national center for complementary and alternative medicine five-year strategic plan 2001–2005

303 Pages·2010·1.03 MB·English

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
COMPLEMENTARY AND
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
COMPLEMENTARY AND
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Tova Navarra, B.A., R.N.
Foreword by
Adam Perlman, M.D., M.P.H.
Siegler Center for Integrative Medicine
St. Barnabas Health Care System, Livingston, New Jersey
The Encyclopedia of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Copyright © 2004by Tova Navarra
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Navarra, Tova
The encyclopedia of complementary and alternative medicine / Tova Navarra; foreword by Adam Perlman.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8160-4997-1
1. Alternative medicine—Encyclopedias. I. Title.
R733. N38 2004
615.5'03—dc21 2003043415
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
For Frederic

CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction xvii
Entries A–Z 1
Appendixes 175
Bibliography 251
Index 255

FOREWORD
At the age of 16 I began training in martial arts. their health and well-being. Although a number of
What started as a hobby, a way to get in shape careers would have afforded me the opportunity to
and increase my self-confidence, soon turned into a teach and promote health, I decided to become a
passion. I unexpectedly found myself on a path. physician. For is not the essence of medicine to
This path was one of self-exploration and develop- teach people to improve and maintain their
ment. As I progressed in rank and understanding health? In fact, the Latin root for doctor, docere,
and began to appreciate the benefits of improved means “to teach.” I can still remember the phone
health, discipline, and self-esteem, as did so many call to my parents when I informed them that I was
students before me, I developed a desire to teach deferring my law school entrance and planned to
and pass on what I had been taught. After a num- start premed classes in summer school less than a
ber of years of assisting, several fellow instructors week after graduation.
and I opened up a martial arts school. I was in col- Over the next year and a half, I completed
lege at the time and frequently finished classes and the premed requirements and was ultimately
immediately raced down to the school to teach or accepted to Boston University School of Medicine.
train. I found those days extremely challenging and During that time, I continued on my path of self-
rewarding. exploration. I continued teaching martial arts and
However, I soon discovered that my parents and began to question why conventional medicine did
family did not fully appreciate my vision of my life not often utilize methods from other healing tra-
as a martial arts instructor. Although they were ditions. I had seen multiple examples of problems,
always supportive, they encouraged me to consider such as back pain, improved through the use of
other avenues of employment. Given that my t’ai ch’i, or asthma through the use of various
father was a lawyer and I was a history major, law breathing exercises. I had seen multiple students
seemed a reasonable way to make a living while lose weight, improve their control of stress, and in
continuing my career as a martial artist. After going general improve their quality of life. To me a mar-
through the application process, I was fortunate tial arts instructor, nothing felt more meaningful
enough to be accepted for admission. As I began to and rewarding. To me, this was the essence of
contemplate graduation from college and the good medicine.
prospect of the first year of law school, I began to As I began my formal medical training, I quickly
question my decision. I simply did not feel passion- realized that teaching patients to improve or main-
ate about becoming a lawyer. I began to reevaluate tain their health was a part of medicine that often
what I did feel passionate about. What was it about got lost in trying to provide patients with the latest
teaching martial arts that made me feel so fulfilled? advancements in order to diagnose, treat, or cure
What I soon concluded was that I enjoyed disease. I also realized that others were less than
teaching and I enjoyed helping people improve understanding of my desire to expand the usual
ix