Tapping Into Ancient Health Remedies

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Once known as “alternative” therapies that were often viewed as separate and uncertain postscripts to the conventional medicine offered in hospitals, integrative health services such as acupuncture, reiki, yoga, meditation, massage and more have been found to deliver proven benefits in the way of pain management, stress reduction, and energy enhancement – so much so that hospitals are increasingly bringing these services onsite and incorporating them into their mainstream approach for the treatment of a variety of conditions.

“Integrative medicine is playing a greater role in today’s healthcare climate, in part due to a renewed interest in preventive health and the increased evidence base of efficacy of many integrative modalities, but largely because of patient awareness and demand, ” said Dr. Minal Vazirani, medical director of the 16-year-old Siegler Center for Integrative Medicine at the Barnabas Health Ambulatory Care Center in Livingston.

“People are increasingly coming to understand that the answer to good health isn’t just the refilling of medications – such as the conventional ‘pill for an ill’ mentality – but rather a focus on the ‘root cause’ and ‘whole picture’ approach to optimal well-being.”

“Integrative medicine shouldn’t replace modern medical recommendations, but can assist in many aspects and be a complimentary resource, ” said Dr. Ladi Ilkhani, who works at Ocean Medical Center in Brick.

Vazirani concurs with the approach which can help people decrease their dependency on medication, experience less stress, feel more energetic, enjoy an improved quality of life and help prevent illness in advance.

“We have conventional doctors calling us in amazement and even showing up at our doors as patients once they document and witness their own patients’ life-changing stories through the addition of integrative approaches, ” said Vazirani.

She further noted that the previously ‘alternative’ practice of integrative medicine recently merited its own board specialty certification, “a development which has helped advance the field of integrative medicine to a new level of recognition and credibility within academic medical circles as well as the community at large, ” she said.

“With so many people facing chronic conditions today, prevention and wellness are key and lifestyle is such an important component, ” said Emilie Rowan, director
of programming for Atlantic Health’s Chambers Center for Well Being in Morristown, which opened its expanded, 20,000 square-foot facility in October.

“People are really looking for and driving the market for integrative services and we feel this is the future of medicine, ” Rowan said.

Beyond yoga and acupuncture

While many are familiar with more widespread integrative therapies such as yoga, meditation, and acupuncture, following is a sampling of some of the services being offered to the public at hospital-based wellness centers around the state:

Food as medicine:

“Concepts like anti-inflammatory diets, probiotics, and nutraceuticals have now become mainstream as society has embraced the concept of ‘food as medicine, ‘ ” Vazirani said.

Based on a belief that “we are what we eat, ” Ilkhani promotes education on foods that can cause inflammation, such as those containing refined sugar, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, additives and animal proteins, as well as on anti-inflammatory foods such as whole or intact grains, fruits, and vegetables as well as items low in saturated fat or high in omega-3s, plant proteins and unprocessed ingredients.

According to Dr. Louis Teichholz, chief of cardiology and medical director of Planetree and Complementary Medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, the hospital’s Fitness and Wellness Center, a partnership with the New York Giants, features a kitchen, which regularly hosts cooking demonstrations by dietitians, sessions on the power of herbs, vitamins, and supplements and lessons on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and other antioxidant-boosting protocols.

Homeopathy:

At the Virtua Center for Integrative Medicine in Voorhees, which opened in June 2014, director Dr. Polina Karmazin, specializes in homeopathy, a 200-year-old approach to treating illness using micro-doses of mineral or plant-based substances that have few to no side effects and trigger the body to heal itself, she said.

Offered in diluted solutions, creams, or pills taken under the tongue, these professionally administered natural remedies – which include everything from arnica for bleeding or bruising, belladonna for high fever, sore throat, or inflammation, or oscillococcinum to prevent or minimize the duration of cold or flu – effectively address a variety of ailments and can also help detoxify the liver, colon, or lymphatic system, she said.

Biopuncture:

While Karmazin has long specialized in the “safe, well-proven, and centuries-old technique” of acupuncture, which stimulates the body’s peripheral nerves to release natural pain-killing endorphins and is used to treat everything from neck aches to TMJ and nicotine cravings, she also offers biopuncture, a technique through which homeopathic medicines are injected under the skin through either trigger or acupuncture points.

First introduced a decade ago, “biopuncture is effective in treating chronic or acute muscle and joint pain associated with arthritis, sports, and overuse injuries and promotes the healing and detoxification of local areas without the need for or side effects associated with steroids or other medication, ” Karmazin said of the value of this technique.

“If we can achieve successful outcomes with safer approaches that bypass the side effects of medication, then we’re better serving our patients, ” she said.

Meditative therapies:

“Guided meditation and deep breathing exercises reduce blood pressure and anxiety and combat depression, ” said Ilkhani, and hospitals are responding by offering various forms of this eastern practice.

Among them, Hackensack offers a labyrinth for a spiritual walking meditation while the Chambers Center for Well Being offers a class in the ancient Tibetan practice of singing bowl meditation, “a deeply relaxing use of sound vibration to impact the body at a cellular level, detoxify, and reduce stress, ” Rowan said.

Ayurveda:

According to Vazirani, “ayurvedic medicine, which means ‘knowledge of life’ in Sanskrit, is an over 5,000-year-old approach that emphasizes nutrition, physical activity, meditation, yoga, pranayama (breath), and the incorporation of optimal daily and seasonal diets and routines as well as botanical medicine custom-tailored to individuals’ unique mind-body constitutions.

It offers a truly multisystemic approach to the prevention and reversal of many ailments, ” she said.

Movement arts:

At the Chambers Center for Well-Being, traditional strength training classes as well as the light dance movements of newer-age Nia, an intuitive fitness approach practiced barefoot, “keep you moving, keep your body flexible, and keep your mind-body-spirit energized, ” Rowan said.

Integrative interventions:

In addition to offering a range of wellness classes for the public, the state’s range of hospital-based integrative health centers provide complementary therapies to address specific patient issues, from tai chi for those with Parkinson’s and other neurological/movement disorders to integrative approaches to diabetes and thyroid conditions and physician-supervised heart-health and weight-loss programs.

“Over the years, we’ve evolved our model from a single center to the placement of techniques in individual areas of patient care, ” said Hackensack’s Teichholz. “For example, our cancer center has yoga as an integral part of the caring process, our cardiac rehabilitation uses meditation techniques, and our heart failure nurses teach Reiki to nursing staff.”

Overall, Vazirani concluded, integrative medicine focuses on optimizing wellness and the field of integrative health is enjoying a newfound appreciation in the treatment of a variety of ailments.

Ultimately, she added, “patient education and empowerment are the most powerful medicines of all.”

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