Complementary and alternative therapies
Deafness Research UK recognises that large numbers of people do seek help, to maintain good health and to treat ill health, from practitioners in fields outside what has been called 'mainstream medicine'.
These practitioners come from a wide range of backgrounds, through many different routes of training and offer a diverse range of therapies and advice.
As in mainstream medicine, it is important that an evidence base is developed in the field of complementary and alternative medicine, in order to clearly define the role and expected outcomes of these therapies, to inform clinical practice and to demonstrate when and where these methods may be used to their best advantage, either as stand alone therapies or in a complementary role to mainstream medicine.
Research grants
At the present time the research base in complementary and alternative medicine is small. Deafness Research UK, along with major funders of research such as the Medical Research Council, would welcome research proposals in the fields represented by complementary and alternative medicine, but these must compete equally with its other proposals (see our peer review system for assessing grant applications).
Deafness Research UK does believe that, in instances where there is a palliative (psychological) component involved in therapy it is conducive to long-term effectiveness to recognise this. This principle has been applied to conventional treatment (for example, in tinnitus) and Deafness Research UK has previously supported research on psychological interventions in tinnitus.
Information service
The Deafness Research UK Information Service will only provide information and advice which is based upon the most up-to-date and reliable evidence available, about medical issues relating to deafness and other hearing problems. It chooses not to supply information about complementary and alternative medicine for the following reasons:
- Many of them are not yet proven to be effective using scientific standards of hypothesis, testing and controlled trials.
- Many ingredients of complementary and alternative medicines have not been adequately tested for safety, certainly far less within the constraints imposed on pharmaceutical companies.
