Herbal Practices
Echinacea. Chiropractic. Gingko Biloba. Acupuncture. What do all these have in common? They are all part of what is known collectively as ¡¥alternative medicine¡¦. Readers may not be surprised to find disciplines such as ¡§Therapeutic Touch¡¨ and acupuncture grouped under this label, but may be shocked to find that some seemingly well-established remedies such as chiropractic and vitamin supplements possess little or no scientific evidence for their claims. Partially for this reason, it is hard to (1) identify exactly what alternative medicine is and (2) what should be done about it. Alternative medicine, primarily, is any discipline claiming to alleviate health problems which relies on an uncorroborated theory ¡V that is, a theory which has little or no scientific evidence to back it up. (It is a common misconception that testimonials can somehow count as evidence that a practice works, and this is used often in commercials. Even if the testimonial is sincere, it is quite possible that a treatment has nothing to do with a recovery. Testimonials are often guilty of post hoc ergo prompter hoc, or ¡§after which, therefore because of¡¨.) This means any of a plethora of practices may fall under the blanket term. Many alternative m
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Therapeutic Touch, Biloba Acupuncture, alternative medicine, alternative medicines, little scientific evidence, practices medicines, ¡¥nutritional supplements¡¦, scientific evidence, regulate alternative, little scientific, school pass, allen 37,
Approximate Word count = 1191
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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