Acupuncture, Naturopathy, and Massage Therapy: Are They for You?

A study published in the journal Cancer indicated growing use and acceptance of acupuncture, naturopathy, and massage therapy in addition to conventional cancer treatment.

Naturopathy is a holistic approach to wellness that includes lifestyle and nutrition counseling, as well as herbal therapy. Acupuncture is the practice of puncturing the body with fine needles at specific points to relieve pain. Most of us can give massages (why pay someone?) but massage therapists use specific techniques to help relieve side effects of cancer treatment.

The study showed that people with cancer are twice as likely to use naturopathy or acupuncture than people without cancer. Women were the most likely to opt for massage therapy.

If you think one of these treatments might by helpful to you or someone you know, there are a couple of things to do. One is to check with a doctor to make sure the treatment won't be harmful. Another is to check with your insurance company since sometimes these three forms of complementary treatments are covered.

_{Source: Lafferty, W. and Bellas, A. "The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medical Providers by Insured Cancer Patients in Washington State." Cancer 100.7 (Apr. 2004): 1522-1530. PubMed. 24 Aug. 2006 [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15042688&dopt=Abstract].}