Clinic celebrates silver landmark
11:00am Friday 11th April 2008
DECADES of providing a fresh slant on medicine are about to be celebrated at a York clinic.
With complementary medicine shedding the air of suspicion which once surrounded it and seeping into the mainstream, more people suffering from everything from serious illness to simple aches and pains are opening their eyes to the benefits of trying something different.
For the last 25 years, techniques such as acupuncture and homeopathy have been practised at the York Clinic for Complementary Medicine in Tadcaster Road - formerly the Ch'ien Clinic - which marks its silver anniversary with an open day next month aimed at raising awareness of the treatments it provides.
Aromatherapy, reflexology, sports massage, hypnotherapy and osteopathy rub shoulders with ancient skills such as shiatsu and Chinese herbal medicine at the clinic, and administrator Diane Greenwell says it gives those with illness or injury to look at other options rather than the traditional remedy of tablets.
"As its name suggests, complementary medicine works in a way which complements traditional medicine and can often work well for conditions like arthritis - acupuncture, for example, can really help ease the pain patients suffering from this are in," she says.
"Quite often, people come to us because they are having problems with the side-effects of certain drugs, and complementary medicine can help alleviate these. It's becoming more popular because people do not necessarily want to be taking large quantities of tablets or constantly having to buy prescriptions.
"A lot of people are quite sceptical of what this can do for them before they actually try it, but when they do they're often pleasantly surprised by the results. People are better informed than they have been in the past and there is more and more anecdotal and scientific evidence about the effectiveness of such techniques, while GPs are also becoming more aware of them and are suggesting them to those they treat.
"But you don't necessarily have to understand the clinical research behind a technique - sometimes people just want to know if it will make them feel better.
"And it's not just a young person's game - we get everybody from mothers of young children to people in their late 80s. It's the full age range."
The clinic hosts its open day on Saturday, May, 10, between 11am and 4pm, when some of its therapists will be leading talks and demonstrations and there will be sports massage taster sessions in return for donations to the Motor Neurone Association.
"We hope this will open up the sort of treatments we offer to a wider audience - it's all part of a process of educating people in what is available and what it might do for them," says Diane.
"The clinic's owner, Dr Hugh McPherson, is well known in acupuncture circles and has been involved in research projects into how it works, and part of his contribution to the open day will be a talk on what happens to the brain when needling' takes place.
"It's a different slant on medicine - it's all about treating the whole person."
For more information about the clinic, call 01904 709688, e-mail avril@yorkclinic.com or diane@yorkclinic.com, or visit www.yorkclinic.com.