Viewpoint
Complementary and Integrative Health Technology
by Dr. Jeff Welsh
When the terms “health” and “technology” are used in the same sentence, images of beeping heart monitors and sterile operating rooms may come to mind. A snapshot of holistic health care, on the other hand, is frequently depicted with candles, herbs, salt scrubs and crystals. As regular readers of my blog will attest, my view of health is more of a non-dualistic spectrum than a menu of discrete options; it is not unusual for my day to encompass both bustling intensive care units and meditative massage therapy rooms. (For this reason, I use the term “Complementary and Integrative Health,” as opposed to the more familiar “Complementary and Alternative Medicine”). Health and wellness modalities are most effective when integrated with each other, not in competition as “alternatives.” The same is true of technology, which is commonly used in traditional (allopathic) Western medicine, but it is by no means confined there. Even the most basic and direct holistic therapies utilize technology in a surprising number of forms.
At the “lo-tech” end of the spectrum are many simple devices designed to alleviate some of the physical stress incurred by a bodyworker’s hands and wrists. The best preventative measure for therapists is proper training and practice, but technology exists to decrease the chance of repetitive-stress injury in therapists who engage in deep-tissue and static-point work. Many of these devices are made of space-age polymers, carefully formed to direct pressure to a relatively small space on the client’s body, without abusing the therapist’s thumbs. These plastic marvels come in a vast variety of colors and shapes, but how holistic is plastic? If “holistic” thinking encompasses the “whole” picture, then a more renewable and biodegradable option would best fit the bill. My favorite is made from tagua nuts, by indigenous South American artisans in Ecuador’s Vilcabamba Valley. The tagua nuts fall to the ground by the thousands, are hard and non-absorptive (so they can be used with massage oil), are eminently renewable and were previously treated as waste. The nuts are attached to small, tough rods made from branches of the tree to form the finished product, which is very effective in concentrating therapeutic pressure with minimum damage to the therapist. Natural, renewable, beautiful, effective and recycled–how’s that for technology? Read more about the area from which these remarkable devices come at www.ieeni.org.
Sound has been used as a holistic therapy for centuries, and is frequently integrated into other health measures. From Tibetan singing bowls to the music of Dean Evenson, sound and music therapy have been used both as stand-alone modalities and as welcome additions to myriad other therapies, from shiatsu to chemotherapy. Technology has been of use in holistic health here as well, with the advent of tuning forks and the pitches set to specific therapeutic frequencies. Sound therapists have an arsenal of these specialized devices at their disposal, to use with specific energy meridians, chakras and even planets. Once the purview of musicians and neurologists (who used them to detect nerve impairment), tuning forks have spawned an entire industry of therapists who use them to good effect as a solo modality and integrated with other health and wellness measures. For more information, see www.tuningforktherapy.com.
Further along the technology spectrum are devices that use highly sophisticated science and engineering to work with the most basic of energies. Acupuncture and acupressure work with Qi (or Chi)—the basic life-force energy—to enable normal circulation through energy channels in the body known as meridians. Typically, an acupressurist uses his or her fingers (as an acupuncturist will employ fine needles) to normalize the flow of Qi. In 1994, Dr. Chi Kyung Kim founded the GENSEN Engineering Institute and developed the GENSEN Acutouch device. Resembling a set of two golden writing pens, the Acutouch system is a means of concentrating a steady flow of Qi from the atmosphere to a tiny point at the tip of the device, for use on a specific meridian point. The Acutouch device uses a set of matched lenses to gather Qi energy, bio-ceramic emitters to generate far-infrared frequencies, a carbon-powder cartridge to generate anions, and 600 Gauss magnets to concentrate magnetic energy. The Qi, infrared rays, and anions are amplified through a hexagonal gold tube through the magnet. The device terminates in a fine, 24K gold point to contact with the meridian point without dissipating the energy. The GENSEN Acutouch system is a fine example of advanced technology working with ancient healing principles. Learn more about this non-invasive, non-electrical device and its uses at www.genesen.com.
This is but a sampling of the many technological devices that are currently in use in complementary and integrative health (CIH). Many more are among the cutting-edge of holistic health technology, such as transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation (TENS) units for use in cerebral stimulation with hypnotherapy; small, portable cold-laser devices being used with energy transmission and microcirculation; and the Aura-therapy patch system, which purports to enable resonate frequency technology to restore normal function to the body. See their Web page at www.aurapatches.com.
Jeff Welsh, Ph.D., M.A., HHP is a holistic health practitioner and the president of Mueller College of Holistic Studies in San Diego, California www.Mueller.edu, 619.291.9811 The devices profiled in this article are available through Tools 4 Healers, located at 4601 Park Boulevard, San Diego, CA. 619.298.1584