Holistic medicine finds increased acceptance

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard

Local physician Dr. Linda Foster combines conventional medical approaches with a variety of holistic and alternative techniques in her practice, a system often referred to as integrative medicine. (Charles W. Johnson photo)

Holistic medicine offers a wide variety of alternative medicines and treatment methods, many of which, like acupuncture, have been utilized successfully for centuries. But it is only recently that holistic concepts have begun making inroads into the conventional medical community.

The basic idea is a simple one. Holistic healers strive to treat the patient as a whole, rather than just concentrating on alleviating specific symptoms. As an adjunct to this, proponents also advocate a rather unusual tenet called wellness, which says healers shouldn’t practice reactive medicine, waiting until someone is ill before they treat them, but should instead work to improve their general health and well-being to the point where they don’t become sick in the first place.

Holistic medicine includes many techniques and methods conventional physicians once considered nothing more than crackpot schemes. But over the years, alternative forms of therapy like acupuncture, herbal remedies, homeopathy, healing touch, aromatherapy, chiropractic, folk medicine, nutritionals, and many more, have begun to gain a much wider acceptance, in large part because in some cases these treatments have been successful where conventional methods have not.

Things have changed to the point that today, many conventionally trained physicians have begun to integrate these treatments into their practices, leading to the invention of a new descriptive term, integrative medicine. These practitioners use a combination of conventional diagnosis and treatment along with natural and alternative modalities.

Dr. Linda Foster, a local physician with an office in River Park Hospital, is a proponent of integrative medicine and utilizes it in her practice. Foster did her undergraduate training at Brigham Young University, receiving a master’s degree in clinical microbiology there as well. She then got her medical degree at the University of Tennessee at Memphis.

Though Dr. Foster advocates the holistic approach, she prefers the term integrative medicine for her practice.

“I like to use that term myself,” she said, “because what I do is integrate what I already know from a conventional standpoint with the knowledge I have regarding natural medicine. And both of those give me a little broader perspective, a little bit broader base to work from, a few more tools in my toolbox to be able to help people.”

Foster feels these additional tools are a godsend.

“If something conventional doesn’t work,” she said, “I might go to something alternative.”

And she is not alone. Over the last 10 years, according to Foster, “persistent patients and confident practitioners” have begun to move these types of treatments into the forefront of mainstream medicine with schools like Duke and Harvard including such courses in their curriculums.

Foster says the efficacy of many of these treatments has been proven over time.

“We have to look at the rest of the world,” she said. “The rest of the world has used these therapies for thousands of years, and they work well.”

But more than anything else, Foster says holistic medicine is a different way of viewing patients.

“A lot of times practitioners just look at the sore throat, or the cramping abdomen,” she said, “but as a holistic physician, we try to keep in mind the whole person.

“In fact, what I tell a lot of my patients is I look at people like I look at my hand,” Foster said, holding up her hand and counting off the fingers, “You have your social, emotional, mental, physical and spiritual parts of you, and if any of those areas is hurting, then you aren’t an effective individual.”

Those interested in utilizing or learning about integrative medicine and holistic techniques can contact Dr. Foster at 815-0050.