Non orthodox medicine is becoming ever more popular for dealing with chronic diseases such as arthritis.
Disappointment with conventional treatments offered by standard medicine often leads sufferers towards unusual therapies that they might never have considered when well.
Having decided that you might like to try a complementary therapy, where do you start when there are so many different therapies on offer? And how do you discover whether they will work? Medical doctors and consultants have to go through rigorous training programs, but the same standards do not apply to all complementary medicine.
Things are improving, but it is still the case that anybody can legally set up as alternative practitioner without having been through a training course.
Try finding a registered therapist who, by law, must carry a license supplies by his professional council.
Many general practitioners will refer you to an alternative therapist, and some alternative therapies are now included in private health insurance coverage, provided that they have the backing of a qualified doctor.
Another critical yardstick is how much time you are prepared to give to a particular therapy and how you can build it into your life.
You should also consider what costs you can afford to pay.
Your degree of mobility might also affect your choice of treatment.
Learning simple technique to relieve pain can increase your confidence in your ability to control your condition.
It is worth taking time to find the therapy that suits you best and a practitioner with whom you feel comfortable.
Your relationship with your therapist becomes an integral part of the healing process.