Complementary Medicine in Clinical Practice

The principal objectives of this text are to provide a concise compilation of complementary medicine therapies and to aid practitioners identify others with whom collaborative patient care would be beneficial. The text provides an evidence-based approach to examining various fields under the complementary medicine realm. The book contains 70 chapters, divided into 10 sections: Expanding the Continuum of Care; Clinical Nutrition; Exercise and Fitness; Mind-Body Medicine; Self Care; Therapeutic Massage; Acupuncture; Chiropractic; Herbal Therapy; and Models of Integrative Medicine. Each section discusses underlying theories and provides information on clinical strategies and research. Several sections have chapters listing resources for particular modes of therapy, which unfortunately lack a Canadian context. The text is well indexed and information is easily located. Numerous tables, which act as an adjunct to key text points, are found throughout the book. Although there are few illustrations, the chapters are concise and organized in a way which provides a logical flow to the text. The chapters are well referenced and an attempt to provide the most current and relevant research is apparent. Although various sections may not be of interest to some chiropractors, the text does an excellent job in providing preliminary information regarding various fields of complementary care. The chiropractic section contains nine chapters, whose topics range from overcoming barriers to the integration of chiropractic to research on spinal physiology. This text is an excellent resource for any clinician wanting to practice in an interdisciplinary setting or interested in providing collaborative patient care when appropriate. In today’s climate of health care, there are limited models of integrated health care. This text is useful, especially for allopathic physicians, to familiarize oneself with the evidence-based approach of complementary medicine.