Would you like to find a way to get off your medications? Are you tired of something that keeps coming back even, though you've gotten treatment for it multiple times? There is a better way. There are many ways to find the root cause for dis-ease, and finding that root cause is the only way to get lasting healing.

According to the National Cancer Institute, conventional medicine is "A system in which medical doctors and other healthcare professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery." It's also called Standard medical care or Western medicine.

I am very familiar with conventional medicine and its pros and cons. I spent 23 years working as a Physical Therapist, and three of those years teaching in an excellent graduate Physical Therapy program. But I'm also a convert and now practice and teach alternative healing. 

Is conventional medicine better?

Here's where conventional medicine excels - in the treatment of trauma. Hospitals, ERs, and surgical teams are incredibly skilled and I'm very thankful for them.

Here's where conventional medicine isn't so great - in the actual healing of dis-ease. Merriam-Webster defines heal as: "to make free from injury or disease; to make well again; to restore health; to restore to original purity or integrity."

The last definition of healing is my favorite. If you read the standard definition of conventional medicine again, it's about drugs, radiation and surgery. Physical therapists and other professionals use hands-on care and exercise as well. Does taking a drug for cancer or for high blood pressure "restore to original purity or integrity?"

Conventional medicine is designed to treat symptoms, and not designed to provide healing for the underlying cause of those symptoms. This is because conventional medicine is a system that is primarily based on the physical body, separate from the emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of a human being. If we just focus on the physical, we're only getting part of the picture.

The National Cancer Institute has an entire page about complimentary and alternative medicine. Alternative medicine is anything used in place of standard medical care. 

What determines whether a treatment is conventional or alternative is based primarily on current research (and financial interests and a host of other things we won't even mention here). As someone who has a research-based PhD degree, I definitely support research to determine the effectiveness of interventions. However, there is one major limitation of research for medical interventions, and it's this: there are many things that can't be measured and quantified (yet) in a way that satisfies the medical community and review boards.

Acupuncture, for example, has been used for thousands of years, but it's still not accepted as a form of conventional medicine.

What makes alternative medicine better?

Through my years as a Physical Therapist, and my insatiable quest to delve deeper into true healing, I came to understand quite clearly that unless we treat the entire individual, and get to the root cause of the symptoms, true healing won't occur. Sure, there is temporary healing quite regularly. But most often, dis-ease reoccurs until the underlying issue is finally addressed.

Think of an apple tree. If the tree is producing diseased apples, will you get healthy apples by simply spraying the diseased apples season after season, or by fortifying the entire treat at the roots, and improving the soil in which it grows?

To truly heal from a physical ailment, we must address the underlying emotional, mental, and/or spiritual causes. We are not simply physical beings. Focusing only on physical causes is like putting new siding on your house but leaving the rotting wood underneath.

If you have a chronic illness, medical diagnosis of disease, or any physical pain, ask yourself some questions. Ask your body, why do you hurt? What do you want to say to me? What are you trying to tell me? If you'd like more guidance and to delve deeper into this process, go to this page, click the button, and get my FREE guide.