Natural Cures

Natural Cures defines the concept that underlies Shared Care. We use the terms "therapy" and "natural cure" interchangeably. None of them involves mainstream medical approaches to treatment. No knives are involved and any pill, potion or infusion used is directly derived from some natural substance and not synthesized in a laboratory from chemical ingredients, hence it is "natural". "Cure" is more contentious. All modalities will produce a subjective improvement in some people that they will describe as a "cure". Not everybody will benefit and the term "Natural Cures" should NOT be taken to imply such.

The natural cures that we list fall into six main categories, and a catch all category where it doesn't fit into the other five. As always there are some that blur edges of that classification but remain essentially one of the main categories with elements of the others, or like Traditional Chinese Medicine or Ayurveda that encompass a whole philosophy combining all types.

• Talking Therapies
• Teaching Therapies
• Toxin Detection Therapies
• Touching Therapies
• Tablet Therapies
• Other Therapies

This list is a pragmatic classification based on the "what happens" as opposed to the philosophy of the natural cure which is the "why it happens". That would give whole different set of rules based on cultural, spiritual and geographical considerations that is outside our remit. We are only interested in positive outcomes and not the rationales behind them, which may be arcane in the extreme.

Talking Therapies

The category is self explanatory. The primary mode of the natural cure is practitioner talking, advising and interacting with the client/patient. These techniques will be modified over time by the personality of the practitioner and the interaction is driven by the relationship patient/client and the practitioner. This will change and develop over time and no consultation will be exactly the same as that following or preceding it.

Our list so far includes:-

• Autogenic Training
• BodyTalk
• Counselling and Psychotherapy
• Emotional Freedom Techniques
• Healing
• Hypnosis
• Life Coaching
• Meditation
• Neurolinguistic Programming

Teaching Therapies

Teaching "Therapies" are those that re-educate the client/patient to adopt a correct posture to alleviate all sorts of problems arising from the muscles, joints and bones. They may produce improvements in areas that seem to have little relation to the muscles, bones or joints.

Our list so far includes:-

• Alexander Technique
• Bowen Technique
• Pilates
• Yoga

Toxin Detection Therapies

Many ills are caused by the processing of food and the inclusion of substances that are toxic to some people. These may be things added deliberately such as sweeteners and preservatives or things produced by the process itself like tarry substances in barbecues. Similar toxins may be in the air. What I call toxin detection therapies link diseases to these phenomena and have adopted different methods for their detection. The advice is usually to avoid the offending substance.

Our list so far includes:-

• Environmental Medicine
• Kinesiology
• Naturopathy
• Nutritional Therapy

Touching Therapies

Touching therapies involve some form of physical contact between practitioner and client/patient to produce their effects. The contact may be gentle (as in reflexology) or more vigorous (as in hellerwork). It may use some part of the practitioner's body (hand, knee, elbow) or some outside device (as in biofeedback) or even minimally invasive techniques such as acupuncture which involves piercing the skin with needles.

Our list so far includes:-

• Acupuncture
• Asian Bodywork Therapy
• Biofeedback
• Chiropractic
• Craniosacral Therapy
• Healing Touch
• Hellerwork
• Massage
• Osteopathy
• Reflexology
• Shiatsu

Tablet Therapies

These are those natural cures that use some form of medicine taken by mouth or rubbed on. The essential element is that the treatment prescribed is derived from natural sources and not synthesized in a lab from pure chemicals.

Our list so far includes:-

• Chinese Herbal Medicine
• Homeopathy
• Western Herbal Medicine

Other Therapies

Reiki works with the energy fields and auras and involves some sort of passes over the body. It is a "non-touching" touch treatment and so falls outside that category. Aromatherapy involves treatment by fragrances and has been considered hypnosis by fragrances by some people. It too falls between categories. Lastly Approaches Individual to the Practitioner is the catch-all category for those great individual techniques practiced by the more experienced and and individual practitioners that cannot be squeezed into a specific box.

Our list so far includes:-

• Reiki
• Aromatherapy
• Approaches Individual to the Practitioner

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