Government and medical research institutions have poured millions of dollars into studies on promising complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). You'll still need to check with your doctor, but here's find legitimate CAM professionals.
Instructions
1. Ask your doctor for a referral. You may face possibly well-warranted skepticism. Also ask friends, family, nutritionists or physical therapists for recommendations. Some alternative-medicine professional organizations have CAM referral services.
2. Find out what your health plan covers; many costly CAM treatments are not. While more insurers include chiropractic treatments in their plan, far fewer cover acupuncture, let alone Ayurvedic medicine or homeopathy.
3. Do some detective work at state and local departments of health and consumer affairs, which increasingly have licensing and accreditation requirements for alternative practitioners. Ask about practitioners' educational background and training, and if any formal complaints have ever been filed against them. Inquire if any scientific research supports specific treatments you may be considering. Search for existing study results at the National Institutes of Health Web site (clinicaltrials.gov).
4. Check qualifications if possible, despite the patchy regulations on CAM. For example, acupuncturists must be licensed in more than 35 states, but might also be called registered or certified, or doctors of acupuncture or Oriental medicine.
5. Consider applying to be part of a clinical trial or study if money is an issue. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is the federal government's lead agency devoted to supporting research; learn about trial participation at www.nccam.nih.gov/clinicaltrials.
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