotherapy, which are common courses, taught in alternative medicine schools.

Overall, alternative medicine schools instruct students in how to improve mental, emotional, and physical health through natural and complementary medicines. In addition to encouraging psychic and spiritual growth, students who have graduated from alternative medicine schools learn how to help patients in restoring and maintaining overall wellbeing.

If you’d like to become an alternative medicine therapist or practitioner, Holistic Junction offers a vast array of alternative medicine schools from which you may choose to enroll. Take the leap and obtain a career in alternative medicine today! Find your dream job! Let education within fast-growing industries like massage therapy, alternative medicine, acupuncture, oriental medicine, Reiki, and others get you started! Explore career school programs near you now!

Alternative Medicine Schools

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A list of some of the alternative medicine practices you’re likely to encounter in the United States. Some of these are considered border-line acceptable even in the professional medical field, and many understand that this is unfortunate. Mostly these are just scams, quackery, and nonsense, which unfortunately gullible people believe in if they are desperate and grasping at false hope. Keep your eyes peeled for any of these, and be prepared to stamp out the harmful ones.

Hallelujah Diet
“Reverend” George M. Malkmus claims to have eliminated his colon cancer and other serious health problems more than twenty-five years ago by “following biblical principles for a natural diet and healthy lifestyle.” He and his wife Rhonda Jean operate ‘Hallelujah Acres’, where they hold seminars, sell products, and advocate a diet that consists of raw fruits and vegetables.

Malkmus and his followers claim that his methods have helped people with obesity, cancer, arthritis, and more than a hundred other health problems. He is a very eloquent speaker who is capable of inspiring people who trust in what he says. It has been speculated that he is in fact running a cult, with an unknown number of followers at the ‘Hallelujah Acres’ site.

Intra-Cellular Hyperthermia
Nicholas Bachynsky, a medical doctor whose license was revoked in the early 1990s, is largely responsible for the persistence of intracellular hyperthermia as a treatment. In April of 2004, he was imprisoned in a Floria jail to await trial on fraud charges related to sale of phony stock in a business founded on the alleged treatment.

The claim is that it is effective against cancer and Lyme disease by way of the intravenous administration of 2-4- dinitrophenol (DNP), which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned more than sixty years ago.

Herbal Medicine
Americans are now spending billions of dollars per year for herbal capsules and tablets, bulk herbs, and herbal teas. Although the teas are consumed for their flavor, most of these products are probably used for supposed medicinal qualities. Sales by multilevel distributors and pharmacies amount to hundreds of millions more for products that are obviously intended for harmful self-medication.

Herbs are also marketed by naturopaths, acupuncturists, iridologists, chiropractors, and unlicensed herbalists, many of whom prescribe them for the entire gamut of health problems of every description. Many such practitioners are not qualified to make appropriate medical diagnoses or to determine how the products they prescribe compare to proven drugs, and are not licensed to do anything at all, for that matter.

Mesotherapy
Touted as a nonsurgical alternative to liposuction, mesotherapy involves the injecting of medications and plant extracts into the layers of fat and connective tissue under the skin.

The injected ingredients may include agents that are used to open blood vessels, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, enzymes, nutrients, antibiotics, herbal cures, and hormones. Mesotherapy is said to be used in conjunction with dietary modification, hormone replacement therapy, exercise and nutritional supplements. No drug is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in mesotherapy, and none will.

Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique
Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique (B.E.S.T.), came out during the mid-1970s by chiropractor MiltonTed Morter, Jr., of Rogers, Arkansas. It is claimed to be “a holistic program that coordinates and balances the workings of all the systems of the body.” Morter defines B.E.S.T. as “a nonforceful chiropractic technique for the 21st century that removed interference from the nervous system by the use of the hands.” Morter claims that such interferences occur when subtle pulses in different parts of the body are not synchronized.

Neuralyn
Between April 1997 and June 2000, Beverly and Thomas Vigil of Meridian, Idaho, touted a product called Neuralyn on the Internet and elsewhere as a highly effective treatment for spinal cord injuries and other ailments. The couple claimed that Neuralyn was an all-natural substance made up of B vitamins, amino acids, and extracts of plants from the Yucatan Peninsula region. According to Thomas Vigil, the idea for Neuralyn came from a dream.

In fact, the Vigils teamed up with pharmacist David Taylor and concocted Neuralyn using a number of homeopathic ingredients as well as a couple of topical anesthetics. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson, more than 100 people, most of them paraplegics or quadriplegics, paid up to $10,000 per person to come to clinics in Idaho, Utah and Colorado for Neuralyn treatment.

These people were told that Neuralyn treatments had been 85% to 95% successful, and that the product would enable spinal cord injury patients to move, stand on their own, or walk again by regrowing new nerve cells. The Vigils are now in custody facing charges.

Optometric Visual Training
This approach is based on an idea that learning can be improved by exercises that stimulate coordination of the eye muscles or improve hand-eye coordination. Its proponents assume that the basic problem that leads to reading disability is some deficit in the muscles of the visual system.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Ophthalmology have spoken out against this approach and cautioned that no eye-muscle defects can produce the learning disabilities associated with dyslexia. Dyslexia is actually a reading disorder characterized by omissions, faulty word substitutions, and impaired comprehension. It isn’t due to mental retardation, lack of schooling, or brain damage.

Thought Field Therapy
Abbreviated as TFT, its founder, psychologist Roger J. Callahan, Ph.D., claims that TFT “provides a code to nature’s healing system and addresses their fundamental causes, balancing the body’s energy system and allowing you to eliminate negative emotions within minutes and promote the body’s own healing ability.”

The Callahan Techniques site also recommends dietary supplementation for the persons who “suffer from multiple environmental sensitivities and even allergies which aggravate psychological problems.” During the TFT sessions, the therapist uses sequences of finger taps on “acupressure points” of the hands, face, and upper body. The patient at the same time does repetitive activities, such as repeats statements, counts, rolls the eyes, or hums a tune while visualizing a distressing situation.

A list of some of the alternative medicine practices you’re likely to encounter in the United States. Some of these are considered border-line acceptable even in the professional medical field, and many understand that this is unfortunate.

Mostly these are just scams, quackery, and nonsense, which unfortunately gullible people believe in if they are desperate and grasping at false hope. Keep your eyes peeled for any of these, and be prepared to stamp out the harmful ones.

Doman-Delacato Treatment
This approach, also called “patterning,” was developed during the mid-1950s and is still offered at the Institutes for Human Potential in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its proponents claim that the great majority of cases of mental retardation, learning problems, and behavior disorders are caused by brain damage and poor neurological organization. The treatment is based on the idea that high levels of motor or sensory stimulation can train the nervous system and lessen or overcome handicaps caused by brain damage.

Parents following the program are advised to exercise the child’s limbs repeatedly and use other measures said to increase blood flow to the brain and decrease irritability. In 1982 and 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued position statements concluding that “patterning” has no merit, that its proponents’ claims are false, and that the demands on families are so great that in some cases there may be actual harm in its use. In 1996, neurologist Steven Novella, M.D., reviewed the scientific literature and concluded that “patterning” was a pseudoscience.

Orthomolecular Therapy
Orthomolecular therapy is defined by its proponents as the treatment of disease by varying the concentrations of substances normally already present in the human body. Its proponents claim that many diseases are caused by molecular imbalances that are corrected by administration of the “right” nutrient molecules at the right time.

Orthomolecular therapy dates back at least to the early 1950s when a few psychiatrists began adding massive doses of nutrients to their treatment of many severe mental problems. The original substance was vitamin B3, and the therapy was termed “megavitamin therapy.” Later the treatment regimen was expanded to include other vitamins, minerals, hormones, and dietary supplements, any of which may be combined with conventional drug therapy and even electroshock treatments. A few hundred physicians now use this approach to treat a variety of conditions, both of a mental and physical aspect.

Raw Milk
Raw milk is milk in its unpasteurized state. Public health authorities advocate pasteurization to destroy all disease-producing bacteria that may be present. Health faddists claim that it destroys the essential nutrients. Although about 10% to 30% of the heat-sensitive vitamins, which are vitamin C and thiamine, are destroyed in the pasteurizing process, milk is not a significant source of these nutrients in the first place.

Contaminated raw milk can be a source of harmful bacteria, including those that cause undulant fever, dysentery, salmonellosis, and tuberculosis. “Certified” milk, obtained from cows certified as healthy, is unpasteurized milk with a bacteria count below a specified standard, but it still contains significant numbers of disease-producing organisms.

Rife Frequency Generator
The Attorneys General of Wisconsin and Minnesota have sued to stop an unlicensed woman, Shelvie Rettmann, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, from representing that she cures cancer. In December 1997, Wisconsin Attorney General James Doyle showed that a Wisconsin resident who was diagnosed with advanced colon and liver cancer used Rettmann’s services after being told that she could cure the woman’s cancer. Although medical doctors had recommended chemotherapy, Rettmann had told her otherwise.

At their first meeting, Rettmann photographed the woman and her daughter with a Polaroid camera and put the photos in a cup fastened to a radionics machine. After informing the mother that she had colon and blood cancer and the daughter that she had breast cancer, Rettmann allegedly advised both to have treatments with a Rife Frequency Generator, a special diet, dietary supplements, a regimen of baths, and something called ‘foot zoning’, which is a type of foot massage claimed to break up accumulated deposits at the end of foot nerve endings in order to help heal the body.

VAX-D Therapy
The VAX-D Therapeutic Table is a motorized traction device which is used to stretch the lower back. VAX-D is an acronym for “vertebral axial decompression.” The device is a two-part table in which the upper part is fixed to the table frame and the lower part slides back and forth to provide sudden intermittent traction. The patient is then anchored to the lower part by a pelvic harness.

VAX-D therapy is usually provided on an outpatient setting for the purpose of relieving back pain. Its providers, including chiropractors, medical and osteopathic physicians, and physical therapists, commonly recommend twenty sessions of 30-45 minutes, with a total cost of several thousand dollars. During the treatment, the patient lies face-down with the upper part of the body on the stationary portion of the table, and with arms overhead, grasping handles attached to the this part of the table. A pneumatic cylinder drives the two parts of the table apart and together to provide gradual stretching alternating with relaxation of the stretching. A typical cycle includes a minute of each half.

Auditory Integration Training
Abbreviated as AIT, this was developed as a treatment for autism by Guy Berard in France in the 1960s and since was introduced into the United States in 1991. It has also been advocated for children and adults with learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, depression, migraine headaches, and many other mental conditions.

Proponents claim that individuals with these disorders have hearing that is disorganized, hypersensitive, different between the two ears, or otherwise abnormal. The first step in AIT is an audiogram, a diagram that determines the auditory thresholds to more frequencies than are typically measured during hearing tests. Suitable individuals then undergo training sessions, which are typically two half-hour sessions per day over a 10-day period, that involve listening to music that has been computer-modified to remove frequencies to which they are hypersensitive.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Audiology have warned that no well-designed scientific studies demonstrate that AIT is of any use. AIT devices do not have FDA approval for treating autism, attention deficit disorder, or any other mental condition. In 1997, the FDA banned the importation of the Electric Ear or any other AIT device made by Tomatis International, of Paris, France, and they are now illegal.

Alternative medicine can be described as a set of care that is not considered to be a part of the conventional medical and health system. This includes a very large variety if services and care that although are labeled as alternative are quite popular.
It is important to be careful when seeking alternative medicine that it does not interact negatively with your present health care treatment or your body. Alternative medicine is available for just about every ailment or problem and sometimes can be considered experimental.
Regardless of what the ailment is, the one that is certain is that some research should be done before starting the treatment. This way, any risks that are involved can be carefully watched out for, or if it sounds too risky, then you can decide not to follow through with it. The other thing that is necessary when using alternative treatments, is that if it is a therapy that is administered by someone else, make sure that they have the necessary credentials and are practicing safe treatment. You want to keep your body safe as the top priority.
Alternative medicine can involve diet, supplements, products, and treatments. One of the most popular alternative treatments is natural herbs. Natural herbs can be taken for many different things. Some of these include depression, exhaustion, arthritis, cancer, and many others. There is plenty of research available on the natural herbs that people take. There are some out there that are not safe and therefore should be avoided. Research will determine which ones are unsafe. Some are considered unsafe for specific people, for instance, pregnant women.
Another common alternative medicine used by many people is exercise. Exercise can help with many different health concerns. This involves arthritis, rehabilitation, depression, obesity, and many others. Exercise can be safe as long as it is monitored by a trainer or other professional. Exercise can be dangerous for people who have heart conditions and other health problems and should be monitored to ensure the safest treatment possible.
Another popular alternative treatment is acupuncture. Acupuncturists have certification and therefore can be gauged as safe as long as the person is certified. Acupuncture is said to help with muscle pain, back problems, head aches, weight loss, and many other different health concerns. Acupuncture is an ancient tradition and is considered a natural treatment. It involves tiny needles being placed in very specific locations.
One of the most common alternative treatments is hot and cold therapy. This is used for many different ailments involving muscle pain and spasms, joint pain, and several other diseases. When seeking therapy the key is to be as safe as possible and to trust your gut and not involved with something that makes you uncomfortable.

There is quite a bit of information you can find about how to cure various illnesses with the use of alternative medicine. Many people believe this is the only right way for them to take care of such ailments that come their way. However, there are many that take this process even further. They are turning to alternative medicine in order to prevent those illnesses from every occurring.
This does make sense when you think about it. How many people take a daily vitamin supplement? It seems to go along those same lines as there aren’t any negative side effects from doing so. They also won’t interrupt what any prescription medicines are to do for them. One of the common ones is drinking green tea each day. This is said to help people lose weight. Therefore they are less prone to certain diseases such as heart disease and diabetes that can be onset due to excess weight.
Green tea is also a natural antioxidant so various types of toxins are removed from your body. Since they aren’t in place they can’t develop into any type of problem for you. Green tea tastes very good and is a healthy alternative to drinking sugary drinks all the time. If you don’t like the taste of green tea though you can take it in a tablet form.
One area that is strongly promoted is the concept of eating well balanced meals.
Sure, we hear that all the time. Yet there are said to be certain types of foods that contain ingredients to prevent illnesses including cancer. They include certain types of berries as well as other fresh fruits. People do pay a premium price to get them shipped from far away areas.
For those that have a family history of cancer and other illnesses, there is nothing they won’t try to reduce their risk. Alternative medicine certainly offers them some options that don’t involve prescription medications that can be expensive or have side effects associated with them. There is plenty of information about what types of alternative medicine to try for certain types of prevention.
Identify what your risk factors are so you can incorporate those concepts that can offer you the most protection. Pay close attention to how you feel before and after you start that method. Some experts believe that people can convince themselves something works there is a placebo effect going on and nothing else. Those that partake regularly in alternative medicine to prevent common illnesses though will have to disagree with them.
You will have to decide for yourself if you want to engage in forms of alternative medicine in order to prevent common illnesses. Some people don’t put much stock in it while others will tell you they haven’t been sick like they used to be since they started such a regiment. There haven’t been enough substantial tests done on such products to really know.
It is important to understand that people react differently to various types of alternative medicine. That is another reason why it is so hard to give it complete credibility. What may work well for one individual may not offer you the protection you seek. So their opinion would be that it does work while you would have to disagree.