Forschende Komplementarmedizin最新文献

Background: The present study examines the efficacy of breathing and body therapy (according to the organization of breathing therapists, BVA) on bronchial asthma. This psychophysical therapy procedure has never before been studied for its efficacy on asthma, much in contrast to breathing exercises, which have been extensively examined.

Patients and methods: This uncontrolled observational study is of preliminary character. It examines the influence of psychophysical breathing and body exercises practiced in short-term intervention groups on quality of life (SF-36) as well as subjective discomfort (discomfort diary) in patients with bronchial asthma. As there are no prior studies on the breathing and body therapy (BVA) method, it was hypothesized, based on experience, that it would improve ventilation, lower anxiety, and perhaps even allow for a reduction of medication.

Results: An anti-obstructive effect could not be addressed here, as the study only included patients who were free of clinically relevant obstructions through conventional treatment. However, a tendency for an anxiety-relieving effect could be observed in the SF-36. Subjective reports of respiratory discomfort, obtained through assessment of the patients' diaries, did not show any tendencies or even significant changes over the course of the therapy.

Conclusion: The suggested anxiety-relieving effect of breathing therapy should be examined in future studies with more patients and stricter inclusion criteria.

Objective: The present paper examines the experience of establishing a center for evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine (EBCAM) practice. It examines both the difficulties and the challenges of doing research to establish EBCAM. The paper also examines the political context of the demand for evidence- based practice (EBP) for CAM.

Implementation: A center for EBCAM was funded for 3 years within the Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center by the National Center for CAM and administered by the Agency for Health Research Quality. This experience provides the basis for this paper.

Results: While the experience of creating an EBM Center for CAM has shown that much work can be accomplished by applying standard methods of EBP medicine, it also highlights the weaknesses of such an agenda. Many standard research methods are simply not applicable to CAM, and even where they are, effectiveness is a much more important means of assessing CAM than simply efficacy. Researchers however, must be conscious of the political motivations behind much of the demand for EBCAM. Where such demands are coming from allopathic medicine, they clearly form a continuing part of medical opposition to CAM and may be intended to perpetuate the dominance of the biomedical paradigm in healthcare. The challenge for CAM is to recognize the limitations of EBP but not to throw the 'baby out with the bathwater'. There is much in EBP that clearly should be emulated by the CAM community but only where it is appropriate.

Background: The health status of an individual in adulthood is proposed to be determined by events occurring in the prenatal and early postnatal period. A common early life event proven to have long lasting effects on the developing fetus is stress, including pain. Exposure of fetal and neonatal infants to repetitive psychological (e.g., maternal stress) or physiological (e.g., pain, infection, and noise) stress during this period is proposed to alter mechanisms involved in the regulation of stress, immunological maturation, pain perception, and cognition. Such changes, which persist into adulthood, may occur via alterations in the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This process is typically referred to as 'perinatal programming'. Ontogenic alterations in the development of the HPA-axis have been related to a number of adult pathologies such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, as well as psychopathologies such as anxiety and depression.

Objective: In this review, the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), such as music, dietary supplements, massage and aromatherapy, in reducing perinatal stress in mothers and infants is examined. An emphasis is placed on these therapies as preventative measures which may be of value to individuals at risk of developing disease profiles associated with the consequences of adverse perinatal programming. The widening interest in perinatal programming and CAM suggests the potential for CAM to become a valuable tool in offsetting negative adult health outcomes resulting from perinatal programming associated with adverse gestational early life environments.