Herbal and animal therapy in regeneration

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Herbal and animal therapy in regeneration

Physiotherapy or regeneration refers to a health care profession that assists in promoting mobility, functional ability and generally quality of life. In some cases it may also be used as a remedy to impairment or physical disability. Physical therapists use it to diagnose and evaluate physical challenges thus making the process common in most physical examination clinics. The entire process of examination, diagnosing and health care is what is referred to as physical therapy or physiotherapy. However it can also be referred to as regeneration since it assists in improving the life of the patient or in other words assists in restoration of physical abilities. Research has shown that there are different ways of providing physical health care or physiotherapy to patients, such as herbal and animal therapy (Cameron, Michelle, 2003).

Herbal medicine refers to use of plants in health care. Plants have been used for medical purposes even before recorded history came to place. The idea is said to have originated in Ancient Chinese and Egypt since they used plants as medicine at around 3,000BC. Herbs are also noted in indigenous cultures like Africa who used herbs to perform healing rituals. Over the years medical systems began especially in Chinese where traditional medical system was first established to for therapeutic purposes. It was further discovered that almost all these groups used similar plants (Huff, 2003). This further resulted to chemical analysis to understand the drugs and later to the rise of chemists that provided version of plant compound. A recent research by World Health Organization found that 80% of world’s population still depends on herbs for their primary health care. This is also evidenced by research on Germans which proved that 70% of German Physicians prescribe herbal medicine.

Animal therapy similar to herbal therapy is said to have began long ago from ancient cultures. Animal therapy is said to have originated from the idea that animal have some supernatural power and are guided by animal spirits. Ancients grouping especially hunters and gatherers used the animals as social agents and as a way to relax. However, even though animal therapy is said to have began long before documentation the actual reference is noted in 18th century. This is the time that York Retreat in England headed by William Tuke introduced animals in a therapist institution. Bethlem Hospital later in 1860 followed the same trend and introduced animals in patient wards. Sigmund Freud a great psychoanalyst added dogs to his therapy and a few years later he won a therapists pioneer award for being a great therapist. In all these cases patients are said to have been more relaxed and social. It is assumed that it is because the animals did not look disturbed by their stories and the patients also felt they could confide in them (Loudon & Irvine, 2002).

These two therapies have several uses in physiotherapy or physical therapy. Herbal therapy for instance, has been in use for a long period of time with a dramatic increase in the past 30 years. There are many uses in which this mode of therapy is used but in most cases patients do not necessary seek professional assistance. According to U.S Dietary supplement Health and Education (DSHEA) herbal supplements is commonly used as a dietary supplement. They are different from prescription drugs since they do not have very many side effects. In most cases patients combine different types such as milk thistle (silyburn Marianum), ginger and feverfew for them to be more effective. For patients that require physiotherapy for instance those suffering from chronic fatigue, menopause, irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis may find herbal medicine prescribed to them. However, it is unfortunate to find that most patients use these drugs too repeatedly that they may cause an addition and they also find it difficult to admit it to their therapists they are using another drug. It worth noting that, herbs in physical therapy are quite effective in assisting the patients to relax and improve functionality (Knox, Gaster 2007).

Animal therapy on the other hand is used in physiotherapy in two different ways; dolphin therapy and equine therapy. Dolphin therapy refers to swimming with dolphins. It assists patients to break through and begin to socialize ones more. However, the system is criticized since is said that it does not achieve long term results. In addition, it is quite dangerous to patients and captive dolphins. Equine therapy is also quite used in physical therapy, it involves horseback riding which is quit effective for improving functionality. Patients who require physical therapy may have mobility challenges and learning horse riding may significantly improve their confidence. The therapy also consists of verbal dialogues thus improving patients listening and hearing skills or basically assisting the patients to communicate ones more (Ernst, 2011).

Clearly, both herbal and animal therapies are quit useful in regeneration. However, they both have positive and negative effects as tools of therapy. Herbs in physical therapy are helpful since they have no or little side effects. However, since they are unregulated, herbal products are in some cases wrongly labeled or may contain contaminants that are not included in the label list. Due to these shortcomings they may cause allergies and addition in high does. Animal therapy similar to herbal therapy has its strengths and weakness in physiotherapy (Buttner, Fitzsimmons, & Barba, 2011). Animal therapy is said to focus more on depression, childhood aliments and anxiety. However, the process has greatly been criticized for lacking long term effects. According to critics, the therapy involves an affective method rather than a behavioral method.

Bottom line both herbal therapy and animal therapy have been in existence for a long period of time, long before recorded history. The two have different uses in regeneration but they all have strong and weak areas that should be monitored closely during a therapeutic section.

References

Beck, Alan (1983). Between Pets and People: the Importance of Animal Companionship. NewYork: Putnam.

Buttner, L. L., Fitzsimmons, S., & Barba, B. (2011). Animal-assisted therapy for clients withdementia. Journal of gerontological nursing.

Cameron, Michelle H. (2003). Physical agents in rehabilitation: from research to practice. Philadelphia:W. B. Saunders

Ernst E. (2011). Herbal Medicine in the Treatment of Rheumatic Diseases. Rheumatic DiseasesClinics of North America.

Grene, Marjorie (2004). HYPERLINK “http://books.google.com/books?id=TJSGJjh8Jo8C&pg=PA11” The philosophy of biology: an episodic history. Cambridge UniversityPress.

Huff, Toby (2003). The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West. HYPERLINK “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_University_Press” o “Cambridge University Press” CambridgeUniversity Press

Izzo AA, Ernst E. (2009). Interactions between herbal medicines and prescribed drugs: anupdated systematic review. Drugs.

Knox J, Gaster B. (2007). Dietary supplements for the prevention and treatment of coronaryartery disease. J Altern Complement Med.

Loudon, Irvine (2002). HYPERLINK “http://books.google.com/books?id=dJEWZq0bq8kC&pg=PA54” Western Medicine: An Illustrated History. Oxford University Press

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Moquin B, Blackman MR, Mitty E, Flores S. (2009) Complementary and alternative medicine(CAM). Geriatr Nurs.