COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

1. Some practices claim to have the healing effects of conventional medicine, while avoiding its side
effects. Read the text below to find out more about traditional approaches to medicine:

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) represents any of the various approaches intended to
improve or maintain human health that are not part of standard medical care (also known as conventional, or
Western, medicine). CAM approaches typically are complementary to, or used in place of, standard medical
practices. Such procedures are sometimes referred to as holistic or traditional medicine, although those areas
do not cover all forms of CAM. Indeed, CAM includes not only classical systems, such as Ayurvedic
medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, which are centred on bringing together the mind, body, and
spirit, but also a wide range of other forms of therapy, including chiropractic medicine, biofeedback, art
therapy, hypnosis, prayer, specialty diets, and therapeutic touch. Many of those practices are considered to
be marginal when compared with conventional practices – that is, they usually are not a central part of the
medical curriculum, nor are they typically prescribed by physicians who practice conventional medicine.
However, partly due to the growing evidence that supports the safety and efficacy of certain CAM
approaches, some practitioners of conventional medicine have also become practitioners of CAM.
Prior to the rise of scientific medicine in the 19th century, medical practice was a relatively undifferentiated
field. Herbal remedies were prescribed regularly, and practitioners were not only the precursors of
contemporary doctors but also groups such as bonesetters and healers. With the rise of scientifically based
medicine and the development of the modern medical profession, however, the understanding of human
disease increased dramatically. Health care became increasingly centred on biomedicine, and a division of
labour proliferated. Some doctors, for example, specialized in surgery, whereas others focused on areas such
as infectious diseases, human development, or mental health. In addition, beginning in the 19th century,
scientists discovered ways to isolate and synthesize the active ingredients of plant-based medicines, which
gave rise to the modern pharmaceutical industry. By the mid-20th century the advances in medicine had
marginalized CAM in Western countries.
In the 1960s and ’70s a medical counterculture arose in the West, born from the more general
countercultural trend that involved, among other things, a rising interest in Eastern practices of meditation,
mysticism, and other philosophies. There was a growing awareness of the limits of conventional medicine,
and some believed that modern biomedicine was becoming increasingly counterproductive. Therefore,
public interest in CAM gained new impetus.
(Adapted from https://www.britannica.com/science/complementary-and-alternative-medicine)

2. Match the underlined words in the text with their definitions provided below:

1. Knowledge, consciousness
2. Religious belief in the occult or in a reality surpassing normal human understanding or experience
3. Person, usually not formally qualified, who treats fractures or dislocated bones
4. Completing, forming a satisfactory or balanced whole
5. Established by accepted usage or general agreement
6. Alternative culture, deliberately rejecting or opposing the dominant values and behaviour of society.
7. Way of considering or doing something
8. Stimulation or encouragement resulting in increased activity
9. Person qualified to practise medicine
10. Producing a substance by a chemical reaction in plants or animals

3. Fill in the gaps with the suitable prepositions:

1. Prior _________ beginning the procedure, leeches are kept in a bowl of sterile water under refrigeration.
2. These symptoms should not be confused with hot flashes due _________ hormonal changes.
3. Applying cold compresses aims _________ reduce body temperature in patients with fever.
4. Abstaining _________ drinking will most likely become difficult, so you should have a plan in advance
for when cravings strike.
5. This article describes different approaches ___________ traditional Chinese medicine.
6. Alongside your medication for high blood pressure, you could use the herbal remedies the doctor was
referring ___________ .
7. Some new thought systems are obsessed __________ the mind and its seemingly unlimited powers.
8. I cannot understand your attitude _________ vaccination: without it, we might have never been born, due
to diseases like smallpox.
9. Three to five days after measles symptoms begin, a rash breaks out and the skin of the patient's face can
become covered __________ flat red spots
10. Practitioners of homeopathy claim that their remedies are devoid __________ all chemical toxicity.

6. Fill in the blanks with the suitable word from the box below:

assess gaps methodology randomized reluctance

1._____________ among doctors to employ CAM often is related to the protection of their patients. Despite
the ideology of a safe, “natural” approach to health care, the approaches used in CAM pose certain hazards
to users, ranging from punctured lungs in the case of acupuncture to potentially fatal overdosing from herbal
remedies. There are also major 2.________________ in the evidence that has been provided for such
therapies. By the late 20th century many complementary and alternative therapies still had not been explored
in clinical 3. _______________ in human patients, unlike most drugs and devices employed in conventional
medicine. That was largely because manufactured pharmaceuticals and other medical products were thought
to be superior to complementary and alternative therapies, and so the latter did not attract significant
investment from governments and biomedical companies. In the early 21st century, however, an increased
need for medicines generally resulted in 4. _______________ interest in natural-products drug discovery
and in 5.___________________ medical practices, which in turn led to a rise in the clinical exploration of
various CAM therapies.
Much debate remains about how to 6.__________________ the efficacy of CAM. The need for large-scale
randomized controlled trials is highly controversial, particularly because many complementary and
alternative therapies have been used by humans for centuries and because certain conventional medicines
that have been 7.__________________ by such means have later been discovered to cause severe side
effects, resulting in their removal from the market. There are also significant methodological questions about
whether the 8.________________ controlled trial is the best way to evaluate complementary and alternative
therapies, especially when they are employed holistically. Many treatments associated with CAM are
9._________________ toward individuals, rather than toward conditions (e.g., diabetes or heart failure) as
in conventional medicine, suggesting that alternative methods of assessment may be more appropriate. For
example, randomized controlled trial 10._________________ attempts to eliminate the placebo effect, but
some researchers have claimed that the placebo effect should be more fully employed in studies of
complementary and alternative therapies. Other methods, such as case studies and consumer-satisfaction
surveys, are attractive evaluative tools for CAM.
(Adapted from https://www.britannica.com/science/complementary-and-alternative-medicine)

7. Put the following sentences in the correct order. The first one has been numbered for you:

1. Assessing the efficacy of CAM should be done on a scientific basis, through controlled trials.
Beyond evidence from randomized controlled trials, the data set on CAM is enriched by a plethora of
individual case studies.
But such reviews can be performed provided that clear criteria to assess the quality of the studies are
employed and that there is a sufficient number of credible trials on which to build the meta-analysis.
However, from the standpoint of conventional research methodologies, the numbers of participants usually
has been too restricted to make firm judgments about the likely efficacy of particular complementary and
alternative therapies.
In addition, peppermint oil is more effective than a placebo for the treatment of irritable bowel disease.
In such cases, systematic reviews of trial data can be helpful.
In the field of herbal medicine, such systematic reviews have suggested that extracts of St. John’s wort
(Hypericum perforatum) can provide symptomatic relief in cases of mild to moderate depression.
Many of these individual studies indicate the positive qualitative outcomes that can be obtained from such
therapies.
Many small-scale controlled trials of CAM have been conducted, with comparisons to placebos and to
conventional approaches.
Some of those trials have produced encouraging results – for example, the use of acupuncture in the relief of
chronic pain.

8. Choose an idiom to replace the expressions in parentheses:

1. When the paramedics arrived at the scene of the accident, the injured passenger was (near death).
a. hanging out his shingle; b. drawing blood; c. at death's door; d. going under the knife.

2. My mother is (back on her feet) after being sick for two weeks.
a. breathing her last; b. a bundle of nerves; c. up and about; d. blacked out.

3. My father is (healthy again) after his illness.

4. My husband has been working very hard lately and is (getting into poor condition).
a. kicking the habit; b. getting a splitting headache; c. on the mend; d. becoming run down.

5. The patient's condition is critical, but I think that he will (recover).

6. The woman in the hospital waiting room (had a very pallid skin).
a. looked the picture of health; b. was black-and-blue; c. was pale as a ghost; d. was in a family way.

7. The trainer (restored the player to consciousness) after he fainted and fell on the ground.
a. rubbed salt into the player's wound; b. hung out the player's shingle; c. brought the player to;
d. blacked the player out.

8. Last night my father (became sicker).

9. When I looked over the cliff, I (became frightened).

10. When diabetes is (getting better), you have no signs or symptoms of it.
a. on medication; b. in remission; c. in the pink; d. alive and kicking.