Talking with patients about alternative and complementary medicine

Whether one advocates or condemns the use of complementary and alternative therapies, all rheumatologists, if not all healthcare professionals, should learn how to talk to their patients about these options. The growing use o f alternative and complementary therapies in the United States as well as o ther parts of the world is a trend that the responsible rheumatologist cann ot ignore. With chronic muculoskeletal conditions as the leading indication s for the use of alternative and complementary therapies, rheumatologists m ust become experts on talking to patients and advising them about the use o f such therapies. Ultimately, we should not be concerned with practicing wh at is perceived to be traditional versus alternative and complementary, or biomedicine versus naturalistic, but only what is truly good medicine.