Inappropriate Advice

Maybe you are new to visiting a complementary healthcare practitioner or have been seeing a massage therapist, energy worker, or acupuncurist for years. At what point do you take their advice over that of your doctor? Simple answer - NEVER. Not so simple answer - DEPENDS.

While it is a certainty, that with sufficient training, the practitioner may be an expert at what he or she does you should always keep your physician in the loop and openly discuss your treatment. While this concept may seem painfully obvious I recently had a new client that had a VERY serious medical condition. The condition required surgery, in short order! The alternative care practitioner advised this individual to postpone the surgery by weeks to give her methods a chance. We are not talking about an elective surgery or one that could wait whitout dire consequences- this was a life saving operation. Thankfully, the client knew better than to heed such advice and now, many years later, is doing well.

That practitioner was giving advice out of her scope of practice, the advice, no matter how well intentioned, was inappropriate. A good complementary care practitioner will provide you with service/treatment in their own field of practice. They will refer you to others when appropriate, encourage you to speak to your doctor about any concerns, and NOT give you advice out of their level of training.