보완대체요법으로서의 마사지요법의 주관적 영향과 인식

Abstract

Conventional medicine argues that Complementary and Alternative Medicine(CAM) has not been proved its effects based on evidence-based medicine. It maintains that evidence-based medicine made modern medicine, which was regarded as almost gambling in the 18th century as mainstream medicine through proofs of evidence of clinical tests. They insists that CAM also should undergo a proof process to prove high quality of safety and effects.

The accelerated modern medicine has continued to evolve itself and develop into different medical speciality such as emergency care, virus infection, trauma treatment, and overwhelming skills of surgeries. The development however presently goes slow. Cancers, chronic diseases, degenerative diseases and mental diseases are rampant and increasing. Chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS, cancers have not found appropriate treatments and revealed the limits of modern medicine. Although modern medicine has remarkably developed, the percentage rate affected by diseases, cancers and mental diseases has increased steadily. The medical cost for chronic diseases accounts for 85% out of total medical cost.

CAM has rapidly spread among people in response to the lack of modern medicine and kept abreast of modern medicine. CAM has been popularized due to the less satisfaction of modern medicine, the frustration of the knowledge of modern medicine, burdensome medical costs, and increasing side effects of drugs. The dissatisfaction and mistrust of modern medicine have created the environment favorable to CAM therapies. CAM, with the support of people satisfied with the effects, has tried to be systemized and legalized as professions not to be controlled by modern medicine and not to be subjected to minor therapies.

Although CAM due to the lack of evidence of effects has been practiced lately among people outside the legal health care plan, the percentage rate of CAM users has been dramatically increasing annually. One of three people chooses CAM between conventional medicine and CAM and two out of three has used CAM with the purpose of the prevention and treatments of diseases. In the period of 1990 and 2006, CAM increased 120 percent while conventional medicine has increased 16 percent. Meanwhile mainstream conventional medicine remains skeptical of the effects and safety of CAM therapies, 44 percent of people showed they used CAM for physical wellness, and 67 percent for psychological relaxation. In the period of rapid increases in human life expectancy over 100 years old, for the pursuit of happiness and prevention and treatment of diseases failed by modern medicine, CAM therapies like massage therapy which costs less and have less side effects has revived in response to different demands of CAM therapies.

This study targets massage therapy that is based on the relationships between the practioner-the user, shows the most users in CAM therapies among people, except herbal medicine or yoga possible to practice alone and acupuncture protected by law. It is significant to find out the perception of massage therapy, which is spread very largely.

The findings will improve an understanding of what motivates people to use massage therapy how people perceive massage therapy in the circumstance of the lack of scientific evidence on the effectiveness and safety of CAM.