Complementary Care

Complementary care is a holistic partnership between you and health-care providers to develop an integrative course of treatment and recovery. Its core focus is the whole body and includes physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health therapies. Integrative medicine combines the best of conventional medical care with the best of evidence-based body, mind, and spirit medicine and practices.

A complementary plan considers the overall well-being of the patient before, during, and after surgery. It looks at how to deal with side effects, including fatigue and emotional issues that are common when undergoing cancer treatments. A plan also takes into account the health of the patient once treatments are complete.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture stimulates the body and gives you an extra boost for healing as well as coping with treatment side effects. This ancient technique works with the body’s innate wisdom to rebalance itself.

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Herbs and Nutrition

Herbs carry a healing essence that enhances well-being and can reduce side effects. You may already be using herbs and don’t know it. Do you drink mint tea or use basil in your sauces?

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A Way Forward: Three Plans

Take time to do your research. Ask questions and decide which steps are right for you. Listen to your inner voice and take steps that you feel will be in your best interest.

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Care Tips

The body has amazing healing powers. No matter what decisions you make, these tips that will help you go through the process more easily.

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Integrative health is changing the face of medicine. In 1999, Duke University teamed up with the University of Arizona, which offered the only certification program in the country for physicians who wanted training in complementary care techniques. Now Duke has its own Center for Integrative Health Research.
Today complementary care also finds more acceptance among the general public. A U.S. National Institutes of Health survey, conducted in 2012, found 33.2 percent of adults and 11.6 percent of children used some form of complementary care over a 12-month period. A 2016 survey in Canada found nearly 80 percent of Canadians used at least one complementary or alternative therapy sometime in their lives.