Many people jump on alternative treatments because they are touted as “natural” or claim “no side-effects”. Unfortunately, the majority of alternative therapies have been show through thousands of studies to not work, or even have harmful side-effects.
While many of our modern medicines have a root in natural sources, the compounds that help us are more concentrated and the harmful compounds mostly filtered out. For example, Aspirin was originally sourced from white-willow bark, which in its natural state can help with headaches, but also has a high risk of death as a side-effect.
Other alternative therapies are touted as Miracle Cures for pretty much all that ails us. Many charlatans ignore medical facts in favor of magical explanations, claiming that they use “Ancient Eastern medicine”, or are “balancing energies” to treat us. Some even use technical terminology to sound more sciency, such as “Quantum”, “Alkaline”, or “Organic” (Which if you asked a real scientist about they would say those terms are being misused). The inherent problem with these treatments is at best they are a placebo… and in the worst cases, delay a person from receiving real life saving medicine.
When seeking medical advice, find experts who specialize in the field… and when in doubt seek a second opinion from a qualified health professional… not some MLM salesman who did a weekend course on how to sell vitamins.
[Originally Written For StrongBack Fitness August 2018]