In the western world, there are two healthcare systems: the official, evidence-based healthcare system; and traditional, complementary, or alternative treatment methods, such as yoga, acupuncture, natural remedies, and healing. The trend nowadays is that more and more people are relying on complementary treatments, both instead of and alongside “regular” healthcare.

But problems arise when there is a lack of high-quality research and knowledge about complementary treatments, and too much reliance on such alternatives presents a risk that patients might not get the correct diagnosis in due time.

In the Frontier explores and expounds upon the differences between science and experience, providing solid information about the most common complementary medical treatments from a healthcare perspective. How do they work, what do we know of their effects and risks, and what does modern medical science have to say about them?

Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, since this is a trend that isn’t going away, how can we integrate such complementary treatments into the official healthcare system in order to provide the best care possible for patients?

About the Author

Dr. Alejandro Carballo has 30 years of experience as a physician and specialist in clinical pharmacology, general medicine, and occupational healthcare. In parallel, he has studied and acted as an expert in complementary medicine. Dr. Carballo was one of the editors for a compilation of Caribbean herbs in the TRAMIL program, a network of more than 200 researchers worldwide, and he was the initiator of the first training programme on complementary medicine for medical students at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Furthermore, he has been a consultant to the Swedish Medical Products Agency for the registration of herbal medicines, and he has also represented Sweden in the European Committee for Homeopathy.

Dr. Carballo currently resides in Sweden, where he runs his own clinic, which includes primary healthcare, general and occupational medicine, as well as Spiragreen, a company committed to non-pharmaceutical health promotion and self-care.