Stuffy nose. Headache. Sneezing. There may be no way around the common cold, but there is a wide array of choices to treat it outside of the pharmacy.

The increase in cost of heath care and prescription drugs has caused a rise in popularity for the exploration of what alternative and complimentary medicines have to offer.

Edward Rosick, assistant professor of family and community medicine, said although there are still many skeptics of alternative treatments, he sees the integration of Western medicine with other alternatives beneficial for everyone.

"My philosophy is that I think it's overall a very good thing that Western-based medicine is taking seriously and incorporating non-Western modalities that people have been using for hundreds, if not thousands, of years," Rosick said.

Many of the types of alternative practices focus on preventing disease and getting to the core of the problem instead of treating symptoms. This often makes alternative treatments cheaper than traditional Western medicine in many long-term scenarios, yet there are downfalls to both, Rosick said.

Acupuncture

Standing near a cot in a dimly lit room, Victor Kumar can be found inserting thin needles into pressure points of his clients' bodies at Creative Wellness Holistic Health Center, 2025 Abbott Road in East Lansing.

Though the use of needles to cure disease and pain is considered alternative medicine in the United States, acupuncture has been used by the Chinese for more than 2,000 years, said Lisa Dalton, spokeswoman for the center.

"They are very, very thin, hair-like needles. Most of the time you can't feel them going in," Dalton said.

Kumar, a practitioner of Chinese medicine at Creative Wellness, said the philosophy he uses when performing acupuncture is a mix between the traditional and modern theories.

"The body built itself, (so) it can regulate itself, repair itself and rebuild itself," Kumar said.

It's when one of these three functions of the body stops that disease and pain occur, he said.

"Acupuncture stimulates the function so the body can fix itself," Kumar said.

Each pressure point to linked with something different in the body, and therefore stimulates a different reaction when the needle meets the pressure point, he said.

"Finding points is easy — using points in conjunction (with each other) is the tricky part, and picking the right points and needling those points correctly," Kumar said.

Acupuncture treats the source of the pain and doesn't wear off, he said.

Kumar gave the example of painkiller verses acupuncture for treating chronic pain. Once the medicine wears off, the pain is back because the source is still there. With acupuncture, the source is eliminated, so continuous treatment isn't necessary, he said.

"That's why it's good as a complimentary treatment (used with traditional Western medicine). People use acupuncture to reduce the amount of medication," Kumar said, adding that because it reduces the need for medicine, it will cost less in the long term.

MSU physician Dr. Beth Alexander said acupuncture is one alternative medicine that has become more popular because recent studies have provided evidence supporting the theories behind the practice.

Acupuncture encourages the body to fix itself rather than taking over and imitating what the body already does with other treatments, Kumar said.

"Over the past 10 years, it's grown tremendously here in the states," he said.

Herbal Treatments and Reiki

Whether it's milk thistle for liver problems, red clover for purifying the blood stream or black cohosh for hot flashes, every herb has a characteristic that is beneficial for the body, said Cheryl Makhoul, a certified natural health professional and owner of Signature Herbs, 217 N. Clippert St. in Lansing.

Herbal treatment, unlike over-the-counter drugs, targets the source of the problem instead of treating the symptoms, Makhoul said, adding that there are herbs that will treat the symptoms as well.

"I believe God put these herbs on the earth so we can heal ourselves," she said. "It's more natural and less invasive than prescription drugs."

Makhoul said taking vitamin and mineral supplements is also especially important because they are no longer found in many foods we eat.

"A lot of foods are so processed that you aren't getting the vitamins and minerals out of them," she said. "It's real important to get whole foods in your diets."

Alexander said though herbal treatments can be beneficial for the body, the consumer does have to be careful because there aren't regulations on who can distribute them. Negative results from herbal treatments can include combining herbs with dangerous drugs, a dishonest seller of what is being provided and some herbs reacting badly with other medications, she said.

"So there are good things and bad things with those systems and approaches to healing," Alexander said.

Aside from providing herbal remedies, Makhoul is also a Reiki master. Reiki, which originated in Japan, is a form of healing by touch. The person performing Reiki runs their hands over the client's body or above the body to feel the problem areas, she said.

Makhoul gave the example of the kidneys as a problem area, where she would lay her hand to heal, she said.

"The hands would (get) really warm, and what that is doing is transferring energy to the kidneys so they can heal themselves," Makhoul said. "It works with your life-force energy to bring it back to harmony so the body can heal itself."

Chiropractic

Chiropractic medicine is more than a crack, snap and quick fix.

It focuses on the relationship between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system, and is complimentary to Western medicine, said Mark Poletti, a chiropractor at Creative Wellness.

Messages from the brain travel through the spine, he said. When the traveling plane for these messages is blocked, pain can occur — such as pinched nerves, headaches, arm pain and stress.

A chiropractor can look at how the spine moves and identify the pockets of stress, which are the reasons for the pain, Poletti said.

"It's like stepping on a water hose," he said. "If you step on a water hose, the garden isn't going to do well."

Chiropractors can correct the blocking by manually adjusting the area that is out of line, returning the flow of the nerve energy. Poletti said as much as chiropractic medicine is a treatment of pain, it is also preventative for many future problems.

A history

Alternative and complimentary medicine haven't always been on the rise.

In the early 1900s, the government tried to shut down certain facets of alternative and complimentary medicine, said Dr. Gregory Lawton, owner and founder of the Blue Heron Academy of Healing Arts and Sciences, which offers an array of complimentary medicine degrees such as practical acupuncture, herbal medicine and chiropractic assistant.

The government efforts did a lot of damage to the subject's growth, which is only coming back now, he said.

The academy has a special focus on bringing complimentary medicine together with traditional Western medicine, he said.

"We think as alternative and complimentary medicine grow, this will be something that is insistent," Lawton said.

Lawton said the program is continuously growing, and the East Lansing location, 740 W. Lake Lansing Road, is dedicated solely to massage. The academy offers four massage programs, including medical massage, cosmetic, and acupressure and massage.

Considering history, Alexander said there is no discrediting medicine that has been practiced in cultures for thousands of years, but said there must be some precaution because there are not many regulations on it.

"Because traditional alternative medicine is not evaluated systematically, and they are not regulated the same way other (Western) practices and drugs are regulated, there is less convincing quality control on them," she said. "So people could be harmed by some of the alternative practices."