The acronym ‘CAM' stands for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that include treatments such as herbal remedies, naturopathy, acupuncture, and meditation. CAM is currently not considered to be a part of conventional medicine, and because of this, it is not covered by all health care providers.  However, CAM is becoming increasingly popular and accepted by the medical community and many hospitals are beginning to include these alternative services. Helping the public to become more aware of the benefits CAM can offer is the first step to improving its availability for patients in need.

by Alex A. Kecskes

The lymphatic system is a complex network of ducts and vessels that transfer white blood cells and antibodies to your organs and tissues. These cells and antibodies arm your immune system and help your body combat infections. Unlike the circulatory system, which uses the heart to pump blood to vital organs and tissues, the lymph system must rely on hundreds of muscular units, your body movements, and water intake to move the lymph through the vessels. Normal lymph movement in the body can be reduced by stress, fatigue, inactivity, cold temperatures, infection, chemical or food additives, even one's age and heredity.

Posture is often overlooked as a health concern, but a person's posture has a direct effect on his or her breathing, organ function, and muscle integrity. With the majority of American adults confined to desk and chair for 40 hours of the week, attention to posture is crucial for optimum health. In Chinese medicine, correct posture is considered necessary for the proper flow of qi (the life force that traverses each living thing). TCM practitioners believe that good posture provides for not only the proper flow of qi, but of blood as well (leading to better brain and organ performance).

Poor posture is related to several TCM problems (such as back pain and other forms of musculoskeletal imbalance), and is sometimes believed to cause them. Consequently, practicing good posture can enhance a TCM treatment (such as acupuncture), while poor posture can inhibit results. Due to the active lifestyle common in their patients, ancient Chinese medical practitioners did not have to deal with patients' poor posture nearly as often as practitioners do today. Similarly, Liver Qi Stagnation was also not as common a problem in ancient China as it is today; it is believed to be closely related to posture. Liver Qi Stagnation refers to a pattern of disharmony in a person that is characterized by pain in the chest, the abdomen, the head, or along the Liver channel.  Also associated with this disharmony are feelings of stress, agitation, or anxiety. Liver Qi Stagnation directly coincides with posture problems, and helping the latter can greatly improve the Liver channel - alleviating muscle pain as well as mental tension.

Steve Goodman

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is as ancient, and in some ways as mysterious as China itself. Today with a major increase in interest, acceptance, and proven efficacy of so called complementary and alternative medical practices (CAM), TCM is not only far less esoteric, it is becoming a promising career path. Today many health insurance companies provide coverage for not only acupuncture, but for Qi Gong and other modalities of TCM. In many parts of the country Traditional Chinese Medicine is already a well- respected and well-established health profession.

Exposure to sudden, loud music or explosive noises can cause tinnitus, a nerve disorder that involves a consistent ringing sound in a person's ears. At its worse, tinnitus can lead to deafness. Tinnitus affects one in 10 people, and can range from mild to chronic. While it is a common problem for veterans and the elderly, other common causes include whiplash or even dental work. However, there is evidence that if caught early, tinnitus can be improved and eventually cured with the use of natural medicine, such as acupuncture and certain vitamins.

Tinnitus is linked to nerve and touch sensitivity. For some people, clenching one's jaws or applying pressure to the neck can bring on or reduce tinnitus episodes. Acupuncture patients with this disorder will have a high response rate to the nerve's natural response to pressure and the disorder's sensitivity to certain points. The practice of acupuncture is based on the stimulation of certain points on the body, as well as meridians and channels. Stimulating specific points (which are determined based on the patient's unique case) can rebalance the qi (one's life force) and alleviate the source of the problem. It is integral in traditional Chinese medicine to treat the origin of an ailment as well as the symptoms, and TCM has several theories as to what causes tinnitus.

Alex A. Kecskes

If you suffer from headaches and migraines, you can ease your pain without resorting to prescription drugs or over-the-counter medications that often have side effects. For thousands of years, acupuncture and Chinese Herbal medicines have been used to relieve headaches and migraines, as well as their underlying causes.

Kathleen Rushall

The oldest documented medical system to recognize the connection between body and mind, Chinese medicine is an optimum treatment choice for trauma victims. There are several forms of trauma. Perhaps the best known is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is a condition formed after a person undergoes a harrowing physical or emotional event such as a war experience, car crash, natural disaster, or extreme emotional loss. Trauma can also relate to the anxiety, depression, and grief that can develop after a tragic event.

Alex A. Kecskes

Anxiety is a mental disorder that affects literally millions of people. It's an illness that often dovetails with depression and alternates from mild discomfort to almost uncontrollable panic with physical symptoms. While some medications have been known to ease anxiety, they may also suffer from undesirable side effects, suppressing the symptoms while making individuals chemically toxic.

Steve Goodman

In today's fast paced stressed-out world insomnia and sleep disorders are on the increase. The proverbial good night's sleep seems more elusive than ever. So many people are facing so many sleepless nights, and yet they fear the side effects and addictive nature of sleep medications - as well they should.

Winter means many things, some of them not as positive as hot cocoa and holidays. Cold, dry weather can wreak havoc on the skin, and one place often requires special attention is a person's foot. Feet are often neglected when it comes to lotion and other skin care methods that the rest of the body daily receives. In winter, foot eczema is a common occurrence. Eczema is the result of extreme dry skin that forms into a scaly, red, often itchy rash.

Oriental herbs can effectively treat eczema and provide fast relief. Herbs that prove helpful for this condition include Flos Ionicerae (Japanese honeysuckle), Herba Mentae (peppermint), Cortex Moutan (root bark of a peony tree), Atractylodes Rhizome (the underground stem of the Atractylodes herb), and Cortex Phellodendri (Amur cork-tree bark). A licensed practitioner of Oriental medicine can prescribe and concoct a mixture of these five herbs, which can be taken orally (the extracts are placed into a pill capsule) once daily. The British Journal of Dermatology recently performed a study using this treatment and found that patients that received these herbs reported that their life improved by a third.