Complementary Therapies in Health Practice

This article discusses the relevance of personal skills of healthcare practitioners in providing complementary therapies and the effectiveness of current policy and practice required to regulate complementary therapies in healthcare. It also explores the impact of the current legislative and policy environment on the use of complementary therapists in healthcare practices and the significance of complementary therapies in maintaining health and well-being.

Complementary therapies in
Health Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Section 1 – Creating Awareness .....................................................................................................1
a) Relevance of personal skills of healthcare practitioners in providing complementary
therapies..................................................................................................................................1
b) Effectiveness of current policy and practice required to regulate complementary therapies
in healthcare............................................................................................................................3
Section 2 – Practice Requirements to provide Complementary Therapy........................................3
a) Impact of current legislative and policy environment on use of complementary therapists in
healthcare practices................................................................................................................3
Section 3 – Effectiveness of complementary therapies usage.........................................................6
a) Effectiveness of complementary therapies and orthodox treatments, with differentiation 6
Section 4 – Significance of complementary therapies in maintaining health and well-being.........8
a) Role of complementary therapies in maintaining physiological and physiological health 8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
.......................................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Complementary therapies are considered as traditional approaches of treatment, where
herbal or natural extracted medicines, are provided to patients, for their holistic development.
The main purpose of offering this type of services within healthcare centres, is to identify the
root cause of health issue and treated accordingly, to heal the same (Nester and et. al., 2017).
Within present project, to create awareness regarding with usage and practices of complementary
therapies, relevance of professional skills and policies to regulate it within healthcare settings are
demonstrated. Along with this, legislations which are made in UK to provide such therapies are
also being critically discussed, with requirements of professional practices for the same.
Furthermore, key points that highlight in this project is significance of complementary therapies
in terms of psychological and physiological well-being.
Section 1 – Creating Awareness
a) Relevance of personal skills of healthcare practitioners in providing complementary therapies
Complementary therapies are also known as holistic therapies, which are mainly provided
to promote well-being and maintain good health of a person (Nankervis and et. al., 2017). This
would improve and increase quality of life as well as manage self-healing, by taking into
consideration the main aspects. It includes past and present life situation, emotional and physical
state of patients, including ways of living etc. which helps in identifying root cause behind
symptoms of health issue. Through this process, medical practitioners gain advantage to combine
both orthodox and complementary medicines for completely well-being of patients (Watson,
2019). In this regard, some of the complementary therapies which can be integrated in healthcare
practices are given as beneath –
Complementary Therapies: Chiropractic Treatment – This therapy is mainly concerned with diagnosing and treating
the mechanical disorders of patient's musculoskeletal system. It helps in reducing chronic
back and neck pain without any usage of surgery or medicines, by treating ailments. Occupational Therapy – Patient who are suffering from sensory, physical and any
cognitive problems are treated by using occupational therapy (Churcher Clarke and et.
al., 2017). This would help in developing motor skills and positive attitude in people, that
makes them able to control on anger and any frustration.
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 Osteopathy – This therapy emphasizes on physical manipulation of bones and tissue to
treat musculoskeletal issues and back pain. It helps in recovery of patient health after the
knee or hip operations also, by manipulating as well as strengthening the musculoskeletal
framework.
 Physiotherapy – It helps in improving quality of life, by giving treatment of injury,
deformity, disability and more, via exercise, hands-on techniques and various modalities.
It plays the main role in recovery of patient health after stroke (Edgar and et. al., 2018).
Principles of Complementary Therapies
As per holistic philosophy, principle of complementary therapies is based on three main
aspects, that are – Mind, Body and Spirit, that helps in promoting well-being of a patient. Under
the complementary therapies, the most underlying aspect or principle is that body of patient will
heal itself, it proper maintenance is provided (Macdonald and Johnson, 2017). For this purpose,
therapists encourage people to take nutritious diet, do exercise, get fresh air and sunshine, etc.
these holistic approaches help in stimulating powers of recuperation within human body.
Therefore, this kind of self-healing treatment has no harmful side-effects.
Purpose and historical context of complementary therapies
The main purpose behind integrating complementary therapies into health practices, is to
promote and improve overall health of people, by strengthening and manipulating their
musculoskeletal framework (Zollman and et. al., 2017). In UK, healthcare organisations are
limited to provide osteopathy and chiropractic therapies. Here, Osteopathic technique include
gentle pressure, stretching and more, for providing overall good health and well-being of
patients. This therapy is firstly founded by American physicians – Andrew Taylor Still in 19th
century, that claims that overall health problems associated with musculoskeletal system, can
only be resolved by harnessing the self-healing potential under patient (Cedar, White and Atwal,
2018). Similarly, chiropractic therapy also helps in treating mechanical disorders of
musculoskeletal system, which is founded by Daniel David in 1895 to cure diseases, by
manipulating spine.
Professional skills for complementary practices
For providing complementary therapies, it is essential for therapists to get certified course
under certain code of ethics, like Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), International Institute
for Complementary Therapists (IICT) and more. This would help health practitioners in
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developing necessary skills which are essential to become a therapist in a particular field (Brett
and et. al., 2018). For example – Chiropractors must have a degree of Doctor of Chiropractic, to
ensure that they get supervised experience in clinical practices, especially in spinal adjustment
techniques, diagnosis, spinal assessment and more. After taking degree they must pass the
National Board of Chiropractic Examiners exam also. Similarly, for Osteopath they must take
degree course within BOstMed, BOst and others, from register institution of UK like The
College of Osteopaths, The British College of Osteopathic Medicine and more (Mattin and et.
al., 2019). After degree course, standards of educations and skills which are necessary to become
Osteopath are reviewed under Quality Assurance Agency of Higher Education. In this regard,
qualities which must possessed by Chiropractors, Osteopath are decision-making, detail oriented,
dexterity, empathy and more, that helps them in understanding patient's problem and influencing
for taking therapies for well-being.
b) Effectiveness of current policy and practice required to regulate complementary therapies in
healthcare
Provision of complementary therapies in NHS and other healthcare organisations, a are
regulated by the number of British Associations, to ensure that professionals are properly skills
and qualified, shows evidence that each practice and therapy provided to people are safe (Barnes
and et. al., 2018). Having certified under British Acupuncture Council; General Chiropractic
Council; National Institute of Medical Herbalists etc., helps healthcare organisations to influence
clients that therapies provided to them are safe for them and will promote well-being after
therapy. In context with NHS and other healthcare organisations, to integrate any type of
therapies, authorities must concern with collecting data to determine efficacy of same (Nester
and et. al., 2017). This policy shows that whatever therapies provided by NHS, will not arise any
side-effect for them.
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Section 2 – Practice Requirements to provide Complementary Therapy
a) Impact of current legislative and policy environment on use of complementary therapists in
healthcare practices
To promote well-being of patient and recovery their health after diagnosing or treating an
issue, NHS and other healthcare sectors of UK provide a number of complementary therapies. It
includes acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic, herbal medicines and more (Nankervis and et. al.,
2017). Before integrating any therapy, authorities of health practitioners in these organisations
conduct a proper survey first, to collect evidence for effectiveness of the same. Currently,
osteopathy and chiropractic practices are integrated within healthcare centres for treating patient
having lower back. After getting instructions or guidance from NICE (National Institute for
Health & Social Care Excellence), it is recommended to NHS to use therapies in treatments in
some particular situations, such as care Parkinson's disease by Alexander Technique; Morning
sickness by Ginger and Acupressure; Lower back pain by manual therapy or osteopathy
(Watson, 2019). The practices of such therapies in UK are regulated by laws, to ensure that
medical professionals or therapists must be properly qualified as well as adhere under certain
code of practices. This type of regulation is also called statutory professional ones. As two main
therapies are mainly provided by NHS i.e. osteopathy and chiropractic, therefore, therapists are
must registered under General Osteopathic / Chiropractic Council, to provide such services
(Churcher Clarke and et. al., 2017).
In NHS, a number of therapies are provided, where a lot of evidence is gathered to
support effectiveness of the same, before integrating within healthcare practices (Edgar and et.
al., 2018). For example - Acupuncture is used to treat patient having back pain, allergic rhinitis,
stress, migraines and so on. This practice is regulated by British Acupuncture Council (BacC),
where, more than 3000 medical practitioners of UK are professionally qualified for practice of
such traditional therapy. Similarly, for Chiropractic Care are provided by qualified and expert
professionals who offer services for treatment or healing of bones, muscles and joints to support
musculoskeletal system (Macdonald and Johnson, 2017). These professionals are registered
under the General Chiropractic Council by law, to ensure their degree in chiropractic, valid
indemnity insurance and high commitment for maintaining skills and positive attitude while
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treating patients (Zollman and et. al., 2017). These professionals are also sign up with certain
code of ethics, which outlines minimum standards required for practising such therapies safely
within NHS and other healthcare centres in UK. In this regard, practices for Chiropractic
therapies are regulated under GCC Code. Other services like hypnotherapy which is combined
with counselling or NLP (neurolinguistic programming), are mostly used by doctors especially
dentists to heal patient health. However, provision for using this practice in NHS is limited, but it
is regulated by Hypnotherapy Association of UK. This association is mainly concerned on
qualifications and skills that requires by a Hypnotherapists to practice this therapy (Cedar, White
and Atwal, 2018).
b) Different professional practice requirements for complementary therapists
For integrating complementary therapies, it is essential for experts to concern on
professional practice requirements also. It includes –
Respecting privacy and dignity: As per this practice, therapists must respect dignity and
privacy of clients as well as be sensitive towards cultural differences. For this purpose,
professionals are required to develop proper interaction with patients first and entail entire
information to them, about procedures of whole therapy (Brett and et. al., 2018). This would help
in making patients relax and take their positive contribution for providing therapies.
Chaperones: When patient is assessing or providing therapies, then therapists must
identify their need for another person. For example – To examine emotional and psychological
state of a child under age 16, arrangement for including their guardian, so that treatment can be
provided effectively (Mattin and et. al., 2019). Same thing is also mandatory for adult, where if
they require to have some during care treatment then their need must be fulfilled.
Promote Equality: It refers to a legal duty of professionals where they have to promote
equality by ensuring that patients should not be discriminated at workplace (Barnes and et. al.,
2018). Including anti-discriminatory practices within healthcare setting, help in protecting
patients having different characteristics from unequal treatment.
Confidentiality: This practice refers to be most important one, that assists therapists to
keep personal information of patient or clients confidential and safe, which is not disclosed under
any condition without their permission (Nester and et. al., 2017)
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. For this purpose, therapists and associated authorities have to ensure that records of personal
information of clients should be handled in appropriate way, where they can use electronic
recording system for same.
Decision-making: To take any decision regarding with specific treatment to determine
root cause of a disease, it is essential for therapists to must include participation of client in
decision-making process (Nankervis and et. al., 2017). This would show respect to clients,
whereby listening, acknowledging and taking their views in account, develop effective
relationship and trust with them, during assessment and care.
Section 3 – Effectiveness of complementary therapies usage
a) Effectiveness of complementary therapies and orthodox treatments, with differentiation
With development of technologies and science, today, it becomes possible to treat acute,
chronic and severe diseases more easily. Now, health care associations prefer to use modern
medicines like orthodox treatments to patients for curing their diseases (Watson, 2019). But
orthodox treatment is mainly concerned with treating present issue. Therefore, while providing
medical services, professionals do not emphasis more on finding root cause behind same. In this
regard, such treatment does not help in stimulating potential of body to live healthily. While
complementary practices mainly focus on finding root cause behind any symptom, so that
treatment can be provided accordingly for eliminating the same (Churcher Clarke and et. al.,
2017). For example – If a patient is suffering from feeling of anxiety or fluctuations in blood
pressure, then, using complementary practices, therapists first identify root cause behind
increasing anxiety before. This would help in providing best therapy to them to reduce stress
level, so that they can live better and healthy life.
Complementary Practice Orthodox Practice
Traditional or complementary practices help in
stimulating the health and power of self-
healing of people (Macdonald and Johnson,
2017).
Modern medicines are mainly provided to treat
specific health issues (Edgar and et. al., 2018).
It doesn’t empower for long-term health
benefits
Medicines are extracted from natural resources
like herbs, flowers and more
Orthodox medicines are artificially prepared
from chemicals that take long time
For natural healing process, attention is paid to Suppress symptoms do not help in determining
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symptoms to determine body needs for
therapies
root cause behind occurrence of a health issue
Complementary therapy helps in removing
obstacles to keep body healthy and empower
for self-healing by detoxification, regular
exercise and more (Zollman and et. al., 2017).
Drugs and surgeries are used for curing a
disease
b) Effectiveness and risks associated with complementary therapies in healthcare setting
Integration of complementary therapies within conventional practices, helps in increasing
potential of healthcare system to provide better services for well-being of patient (Cedar, White
and Atwal, 2018). It results in expanding treatment options, improving satisfaction of patients,
increasing therapeutic outcomes etc. This would aid healthcare organisations like NHS to meet
its objectives efficiently, which is to treat disease and relieve pain of patient, by promoting self-
healing process in their body and empowering them to care by themselves (Brett and et. al.,
2018). Since from conventional or orthdox medicines, it has seen that patient may suffer from a
number of issues during treatment, like fluctuations in BP, increase headache and feeling of
uneasy or anxiety etc. Under this condition, complementary therapies tend to provide option to
them to share a holistic approach, for healing by diagnosing the root causes. Taking therapies
will also reduce dependency of patient on medication, especially for those who are suffering
from cognitive disorders, anxiety, stress and any kind of mental or physical issues (Mattin and et.
al., 2019). These procedures will lead to enhance outcomes of healthcare services, by improving
and increasing life-quality of people. Complementary therapies apart from many benefits, could
not completely considered as a part of conventional medicines in UK. However, it has been
evident that complementary practices aid to promote proper well-being of people and empower
them to take care by themselves (Macdonald and Johnson, 2017). Therefore, in healthcare
settings, it may be taken as mainstream practices and can be grouped into five main domains. It
includes domain medical system, biological-based treatments, energy therapies, mind-body
interventions and body-based methods.
As per historical context, complementary therapies refer to be a system of healing, with
basic philosophy that includes holistic care (Barnes and et. al., 2018). Therefore, effectiveness of
such therapies can be defined in terms of in terms of self-healing process of patient for complete
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well-being. As compared with conventional or orthodox medicines, there is no solid prove exists
on safety and possible benefits of complementary theories (Edgar and et. al., 2018). But there are
number of risks also present in integrating complementary practices within healthcare settings. It
includes licensing and legal risks, harmful side-effects on patient's body in case of any error, etc.
Mechanical injuries can be caused due to acupuncture and other therapies, when error is caused
during treatment for musculoskeletal system. This may lead to cause spinal injury, cardiac
tamponade, pneumothorax and more. Similarly, problems like organ toxicity may cause while
herbal treatment procedure. In this regard, to overcome such risks that may create barrier in front
of NHS while integrating the complementary therapies into healthcare practices (Mattin and et.
al., 2019). Therefore, HealthCare Associations of UK has set standards for professionals, where
to provide services, they have to qualified some test firsts and must take degree from affiliated
institutions. This would help NHS and other healthcare organisations to provide therapies
through experts.
Section 4 – Significance of complementary therapies in maintaining health
and well-being
a) Role of complementary therapies in maintaining physiological and physiological health
Since from principles of complementary therapies, it has been analysed that cure of any
part of a patient, could not be attempted if complete treatment is not provided; or if no attempt is
taken to cure patient without soul (without control on psychological and physiological state),
therefore, it is necessary for therapists to begin treatment from mind of patient first, which will
result in healing the whole parts starting from head to feet (Barnes and et. al., 2018). For
example – During pregnancy, doctor is advice woman to take physiotherapy that reduces anxiety
and stress, as well as help in increasing those hormones that keep them happy. So, it is evident
that complementary therapies help in boosting positive attitude among people, which helps in
stimulating immune system as well (Zollman and et. al., 2017). This would help in preventing
from those diseases which may arise due to anxiety, stress and less control on anger. Along with
this, taking complementary therapies also provides benefits to people to prevent themselves from
cardiovascular diseases, which is considered as the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in
todays’ population due to living stressful life (Churcher Clarke and et. al., 2017). In this regard,
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biological therapies are provided to patients such as herbal medicines, dietary supplement and
other, which protect cardiac patients from harmful consequences.
b) Impact of complementary therapies on psychological functions
In order to live healthy and stress-free life, it is essential for people to have control on
their anger, frustrations and negative attitude. For this purpose, providing complementary
therapies help patients in developing psychological functions like positive thinking, sensing,
feeling and more. It also helps them in keeping calm, relieve from anxiety and develop general
sense for how to keep healthy (Watson, 2019). But sometime complementary therapies create
negative impact upon emotional and psychological functions of people. It may create hormonal
changes within a body where usage of aromatherapy creates toxicity and skin irritation within a
body. For people who are suffering from mental health issues, can take a number of
complementary therapies like yoga, meditation, group therapy, individual psychotherapy,
counselling and more. While for an outpatient, medical team of NHS and other healthcare
organisations of UK, provide treatment options like Intensive outpatient care, Psychiatric
medication, Support groups and more (Nankervis and et. al., 2017). These therapies help patients
in getting control over minds and arise feeling of relaxation, which ultimately tend to reduce
their mental health issues. In case of abnormal behaviour of patient, complementary therapy like
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Interpersonal Therapy and more, help in identifying the
root causes behind the same, which may include addiction of alcohol, drugs, eating disorders,
anxiety and depression etc. After then, treatment like Antidepressants, Mood Stabilizers, Anti-
anxiety medications and so on (Nester and et. al., 2017). These programs help in calming
behaviour of them and promote positive attitude as well. Therefore, if complementary therapies
are integrated in healthcare care settings, then it will help organisations in improving and
promoting better life of people.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from this assignment that modern medicines help in curing diseases
and live a disease-free life. But it concerns only on curing present disease, where problems
behind occurrence of symptoms are usually avoided. While in place of this, another option is
complementary therapies that focuses on recovery and healing of overall health of people, by
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empowering them to live better life. Such therapies have long term benefits where life-quality is
increased of people, by taking regular exercise, taking healthy diet and more. Therefore, if such
therapies will integrate with conventional practices in healthcare settings, then recovery and
wellbeing condition of patients will improve more better.
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