Why is There Resistance to Alternative Healthcare Methods?

American society and culture are very much dependent upon Western allopathic medicine which relies on scientific proof of whether healthcare practices are deemed as safe and effective. The problem herein lies that many of the ancient time-proven methods don’t fit nicely to allopathic medicine’s gold standard of random controlled trials (RCT). It is difficult to quantify results for methods that rely upon the practitioner to assess the patient at the time of treatment and decide how much or how little pressure to apply or other variables that cannot really be controlled during treatments such as emotions, outcomes or experience of the practitioner and/or the patient.

I feel from my experiences with allopathic medical practitioners, that there is much resistance to sharing the healthcare market with alternative healthcare options such as massage, acupuncture, and meditation among others. I think that most allopathic medical doctors try to stay true to their oath of trying to help people and do no harm in the process. However, my understanding is that medical doctors are trained to follow a flowchart of recommended protocols.

Massage, yoga, meditation and many other complimentary alternative practices fall way behind use of pharmaceuticals and sometimes surgery for many common ailments and injuries. Let’s be honest and accept that most people don’t go to their medical doctor with the expectation of nutritional advice, a prescription for more activity or the suggestion of a massage to relief mental as well as physical stress. People often go to their doctor to get meds to fix or mask their underlying root causes and then go about whatever might be causing their issues to begin with. So I think that the healthcare industry is only part of the problem/solution with the other part being how many people look at their healthcare as someone else’s responsibility that can be fixed with a pill or surgery. Look how many people are in the waiting room at medical doctor’s office compared to how many are waiting for a massage at a local Hand & Stone massage business.

Various Types of “alternative” healthcare methods

With many medical experts calling for more studies and more research, I feel it is mostly an excuse not to promote other alternative therapies. The American Medical Association along with many prestigious research universities have vast resources to conduct whatever studies they care to or rather, care not to invest upon. The American healthcare system, can be debated as either severely broken or also seemingly miraculous for others. Regardless, US healthcare is an over $4 trillion dollar a year economic powerhouse that will only continue to grow with or without acceptance of alternative therapies.

Be Well, Stay Healthy, Be Wise.

References:

https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/massage-therapy/what-does-research-say-about-massage-theraphy (Links to an external site.)

https://www.advisory.com/en/daily-briefing/2020/04/03/health-spending (Links to an external site.)

https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/licensure-complementary-and-alternative-practitioners/2011-06

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Jim Moltzan

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Strive to have a “relationship with your physical body”

Strive to have a “relationship with your physical body”. I think often times people hear about the mind, body and spirit connection but really have no idea, plan or methods on how to achieve this state of being.

From what I have learned from my teachers of martial arts & qigong is that by becoming aware and understanding how the physical body exists and operates (kind of from like a mechanical or physiological perspective) one can begin to better understand how their own mind works. For example, if holding a particular yoga, qigong or kung fu posture for say 1-5 minutes, the muscles and the physical body begin to fatigue. The process of the mind trying to keep the body in the correct position engages the thoughts to express emotional traits of patience, frustration, determination, focus and other levels of awareness. This can also be similarly developed from other mind/body practices such as archery, painting, singing, playing an instrument, carpentry or other trades that all require repetitive engagement of the thought process and the control of the body to accomplish a particular task. These types of activities can be viewed as various types of sitting, standing, or moving meditations all in their own rights.

Background music can be a pro or con depending upon the goal of the practitioner. Some martial arts or dance styles utilize drums to keep a beat that coincides with the pace of the movements. Others moving meditations like tai chi or qigong might incorporate music that consists of specific tones or tempos to help to coincide the breathing and heart rates to slower paces, thereby hacking the parasympathetic nervous system and reducing stress. Certain tones can either help elevate the heart rate (like maybe Led Zeppelin) while others might lower the heart rate (maybe jazz or instrumentals), where as in TCM specific notes are associated with wood (liver-gall bladder), fire (heart-small intestines), earth (stomach-spleen), metal (lungs-large intestine) and water (bladder-kidneys).

Be well, get healthy, be wise.

I am currently accepting new clients for group, small group & private instruction in Wekiva and Longwood areas.

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Jim Moltzan

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Masters Council

The Cost of Treating Cystic Fibrosis

“Each year in the United States about 30,000 babies are born with cystic fibrosis, a disease that causes severe lung and breathing problems (Kaiser, 2012). This inherited (genetic) disease occurs because an affected child inherits a defective gene from each parent. Modern medical treatments enable babies born with cystic fibrosis to survive to about age 40. Despite the improved care and therapies, there still is no cure.

In 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the health programs in Canada, the European Union, and other countries approved the drug Kalydeco (ivakator), which can restore lung function in a specific subtype of cystic fibrosis patients—about 4 of 100. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the company that manufactures Kalydeco, charges $300,000 for a year’s supply of pills (taken twice daily). Most cystic fibrosis patients who respond to the drug will need to take it for decades to stay alive.

Many doctors, patients and their families, and insurers, including the U.S. government, which pays for the drug through Medicare Disability and Medicaid, object to the high cost. They point out that the scientific research that discovered the drug was paid for by taxpayers and that Vertex received considerable help from the Cystic Fibrosis Association and hence spent less than the typical $1 billion to $2 billion to develop the new drug. Without some adjustment in the price, as is being demanded by the U.S. and European governments, each patient receiving the drug will produce a multi-billion-dollar profit for Vertex. In the for-profit model of drug development and sale, Vertex is doing nothing illegal to price its product as it sees fit.

The cost of Kalydeco and other new drugs approved for serious diseases—especially cancer—which is almost always more than $100,000 per treatment or annually if the drug must be given continuously, is a pressing problem facing the healthcare system. With modern genetic technologies to help produce more drugs to treat small numbers of patients, industry and drug developers will be tempted to exploit their advantage financially. Detecting and treating genetic and other serious diseases are rife with ethical and economic concerns that will become critical in the coming years.”

References:

Edlin, G., & Golanty, E. (2019). Health & Wellness (13th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning

I am currently offering wellness lectures and classes for group, small group & private instruction in Wekiva, Longwood and Winter Park.

For more info, contact Jim Moltzan at info@mindandbodyexercises.com, 407-234-0119 or through my site at http://www.mindandbodyexercises.com

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FDA/EPA – guardians of the consumer or a shill for Big Pharma & Medical?

Should these products have been approved in the 1st place? I realize not everyone has health issues from these items, but who wants to test their luck? I guess if a product generates $XXXbillion, and lawsuits payout $Xbillion, it was a good business plan. Do your research, when it comes to your well-being. No one should care more about your health than you.

Be well, stay healthy, be wise.

__________

Learn how to maintain health, fitness and wellness with tai chi, gigong and other time-proven methods. Private, small or group instruction.

Take care of yourself because no one else should care more about you than you. Eat better, move more, stress less, be nicer. Be well!

Jim Moltzan 407-234-0119

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Masters Council

“Killing Us Sweetly: How to Take Industry out of the FDA”

“For more than a century, the Food and Drug Administration has claimed to protect the public health. During that time, it has actually been placing corporate profits above consumer safety. Nowhere is this corruption more evident than in the approval of artificial sweeteners. FDA leaders’ close ties to the very industry they were supposed to be regulating present a startling picture. Ignoring warnings from both independent scientists and their own review panels, FDA decision makers let greed guide their actions. They approved carcinogenic sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose while simultaneously banning the natural herb stevia because it would cut into industry profits. This Article proposes two reforms that can end these corrupt practices and take industry out of the FDA. By strengthening conflict of interest regulations and preventing companies from participating in safety trials, the FDA will be able to gain the independence it needs in order to regulate the food and drug industries.”

Good essay to read if your are concerned about what you put into your body.Iuliano, J. (2021). Killing Us Sweetly: How to Take Industry out of the FDA. Journal of Food Law & Policy, 6(1). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jflp/vol6/iss1/4