Complementary and Alternative Therapies

More and more people are employing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to treat their illnesses. A survey of English-speaking patients found that 42.1% used at least 1 of 16 specific CAM therapies during a 12-month period (1). In this study population, visits to CAM practitioners exceeded total visits to primary care physicians, and more than 50% of the patients had a musculoskeletal disease (arthritis, back, or neck pain). Total out-of-pocket expenditures for CAM treatments were estimated to be $27 billion, similar to out-of-pocket expenditures for all US physician services. The study found that patients were most likely to use CAM therapies in conjunction with, rather than in place of, conventional therapies