American
civilians clearly love complementary and alternative medicine
(CAM): Visits to CAM practitioners exceeded the number of
visits to primary care physicians from 1990-1997. Do military
veterans, who may be exposed to more injuries and ailments
than the general public, similarly seek alternative health
to heal themselves?
To determine the prevalence of CAM usage by military veterans
in the southwestern U.S., over 500 veterans from the Southern
Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System were randomly
selected to complete a phone interview. "CAM" included chiropractic,
acupuncture, herbal remedies and homeopathy in this study
published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Half (50%) of the veterans indicated previous or current
CAM use, which is at the high end of the estimated 30-50%
of other Americans using CAM. Back pain was the most common
ailment in CAM users (50% of users), followed by hay fever
(43%) and medication allergies (39%).
Why the interest in alternative medicine? Because in many
cases, it's been proven more effective than traditional medicine.
Talk to your doctor of chiropractic about the many alternatives
to conventional medical care, and the variety of conditions
chiropractic is proven to treat.
Reference: Baldwin
CM, Long K, et al. A profile of military veterans in the southwestern
United States who use complementary and alternative medicine:
Implications for integrated care. Archives of Internal
Medicine 2002:162, pp. 1697-1704.
Check out https://www.chiroweb.com/find/whatis.html
for more information about chiropractic.
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