Principles of natural medicines

There is no clear boundary between althernative and conventional drugs. However put shortly the characteristics of these two main farmachological branches are as follows:

Mainstream drugs attack some disease producing agent and make it inert, and thus stops a disease process, but does not normally protect the body from being attacked once more.

Natural drugs makes the body able to attack the agent itself, to heal from damages done by the agent and increases the ability to stop new attacks. More specifically, althernative drugs consist of the following main types of working principles.

Substances that generrally trigger the immune system to work harder. - These are often organic substances found in herbs and animals, especially animals from the sea.

Substances that tigger the action of the immune system against some specific disease causing agent. - These are also often organic substances from the nature that resamble the disease causeing agent without being dangerous. The substances trigger a vaxine-like responce, and make the immune system more able to recognize the disease agents.

Nutrient that the immune system need as working tools. Most of these are vitamins, minerals, essential fat acids and amino acids.

Substances that trigger the repairing activities of the body. Most of these are hormone-like substances or substances used in the body as transmittor substances.

Substances that the repairing activities of the body need as working tools. Most of these are vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.

Nutrients that the body needs as building blocks for the repair activities. These are substances like proteins / amino acids, some minerals, lecitine, and essential fatty acids.

Nutrients that harminize the chemical balance of the body so that the internal body environment gets less hospitale for disease agents.

Nutrients that harmonize the chemical balance of the body so that the internal body environment gets more hostile for a friendly and useful bacterial flora, espesially in the intestinal canal.

About Osteopathy

Osteopathy is a manual form of treatment of bone disorders and siorders connected to bone misallignments, based on the theory that the body has the ability to heal itself. Osteopath's job is to stimulate greater effect, by treating muscles, joints and connective tissues throughout the body.

History
Dr. Andrew T. Still (surgeon) introduced Osteopathy in the United States in 1874. In 1892, the first osteopathy school was founded in Kirksville in the United States. In 1913, British School of Osteopathy started. Osteopath must have public approval in the United States, England and Finland, in other countries the title and profession is not regulated or protected.

Diagnosis
the osteopath will take up detailed medical history and takes a thorough investigation that uncovers possible links to the current issue. The osteopath assesses the attitude, conduct of mobile units, test functionality, and use hands to assess the flexibility of the body's soft and elastic tissues. The whole body is taken into account, also other places than where the symptoms are manifest.

The goal is to find the localized problem areas in the body and all the correlations between these and towards other areas. This assessment is the starting point for treatment, and each treatment will be designed individually.

Problems where osteopatisk treatment may be appropriate
- Back pain, dizziness
- Hip, knee and ankle problems, Bekkenløsning
- Neck, shoulders and armproblemer, menstrual pain
- Sports injuries,
- Functional digestive problems
- Infants Colic, incontinence
- Chronic otitis media, whiplash injuries
- Sinusitis, jaw problems
- Tinnitus,
- General fatigue and impaired vitality.
- Scar tissue

Osteopathic treatment modalities
In osteopathy one uses the same sort of manipulations as in chiropractics in certain cases. The osteopath will however as often use manipulations of a softer kind and will often manipulate soft and elastic tissues directly in addition to manipulations exerted directly at bony structures. Manipulative techiques used are:

- Balanced ligamentous tension (BLT)
- Counterstrain - These are techiques to brake reflexes that produce excessive physical stress on certain pionts that then give rize to pain.
- Cranial osteopathy - Techiques to correct misllignment in the head that may produce symptoms in the cranial structures or elsewhere.
- High-velocity low-amplitude thrust (HVLAT)
- Joint mobilization – articulatory techniques to improve the allaignment of joints and to normalize joint mobility.
- Lymphatic pump manipulations- These are manipulations to improve lymph flow and thus treat edema and other symptoms of lymph flow bolckages.
- Muscle energy technique (MET) - These techiques is used to increase the range of movements. By these techiques one uses muscle work to produce subsequent relaxations of unehalthy static tensions that block the movement of muscles.
- Myofascial release - These techiques are used to treat dysfunctions in the motorical apparatus of the body. The treatment consists of muscle relaxation, tissue blood flow stimulation and stimulation of reflexes.
- Neuromuscular therapy, trigger point therapy or myodysneuric point therapy
- Soft tissue technique - manipulations of muscles, connective tissue, skin and tendons.
- Visceral manipulation - manipulative treatment of the internal organs.

In the US and some other countries osteopats have an extensive medical education that include standard medical techiques also used by other doctors and are authorized in using a widde variety of medical treatment modalities.

An osetopath will allways treat a patient according to an approach where the whole body is taken into concideration and will choose the combination of treatment modalities that he finds most appropriate. In other countries osteopaths may be restricted by education and authorization to only using manipulations or similar modalities.

Some kinds of althernative medicine  or lifestyles types

Colonics - Therapy based on cleansing enemas. One tries to clean out the colon as good as possible at each session lasting 1 hour. After several sessions the aim is to have cleaned out all hardened stool that have been stick inside the colon or fixed to the inner walls of the colon. The treatment also aimes at cleaning out an unhealthy bacterial flora and toxins in the colon and assosiated with the colon walls

Hydro-therapy - A terapy using cold or warm water or baths as therapeutic means. The baths can be performed using pure water or can contain solutions of chemical elements, aromatic herbal extracts or salts. Elements often used in bath therapy are seasalt, pine oil, sulphur, carbon dioxide and lavendel oil. Strong colored extracts, especially extracts from colored flowers is sometimes used both for the effect of the extract and the color effect.  Hydrotherapy is often performed in health institutions, health farms, spas and recreational retreats and is often combined with training regimes, diet regimes, colonics and physiological treatment methods.

Herbal medicines - Madicines based on dried herbs or herbal extracts as working substances.

Ortho-molecular medicine - Treatment of disorders by doses of vitamins, minerals and other natural biologically active susbtances in an amount that maximally supports immune functions and other body functions. By certain diseases the immune system needs more working tools than otherwise, and certain conditions may deplete the body or specific tissues of certain nutrients.

Orthomolecular medicine seeks to establish that amount of workings substaqnces in the tissues that is optimal for the functions. This amount is individual, it may be high in some cases and lower in other. Substances used in this kind of medicine are those that the body naturally apply in physiological functions. By furnishing specific natural substances, natural functions are amplified and that has a therapeutic effect.

Ayurvedic medicine - The traditional medicine of India, using herbs or minerals as treatment agents. It is based on a philosophy of balancing the life forces in the human body.

Juice therapy - Dieting using intake of just vegetable juices for some time - This kind of dieting has the purpose of renovating the intestines and the rest of the body from garbage and waste substances. It is sometimes combined with cleansing enamas and a shorter or longer period thereafter of eating just raw vegatables, fruits, nuts, cereals, and seeds.

Raw food diet - A diet consisting only of raw vegatables, fruits, nuts, cereals, and seeds. Sometimes milk or egg is added to the diet.

Lacto-vegetarian diet - A diet consisting on only food of botanical or diary origine. Sometimes eggs are also added.

Vegetarian diet - A diet consisting on only food of botanical origine.

Vegan lifestyle - A whole lifestyle where one does not at all use or consume products of zoological origine, neither as food or for other purposes.

Anthroposophic medicine -Anthroposophy is a thory about the total composition of the human body and sole, about reincarnation and about the mutual relationship btween humans and the whole of the nature. It claimes that a human being is composed of the physical body, the sole and several layers between. These layers controle the development and healing processes in the physical body. Anthroposophic medicine has the aim of influencing all these layers as well as the physical body in order to bring optimal health and healing. It uses all kind of natural methods and special pychological methods or meditations.

Homeopathy - Medicines based upon substances causing the same symptoms as those that shall be treated. The substances are diluted. Most of the diultion is discarded. The saved part of the dilution is diluted once again, and this is repeated many times. The theory holds that the original substance by this process sets some kind of mark in the dilution medium. By using the final dilution as medicine, some kind of curing process is revoked in the body. The theory may find a kind of logical basis in modern quantum physics.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This information is nutritional in nature and should not be construed as medical advice. This notice is required by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.