Despite widespread belief, billions of dollars spent over the course of a decade have demonstrated that alternative medicines don't have any beneficial effects.
Ten years ago the government set out to test herbal and other alternative health remedies to find the ones that work. After spending $2.5 billion, the disappointing answer seems to be that almost none of them do.Echinacea for colds. Ginkgo biloba for memory. Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis. Black cohosh for menopausal hot flashes. Saw palmetto for prostate problems. Shark cartilage for cancer. All proved no better than dummy pills in big studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The lone exception: ginger capsules may help chemotherapy nausea.
As for therapies, acupuncture has been shown to help certain conditions, and yoga, massage, meditation and other relaxation methods may relieve symptoms like pain, anxiety and fatigue.
So variations on physical therapy can be effective in certain circumstances, but herbs and alternative "medicines" are nothing more than superstition.
No, no, no. Doesn't anyone understand science?
You cannot scientifically prove that a treatment had no effect. You can only fail to disprove the null hypothesis--the assumption that the treatment has no effect. And there are two ways to fail to disprove the null hypothesis: 1) the treatment in fact has no effect, or 2) the study was flawed in some way.
You can never prove the null hypothesis. Anyone who says otherwise does not understand science.