Many doctors are interested in
    learning more about alternative...

 therapies, according to Brian Berman, M.D., a family practitioner with the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. Berman says his own interest began when "I found that I wasn't getting all the results that I would have liked with conventional medicine, especially in patients with chronic diseases.

"What I've found at the University of Maryland is a healthy skepticism among my colleagues, but a real willingness to collaborate. We have a lot of people from different departments who are saying, let's see how we can develop scientifically rigorous studies that are also sensitive to the particular therapies that we're working with."

Anyone who wants to be treated with an alternative therapy should try to do so through participation in a clinical trial. Clinical trials are regulated by FDA and provide safeguards to protect patients, such as monitoring of adverse reactions. In fact, FDA is interested in assisting investigators who want to study alternative therapies under carefully controlled clinical trials.

    Many doctors are interested in
    learning more about alternative...
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 Some of the alternative therapies currently under study with grants from NIH include: acupuncture to treat depression, attention-deficit  hyperactivity disorder, osteoarthritis, and postoperative dental pain hypnosis for chronic low back pain and accelerated fracture healing Ayurvedic herbals for Parkinson's disease.

(Ayurvedic medicine is a holistic system based on the belief that herbals, massage, and other stress relievers help the body make its own natural drugs.) biofeedback for diabetes, low back pain, and face and mouth pain caused by jaw disorders. (Biofeedback is the conscious control of biological functions such as those of the heart and blood vessels normally controlled involuntarily.)