Alternative Medicine is Exploding in Europe

According to a broad new study conducted by the University of Helsinki, and published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, Europeans are selecting Alternative Medicine more and more in lieu of conventional medicine.

In the US, conventional medicine is often referred to as “Allopathic Medicine”, whereas alternative medicine goes by several names: ‘Complimentary Alternative Medicine,” and “Natural or Holistic medicine. There are multiple individual components thereof: Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Naturopathic, Energy, and Nutritional. And in opposition to the word “medicine” most practitioners and patients prefer to use the word therapy or healthcare. Also, traditionally allopathic medicine is considered “sick care,” or emergency care, whereas Holistic care is considered “Wellness Care.”

The rather extensive wellness care community in the US most often feels that standard medical care is both inadequate and at least 20 years behind the times in terms of alternatives and adverse side-effects. This extensive new European study seems to find comradery with Americans on this issue. Europeans are integrating the concept rapidly. As an example, Europeans are particularly more apt to address pain syndromes with a natural alternative first attitude while many in the USA are calling Opioid Abuse and Addition one of the greatest problems of our time.

In the Journal Referenced  study below, research involved 40,000 patients from 20 countries. They explored four types of alternative therapies:

1. Manipulation:
   1. Chiropractic
   2. Osteopathy
   3. Massage
2. Asian techniques:
   1. Acupuncture
   2. Acupressure
3. Homeopathy and herbal remedies
4. Mind-body techniques:
   1. Spiritual healing
   2. hypnosis

Data collected reveals 25% of the respondents had utilized holistic treatments within one year prior broken down as follows:

1. 12% massage
2. 6% homeopathy
3. 5% herbal
4. 5% osteopathy

There was no note of chiropractic which in this country has a long-term utilization of about 17%. 

"We also found that alternative and complementary medicine was used primarily in a complementary manner, or together with conventional medicine. This should be kept in mind both in practical patient care and public discourse, where these treatments are often framed as an alternative to conventional medicine," says Teemu Kemppainen, a researcher at the University of Helsinki.

Treatment choice and utilization was significantly different among the countries studied. Leading the pack was Germany with 40%, followed by Finland and Estonia at 35%. Hungary saw the lowest mark at only 10%. As would be expected, researchers found that insurance coverage had a great deal to do with utilization as well as education.

It is this author’s opinion that utilization might be higher than stated just a few years ago when this study was done as Holistic Health Care has become tremendously popular word-wide, as its efficacy and popularity spreads.