Alternative Medicine

NAPLES, Florida — Asad Ur Rahman, MD, a gastroenterologist at Cleveland Clinic Florida, spoke with Healio about highlights from three presentations he attended at the 2022 ACG/FGS Spring Symposium.

Healio’s most-viewed psychiatry stories in January highlight the global burden of mental disorders on health, a survey that provides insights into Americans’ support of psychedelics and a regulatory development for Rexulti.

Even though the number of patients who visited an acupuncturist about doubled from 2010 to 2019, and insurance coverage for the treatment increased, most patients continued to pay out of pocket, according to recent data.

Three months after a cohort of patients used a home-based therapeutic virtual reality program called EaseVRx, data indicated it was superior to a sham device in several clinical measures related to the user’s chronic lower back pain.

More than one-third of individuals with hidradenitis suppurativa reported using alternative medicine approaches, regardless of age or disease severity, according to a study.

The likelihood that opioid treatment for common neurological conditions was initiated appeared to decrease with greater access to neurologists or other specialists who offered alternative pain treatment.

Although multiple therapies, including systemic and biologic treatments, are effective in treating psoriasis, topical agents are an important component of psoriasis management, according to April W. Armstrong, MD.

Nonpharmacological sleep interventions were effective in reducing anxiety and sleep-related thought processes, and these benefits were more substantial in patients with anxiety, according to a recent meta-analysis.

A recent study showed that multiple sessions of acupuncture therapy led to greater improvements in symptoms of moderate to severe chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome compared with sham therapy.

Doctors dressed as clowns have been shown to improve symptoms and the psychological well-being of hospitalized children, according to a systematic review published in The BMJ.