More and more women are looking for information regarding breast cancer treatments and many of them refer to the alternative treatments. First of all we have to state that there is a difference between ‘alternative’, ‘integrative’ and ‘complementary’.

What are these treatments for breast cancer?

In the majority of the cases patients are using complementary treatments besides the traditional ones of radiation and chemotherapy. Nonetheless we have to remember that these treatments cannot substitute the others.

On the other hand, the integrative treatments for breast cancer involve both complementary and traditional treatments. In this case the practitioners take a look at how the disease affects a person on the whole: the mind, the body and the spirit.

Breast Cancer TreatmentsComplementary treatments

When it comes to these kinds of breast cancer treatments, you should know that only five of them are accepted by the authorities.

Whole medical systems

These kinds of treatments for breast cancer that come with culturally based curing traditions, such as the Chinese medicine, including acupuncture and also Ayurveda.

The main point in the case of the last one is to use massage, herbs and yoga and it comes from India. The Western traditions are also included, like naturopathy and homeopathy.

Mind-body medicine

According to these treatments, the mind could have a healing effect over the body. Such treatments include prayer, meditation, hypnotherapy, imagery, music, visualization and art therapy.

Biologically based practices

These treatments for breast cancer are based on nutritional therapy, vitamins, supplements and herbal medicine. As you can see, they are mainly focused on elements of the diet.

Manipulative and body practices

In this case the breast cancer treatments besides massage therapy also include osteopathic manipulation and chiropractic manipulation.

Energy medicine

Just as the name suggests, in this case the treatments focus on the energy fields that can be found around the body, such as qigong and reiki.

Evidence

Although there have been some studies regarding these kinds of treatments for breast cancer, the evidence that they really work is very scarce. The truth is that it is relatively difficult to create these studies, because in the majority of the cases when a study is performed, the specialists are using the placebo effects. Now this is difficult to use in case of a massage therapy.

Nutrition

If you would like to improve your quality of life, it is important to have a healthy nutrition and to have some exercise as well. It is common for women with breast cancer to suffer from obesity, especially those that are through menopause. This is why in case of the breast cancer treatments it is almost vital to have some exercises.

It has been proven that exercise has a beneficial effect on the survival rate of women affected by breast cancer. Exercise is also good for getting an energy boost, to get rid of depression and to relieve tension.

Regarding the healthy diet, you should make sure that you don’t have a lot of animal fats as a part of the alternative breast cancer treatments.