SOMETIME IN MY FIFTIES I lost faith in conventional medicine, which, I had come to see, is more a collection of rituals than anything evidence-based. Alternative medicine did not attract me, since it is even goofier than the regular kind; I wanted an alternative to medicine. I began to work out, to systematically use my body in what could be described as fairly useless ways that had nothing to do with working or getting from one place to another. Early in the 1980s, a friend got me going with her to an unchallenging women’s-only gym in a nearby shopping center. She wanted to lose weight; my lower backaches had forced me to realize I could no longer treat my body as mere scaffolding for keeping my head upright. It needed some work. And I needed some play. Except for brief bursts of housework, adult life, it turned out in my case, was conducted in the sitting position—in meetings or at a desk. The gym offered an enticing regressiveness, a chance, I wrote at the time, to reclaim “the lost muscular license of youth.” We waved our arms, crunched our abs, or lay on the floor and raised our legs to the beat of Billy Idol’s version of “Mony Mony.” After a day spent …show more content…
Forget about the people who don’t have the money or the time to participate. Ignore the low-paid janitors, maintenance workers, and front-desk clerks, whose jobs don’t even offer health insurance. Just focus on the entitled inhabitants of the gym (or running or rowing group), who are encouraged to make themselves healthier and more attractive in a leisurely, carefully designed way, stopping for an occasional juice drink or chat. In this world, the sexes are more or less equal, people of all skin colors and sexual orientations mingle freely without the need to drink and dress up, and bodies are displayed with a minimum of self-consciousness, there’s free Wi-Fi and, in the locker rooms, free shampoo and
Similar to a church altar where baptisms take place, the speaker begins by depicting the bench press as an altar of change and transformation. Illustrating the setting in this manner suggests that the speaker begins to wonders what drives the bodybuilder to lift an inanimate object repeatedly w...
Kowalski, K., (1998). Alternative Medicine Is It For You? Springfield, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers. Retrieved: February 14, 2011, from:
Entertainment has been an established part of the American culture almost since its founding. The types of entertainment that most Americans enjoy in today's world are going to the movies, going out to eat, and exercising. Different forms of exercise vary from running and playing sports to weight lifting. Those who enjoy weight lifting can choose to do so in the privacy of their home, in a community center like the YMCA, or in a health club. At a health club one can expect to find a wide variety of people; however, some of these people add to the downside of working out at a local health club because they can be annoying and obnoxious. Three types of these annoying, obnoxious people found at the weight room of a local health club are the show-off, the know-it-all, and the wanderer; these types can be identified by their physical appearance, their social behavior, and their attitude.
The gym is a place where a typical American college student goes to work out their bodies. Based on the fact that I personally could be considered a gym rat, a stereotypical name for someone who spends a lot of time in the work out area. This is partially by choice being on the swim team requires the strength training equipment that is available to our disposal in the gym. While I have been to the gym many times I haven’t really taken the time to take in the other people around me. Within this ethnographic exercise I will explore the college gym norms within Roger Williams University.
Physical therapy treatment ranges from short-term to long term treatment depending on the severity of the injury. “A career as a physical therapist requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy, and then passing the certification exam” (Santiago). Physical therapy treatment takes an integrative approach with conventional medicine, but not with other forms of alternative treatment. As a result, the Physical Therapy program will need to be revised to include classes on Naturopathic, Functional, Holistic, Complementary, and other alternative modes of treatment so future Physical Therapists can be well educated on contradictory and complimentary treatments. There is also the potential for physical therapists to combine treatment with other alternative methods under an Integrative Medicine practice model, so incorporating additional training into the Physical Therapy Degree program will give future physical therapists the education needed to react to an Integrative Medicine
There are many different uses of alternative medicine and that can be used in a variety of situations. Some people may be skeptical of alternative medicine since they are not aware of the facts and statistics. By homeopathy becoming more popular people will not be as skeptical. “Despite the successes of many alternative therapies, the phrase "alternative medicine" has not acquired a completely respectable air. To many, especially doctors trained in conventional medicine, "alternative therapies" seem unscientific and dangerous” (Badertscher). As the author shows that although alternative medicine may seem skeptical to people, there are many reasons to prove that alternative medicine is an overall better solution. Badertscher also explains the many benefits to his view of alternative medicine of seeking to work with the body 's own natural healing processes” (Badertscher). For example, a person may suffer from chronic back pain may decide to go to a chiropractor instead of using medication such as oxycodone. In this Badertscher shows the benefit that using the body’s natural healing does and that it puts the person in control of their
These alternative treatments include acupuncture, meditation, and therapy among many others.There is growing evidence that the desire for alternative medicine is expanding because people undergoing procedures in today’s health care system has had unmet needs as well as feelings of being uncared for (Acari & Flanagan, 2015). Alternative medicine is able to provide patients with treatments that provide relief for hard to cure problems such as back pain, neck pain, and arthritis. Many of these alternative treatments have been shown to be successful for various problems. The use of complimentary and alternative medicine as well as the open ended communication that holistic nursing provides is gaining popularity from patients who are fed up with traditional care and hospital
There has been a growing trend over the past few years in health care using Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) or also known as Eastern medicine. The new and emerging type of health care has been around for thousands of years, but in recent years have been more accepting in Western culture. CAM is described as, “a wide range of practices, technologies and treatments not traditionally associated with the medical professions or medical curriculum” (Solomon & Adams, 2015). There are many different types of CAM health care. Some of the more popular practices include acupuncture, massage therapy, aromatherapy, reflexology, chiropractic and herbal remedies. Each of these therapies are used in different ways to help with the overall
Alternative medicine can also be defined as the result of a series of important changes occurring within the American health care system today. For example, health care practitioners are coming to the realization that conventional biomedicine cannot solve many of America’s health problems. Therefore many doctors have begun to accept the idea that Holistic Medicine is based on, that is, that health involves more than just the physical body. They have also found many alternative medical treat...
The Journal of Dietary Supplements discusses the increased use of “Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)” and how it is becoming a need among physicians to educate and train themselves so that the idea of Integrative Medicine is a realization to the public (Litchy, 2011). This holistic approach allows the ability for conventional medicine to be incorporated with alternative interventions which, further enables the patient to decide which route of care best suits their specific preferences.
Roberta Sassatelli, in her piece Fitness Culture: Gyms and the Commercialisation of Discipline and Fun, gives rise to this idea of a “gender-activity matrix” (pg. 74) within fitness centers. It is here that she point o...
The competition between the different exercise protocols for space highlights the struggle for each group to garner valuable resources to enhance their training routine. Next, the gym showcases social laws that everyone adheres to such as cleaning equipment, avoid gawking at others, and sticking to your respective workout space. Consequently, when a deviance to any of these laws becomes apparent the gym society swiftly acts to correct the action with disapproval and guidance for corrective actions. Finally, the gym truly embodies cultural pluralism during this hour long viewing people work together, conversant, and encourage one another regardless of their ethnic background. Since examples are highlighting social concepts, let’s move
In this paper I will be discussing the two most prevalent models of health. These two models of health are not, of course, total opposites. Similar to terms such as gay and straight they are two definitive labels placed upon a broad spectrum that is hardly definitive. There exists in this case as well a large clouded middle between the two limiting labels. These are collections of thoughts about how to go about continuing life. These two paradigms in modern healthcare I hope will one-day come to know one another. For now let us say that in generally speaking there are two different approaches or models of medicine and they are allopathic and holistic. Allopathic is another term for our modern western medicine, which in the United States is the dominant one and the one most familiar to the masses. The other, the holistic model, also known as alternative, is commonly associated with older ideas that originated in the East.
Winnick, Terri A. “From Quackery to “Complementary” Medicine: The American Medical Profession Confronts Alternative Therapies.” Social Problem. University of California. Vol. 52, No. 1 (February 2005): 38-61. Print.
Material monism is the belief that the whole world and universe are made of just one material. Material monists are the people who supported this belief and dedicated themselves to support their premise. These thinkers believed that if the world and universe were made up of just one material, it would be easier to explain and understand. Furthermore, they genuinely believed in this approach and lived by it. Aside from providing a simpler explanation of the world and universe, having a material be the sole component of them, would help the people learn the behavior of this material, ultimately providing a deeper understanding of the world and universe. Presumably if a single material composed the earth and universe, an explanation for every