By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Some providers of healthcare go beyond the typical “MD” and Western medicine services and modalities. So how can you know what they do is legitimate and helpful?
“Anyone can go online and pay $19.95 and be a reiki practitioner or massage therapist,” said Crystal Pilat, registered nurse, licensed esthetician and owner of Healing Roots in Auburn. “Look at the educational background. Do your research on the person and find out what their educational background is and the classes they’ve taken. Make sure if they are giving you advice that they’re looking at the core pillars of holistic practice. I wouldn’t say, ‘Put this cream on’ but ‘Your skin health is affected by what you eat.’”
Healing Roots balances Eastern and Western medicine in the practice, which offers integrative massage therapy, skin treatments, Reiki and other pain and stress relief modalities.
Any certification or credential offered should be by a third party and should reflect sufficient hours of study to demonstrate proficiency.
The modalities offered should prove effective, both in how it addresses what’s going wrong but also in promoting overall wellness.
“My belief is that a holistic wellness treatment or modality is not just what is it but how does it make your body feel,” Pilat said. “Holistic is the whole body: mind, body and spirit. It’s not just organic or less chemicals. It means a treatment that embodies all of those different avenues. We’re looking at every avenue.”
Online testimonials can hold some weight. However, no one would list a negative testimonial on the company website. Place more trust in a general practitioner or a friend suggesting an integrative medical provider.
Online reviews may also shed some light. However, people with a poor experience tend to leave more reviews than people with a positive experience. And some people engage in integrative medicine thinking that its effects will be immediate, such as with prescription drugs. Staffan Elgelid, professor at Nazareth Physical Therapy, said that a provider should have at least four reviews before you should think that the reviews hold merit.
“The majority of the complementary and alternative medicine modalities are long-term and tend to involve lifestyle changes,” Elgelid said. “If you don’t change your lifestyle, it slows the process.”
Check with the Better Business Bureau. Google the name of the organization or provider with “fraud” to see if others have complained about the services offered. Or search online news for the names. News stories may indicate that others have experienced problems.
When talking with a provider, ask about the timeline and by when you should expect to see some improvement. The provider should also be able to share any connections with Western medicine providers.
Elgelid said that some clinics say “integrative medicine” and might have a Western medicine person of some sort on staff, but the Western and alternative modalities have little to do with each other.
“That’s not integrative medicine,” Elgelid said. “They should discuss patients and refer to each other and have discussions together. That’s important for real integrative medicine.”