We all know that the popularity and importance of integrative medicine in the United States has been growing rapidly over the last 10 to 15 years.
Now a new study published in July 2009, from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, interviewed more than 23,000 adults and asked about their use of complementary treatments. Almost 40% of adults were found to be using some type of complementary medicine. In 2007 they had spent $33.9 billion on these practices. This accounted for over 11% of the public's total out-of-pocket health expenses. The last time that these numbers had been measured was in 1997 and at that time the out-of-pocket expenses were $27 billion.
Dr. Tracy Gaudet, the Executive Director of Duke Integrative Medicine which is part of the Duke University health system was quoted as saying "Whatever this amount of the population is doing is no longer a fringe. We have to figure out what they are looking for but they can't find in conventional medicine."
I think all my patients know what people are looking for in integrative medicine! We all want to care for the underlying imbalances that create chronic symptoms and chronic disease. None of us are looking for only symptomatic relief or symptomatic treatment.
