Talk to Wooster
Winter 2005
Health Care Off the Beaten Path
"The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."–Attributed to Inventor Thomas Alva Edison, 1870s
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Alternative Therapies — A Glossary
Parasites are the bane of the international traveler, not easy to diagnose and harder to get rid of. "I lost sixty-five pounds in four months," Ed Stumpf ’80 recalls. He became infected while volunteering at a refugee camp in the Philippines. "I tried several courses of Western medical treatment but could not get rid of the parasites. When I returned to the States, doctors told me I had ruined my liver. They said I should stay in bed for a year, and maybe I would get well. Six weeks later, after intensive homeopathy, acupuncture, and nutritional work, my blood tests were better than before I left the States. The doctors were absolutely amazed, but not one of them asked me which therapists I was seeing, so they could refer their patients."
"There are many paths to wellness, and some reach a certain level of comfort faster than others," Stumpf says.
Anywhere from thirty to forty percent of American adults turn to some means of alternative medicine on their health journeys. Add prayer used specifically for health issues and the number jumps to sixty percent. In a time of increasing medical specialization and technology, the holistic approach of non-conventional practitioners holds new appeal. Today traditional and non-traditional health care paths often converge, even merge.
Alternative and/or complementary medicine refers to those methods not usually included under the umbrella of conventional or "allopathic" practice: massage therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, energy healing, naturopathy, and numerous others (see Glossary, page 25). Once categorized by conventional medicine as unorthodox, some therapies have lately gained official acceptance. In 1992 the National Institutes of Health created the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to pursue and compile research data on various practices outside of the mainstream.
One of the fastest growing areas of non-conventional medicine is chiropractic. This method, over one hundred years old, posits that the nervous system needs to function at top form to ward off disease. Misalignments of the spinal structure that surrounds and protects the nerves affect other bodily functions. Chiropractors view the body as a whole, not a group of separate parts, and manually correct misalignments.
In 1992 David Fieldgate ’72 began to suffer neck pain – a result of playing tennis, he thought. The pain went away with rest and medication. But it came back, again and again. Finally a friend suggested that Fieldgate see a chiropractor. "Previously," he recalls, "I just never thought about chiropractic."
Fieldgate felt significant relief after his first visit. With succeeding treatment, the discomfort disappeared and his range of motion improved. At the same time, he read magazine articles on alternative medicine, including a negative piece on chiropractic. Fieldgate tried to reconcile this with his own experience and became intrigued. After fifteen years in pharmaceuticals, he entered the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Fieldgate joined a chiropractic practice in Dracut, Massachusetts, seven years ago.
"My favorite patients have never been to a chiropractor," he says. "Very often they come because they have not had a good response from a medical doctor or are tired of taking medications without any improvement.
"The new patients make the journey across the line in the sand. Sometimes they are afraid, and it is my job to ease their fears. Very often after the first adjustment, patients are amazed at the results and regret not having come years earlier." But chiropractic is not about a quick fix, Fieldgate says. "I always tell patients that I don’t cure anything. It is my job to find the misalignment, make the correction, and then let the body heal itself." If a conservative course of treatment does not help or if a patient has a condition that is beyond the chiropractor’s scope, he or she will refer the person to an allopathic physician.
Increasing numbers of people also turn to yoga for emotional or physical healing along with toning and relaxation. Judy Mathys teaches the ancient practice at the Wooster YMCA and in the College’s wellness program. Yoga works to unify mind, body, and soul through a series of asanas or postures, breathing, relaxation, and meditation.
Mathys especially appreciates two aspects of yoga: the concept of surrendering head to heart, resulting in compassion for oneself and others, and the signals that one internalizes with the repetitive practice – a deep breath that shifts one into the yoga mode of awareness or the "Om" chant as a cue for relaxation.
She remembers a colleague, diagnosed with leukemia, who asked Mathys to do yoga with her. Her physician recommended against the poses, so the two only practiced meditation and relaxation. They did this regularly, even after doctors could offer no more medical help. Mathys says, "Yoga empowered this woman to live her final months more fully."
