News

Is Alternative Medicine for You?

By Susan Blackmore, MS, OTR/L, CHT
Reprinted here from the Fall 2001 "First Hand News"

Our opportunity for exposure to health care information has grown so much over the past several years. The Internet, television, magazines, and direct mail provide us with seemingly limitless amounts of information. As a result, we have easier access to all types of health care information, both traditional and alternative methods.

In whatever fashion we have come to learn about alternative medicine, we are aware of its use to help alleviate symptoms. We are aware that some $27 billion dollars were spent last year on complementary or alternative medicine (TIME 4/23/01). Today, it is left up to the consumer to determine if their dollars are well spent. Traditional research methods do not readily apply to some alternative medicine practices, and firm data may not be available to support the effectiveness of these alternative methods.

So for this reason, it is important to ask your doctors for their advice. Your family doctor, neurologist, rheumatologist and hand surgeon all know about Western/conventional medicine. They can diagnose your problem and inform you of any harmful effects that may occur if you decide not to choose a Western/traditional medicine approach. You can then decide with your doctor if you should use alternative treatment methods.

So how do you decide if you can work it out on your own, or if you need to see a doctor and perhaps seek hand therapy? At The Philadelphia Hand Center, we recommend you see your doctor if any of the following has occurred: You hear or feel a "snap, crack or pop" and feel pain after performing an activity. You experience aches and pains with normal activities such as bathing or when making a meal after a fall or injury to your arm. You notice numbness and tingling in your hands and/or arms that does not go away. You notice pain in a muscle or joint that lasts for more than one week and gets worse with moving your hand or arm. You notice swelling that does not decrease in a week. Also, any time you sustain any impact to your head and neck, a physician should evaluate you immediately.

After it has been determined that you have an injury that will respond to non-operative treatment, the certified and licensed hand therapists at The Philadelphia Hand Center can design a "unique to you" therapy program which can help to heal the injured tissues and return the strength you need. In severe cases when you have torn a ligament, dislocated a joint, broken a bone, or have severely injured a nerve, then surgery or immobilization may be needed. Once the structures have begun to heal, again the therapists help you to regain your motion without compromising the surgery.

In summary, we all have many choices in health care. We at The Philadelphia Hand Center wish to ensure that you will make the safest decisions concerning your health.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call 1-800-971-HAND (4263).