Alternative Therapies in Healthcare, Summaries of Nursing

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Complementary and

Alternative Therapies

Learning Objectives

Differentiate between complimentary and alternative therapies Describe the clinical applications of relaxation therapies  Identify the principles and effectiveness of imagery, meditation and breath work. Describe safe and unsafe herbal therapies Differentiate at least eight of the most common herbal therapies and potential use for each. Discuss the nursing implications, including client teaching, related to herbal products.

Nursing-Accessible Therapies

 Relaxation therapy Meditation and breathing Imagery

Alternative Therapies

 Nurses need to be aware of various complementary and alternative therapies that clients are using

Nursing-Accessible Therapies

 Some CAM therapies are general in nature and use natural processes to help clients feel better when they try to cope with both acute and chronic conditions. These are easily learned by health care professionals.  Relaxation therapy can be progressive and/or passive. The relaxation response is the state of generalized decreased cognitive, physiological, and/or behavioral arousal.

Nursing-Accessible Therapies

 Meditation is used for a wide range of practices that involve relaxing the body and stilling the mind. To meditate, one needs a quiet space, comfortable position, receptive attitude, and focus of attention. Meditation lowers oxygen consumption, reduces respiratory and heart rates, and reduces anxiety. Meditation has been found to lower BP in hypertensive clients, and lower breathing rates in asthmatics and cancer clients.

Training-Specific Therapies

 These therapies can only be administered after completing a specific course of study and training.  Biofeedback is a group of therapeutic procedures that use electronic or electromechanical instruments to measure, process, and provide information to clients about their neuromuscular and autonomic nervous system activity.  (^) The feedback is given in physical, physiological, auditory, and/or visual signals.  (^) Biofeedback has been used successfully in treating migraines, other pain, and GI disorders

Training-Specific Therapies

 (^) Traditional Chinese Medicine is made up of several therapies, which include herbs, acupuncture, diet, exercise, and meditation. This approach is several thousand years old with roots in Taoism.  (^) The most important concepts are YIN and YANG or opposites. QI is the vital energy of the human body. Disease is divided into three major categories: external causes, internal causes, and neither external nor internal causes. The body consists of several forms of energy. The energy runs through the body in patterns called meridians.

Training-Specific Therapies

 Acupuncture is a method of stimulating accupoints on the body by inserting special needles to modify the perception of pain, normalize physiological function, or treat/prevent disease. Acupuncture regulates or aligns the QI.

Herbs & Natural Supplements

 Echinacea Garlic Ginkgo baloba Ginseng Kava  St. John’s Wart  Saw Palmetto  Black cohosh