Integrative Medicine Courses Infiltrating Traditional

I got in the mail a pamphlet called "Hospital Based Integrative Health Care Conference: Transforming Health Care Practice". It is being held August 3-6 at eh Westin in Edina Minnesota. It is promoted by the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing and offers courses in acupuncture, aromatherapy, biofeedback, energy healing, exercise therapy, guided imagery, healing touch, herbal, message, mind-body therapy, nutrition, reflexology, relaxation techniques, spiritual guidance and yoga. This is all obtained from their advertisement. It is open to real doctors, chiropractors, nurses, physical therapists and is 21.5 hours of approved credits from the National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. The 4 day conference is only $400. It is interesting to go over their course offerings. Basically they also talk about a successful hospital program. The buzz words of energy, and body natural healing. Several things are main stream and have good evidence to back them up such as biofeedback, exercise, nutrition and relaxation techniques. Acupuncture, healing touch or Rikki, aromatherapy, reflexology, energy therapy etc. are nothing more than magical thinking and have been proven in multiple studies to be no more better than placebo. Oriental medicine by the Chinese themselves is only used in people who have psychosomatic problems and not real organic diseases because there is too many Chinese and they cannot spend real time, money on them. That is to say it used for the ignorant masses. Rikki or healing touch itself was disproved by a small girl in the 1990's and published in JAMA. But the promoters say she was too young, the aura wasn't right etc. all excuses for their favorite brand of woo. What is distressing to me is that this kind of BS has infiltrated so far into today's' scientific medicine. They use small studies that are flawed in many ways and come up with all kinds of excuses for their working or not working. If a study says it shows merit they embrace it, if the study says it doesn't work they throw out the evidence and make excuses. I think most of this is a con to separate money from the ignorant masses and they dress it up in psuedoscientific jargon to impress the gullible. But there is a lot of this BS going around today. People just want to fool themselves or the others and feel hurt if they are called on their BS. Some threaten lawsuits or pull the poor victim card. Nature and science doesn't care and will do her own thing despite what we want or believe. She is a far harsher jury than man can ever be. Modern medicine is only 150 years old and has accomplished much more in that time than all of medicine of the prescientific age of over 2000 years. These charlatans want to bring back the prescientific magical age and turn back the clock those 2000 years. Shame on them.
Peace Skeptical DoDo