Canadians looking to alternative treatments: report

A recent report suggests an increasing number of Canadians have looked to alternative health treatment – including chiropractic, massage therapy and relaxation techniques – in the past decade.

The report – called Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Canada: Trends in Use and Public Attitudes, 1997-2006 – is based on a 2006 survey of 2,000 Canadians. The report was published by the Fraser Institute, an independent Canadian policy think tank.

According to the survey, 54 per cent of respondents used alternative medicine in 2005. This is up from 50 per cent in 1997, the report says.

Unlike mainstream medical treatment, alternative health care is not covered by the Canada Health Act. Nonetheless, the survey’s results indicate that many Canadians are content with spending their own money to receive alternative treatment.

Provincially, Alberta saw a 14-per-cent jump in alternative health treatment between 1997 and 2006. Ontario follows with a five-per-cent increase and British Columbia with an increase of four per cent.

According to the report, survey respondents cited illness prevention and health maintenance as the top reasons for pursuing alternative health treatment.

Andrew Parr, the executive director of the Ontario Massage Therapist Association (OMTA), says part of the reason for the hike in the number of Canadians receiving alternative therapies is that there is an increased awareness about the availability of these practices.

“It’s also better understanding of the benefits that can be derived from these treatments,” says Parr.

Since many alternative therapies are now government-regulated, mainstream medicine is becoming increasingly aware of existing options in the health-care sector.

“By bringing them into regulation, you’re bringing them fully into the health-care system,” says Parr. “We are telling the public that these are health-care professionals.”

Still, Parr points out that Western medicine places heavy emphasis on scientific research. Alternative treatment such as massage therapy, he says, places more attention on individual success stories, rather than research.

With provincial health-care systems strained by practitioner shortages, Parr says alternative medicine has an important role to play within the health-care system. He admits there has been reluctance on the part of some people to seek alternative therapies, but insists this is derived from lack of first-hand experience.

“In our experience (they) are skeptical because they haven’t (tried) the treatment,” he says.