Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 20, No. 3, 264-265 (2001)
Published by the American College of Nutrition
The Arthritis Foundation Guide to Alternative Therapies.
Juan Silverio, MD, FACN
University of Miami School of Medicine
Miami, FL
The Arthritis Foundation Guide to Alternative Therapies. Judith Horstman. Atlanta: Arthritis Foundation, 1999.
This is a publication of the Arthritis Foundation. The book is backed by scientifically knowledgeable medical editors such as William Arnold, M.D., Brian Berman, M.D., J. Roger Hollister, M.D. and Matthew Liang, M.D., M.P.H. It is not intended to replace the proven scientific data already employed by medical rheumatologists, neurologists and other scientific specialists who have been trained in the management of the different forms of arthritis, acute or chronic. However, because of the complexity involved in managing this medical entity and because alternative therapies in the management of many illnesses have come to the fore recently, this publication has been made available so that experts in this medical area can evaluate the possible efficacy of alternative therapies when classical methods have failed. Many of the therapeutic approaches presented in the work have not been subjected to rigorous scientific evaluation, and the book clearly states that the Arthritis Foundation does not imply that it endorses the use of these therapies. However, the book gives detailed backgrounds of the several medical authorities who have taken part in the publication of this book. They include over 50 medically trained personnel, aside from the four already mentioned.
The publication includes areas such as "Mind-Body Therapies," which involve biofeedback, meditation, hypnosis, relaxation exercises, breathing exercises and many other approaches which have been shown effective in the management of difficult-to-treat clinical entities such as arthritis. Many other forms of non-conventional therapy have been used in this disease such as prayer, yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, bee venom, copper bracelets, fasting, vegetarian diet and the like. All these and many others are discussed in this interesting work of 285 pages.
It is known that people suffering from arthritis are among the highest users of alternative therapies. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that almost 70% of physicians don’t discuss alternative therapies with their patients because they don’t feel knowledgeable enough about these possibly useful approaches.
The book is worth evaluation by all medical personnel managing arthritic patients.
