A new study has shown that there is an increase in the use of complementary and alternative medicine among Americans. Where mainstream or conventional therapies have proven too expensive, people have turned to alternative care, says the study which was published in Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.

Inflation and health care costs being on the rise and salaries being unable to keep pace with is possibly one reason for more people turning to complementary and alternative medicine, says Dejun Su, PhD, a sociologist at the University of Texas – Pan American.

According to the published findings, over five year duration, there has been a 14% increase in use of CAM treatments.

It was also seen that certain racial preferences for CAM existed – white individuals were more likely to use CAM therapies than Hispanic or African American individuals.

Massage and chiropractic care were seen to be the most popular forms of CAM therapies. As many as 33% of those who undergo CAM treatments reported to doing said that they did so due to having delayed getting treatment for their ailment or because they had treatment needs that had not been met.

Studies Show Increase of CAM Use