Complementary therapies are used alongside conventional medicine, while alternative therapies are used in place of conventional medicine. However, some alternative therapies may also be used alongside conventional medicine. The term “integrative medicine” is used to describe the combination of conventional medicine with complementary therapies that have been shown to be safe and effective.
When considering the use of complementary and alternative therapies, it is crucial to assess their safety and effectiveness. Despite claims made about these therapies, scientific evidence may not always support them. It is important to note that just because a therapy is natural does not guarantee its safety. All therapies have the potential to cause side effects or interact with other treatments. Additionally, withholding conventional treatments in favor of alternative therapies may have negative consequences.
The efficacy of complementary and alternative therapies varies greatly, and establishing their effectiveness can be challenging. Some therapies may have evidence supporting their use for certain conditions, while others may lack evidence or be ineffective. It is important to carefully evaluate the available scientific data before making decisions about using these therapies. Some individuals, including proprietors, therapists, and veterinary surgeons, may perceive that the therapies yield positive results due to their belief in the therapy (placebo effect), personal accounts (extrapolation from hearsay or personal experience of a single or limited number of cases), or errors in reasoning (cognitive bias).
There are key factors that determine efficacy and trustworthiness in alternative and complimentary therapies:
- Modern medicine is effective because it is built upon a scientific framework. While not all treatments utilized in conventional medicine possess a robust evidence base in terms of rigorous clinical trials demonstrating their efficacy, they do have a logical scientific or pathophysiological basis for their utilization. The same goes for unconventional therapies. For example, the simplest emotional reassurance can be effective and also proven as such by noting factors such as less signs of stress.
- The efficacy of certain treatments is so evident that further testing is unnecessary. For instance, it is widely acknowledged that rigorous clinical trials are not required to prove that parachutes reduce morbidity and mortality among people falling from aeroplanes. Similarly, intravenous anaesthetics are known to cause a rapid, profound loss of consciousness suitable for carrying out surgery without the need for rigorous trials. There is no unconventional replacement for anaesthetics, but there may be therapies accepted for surgical aftercare, such as localized heat or cooling as prescribed by a vet.
- The efficacy of many treatments is uncertain, making it difficult to determine whether a given treatment is actually efficacious or not, given the variable time courses of many diseases. In other words, don’t experiment on your dog. Evidence is crucial in deciding whether a treatment is safe and efficacious and the process of evidence-based (veterinary) medicine aims to improve our confidence by formally and systematically searching for all of the relevant evidence and grading the quality and reliability of that evidence.