OKINAWA, Japan -- When Dr. Klaus Hambrecht was in his early 20s, he suffered a shoulder condition that caused him pain. It was only when he was treated by an Oriental medicine expert who performed acupuncture that his condition significantly improved.

“I was very impressed,” the German physician told The Korea Herald during the International Congress of Oriental Medicine in Okinawa, Japan, earlier this month. “Now I’ve been practicing Chinese medicine and acupuncture (in Germany) for the last 20 years.”

Hambrecht is one of some 400 medical professionals who practice alternative or Oriental medicine worldwide, including Taiwan, the U.S., Germany and Japan, who attended ICOM this year. Prior to his training in acupuncture, Hambrecht was trained as a physician specializing in internal medicine at a non-Oriental medical school. Patients at his clinic -- more than 70 percent of them are those with chronic pain conditions -- can benefit from both Oriental and non-Oriental treatment options. Almost 80 to 85 percent of his patients are very pleased with acupuncture treatments, he said.

“Many of the patients with pain problems had already visited many other doctors before arriving at my clinic. And when they see me, they’d say, ‘You are my last hope,’” he said. “And when I see a patient with a severe heart problem I’d arrange a western-examination and blood test.”

According to the World Health Organization, traditional medicine -- referring to health practices incorporating plant based medicines and manual techniques such as Korean or Chinese medicine -- has maintained its popularity in all regions of the developing world and its use is rapidly spreading in industrialized countries. In Germany, 90 percent of the population have used a natural remedy at some point in their lives. Currently, medical cost for acupuncture treatments for knees or lower back conditions are covered by the state-run health insurance service in the country, said Hambrecht.

According to a 2012 report released by the WHO, 93 percent of the 192 member states of the United Nations have acupuncture practice. Chinese medicine has spread to more than 100 countries and has grown into an industry. As of 2012, there are some 100,000 Chinese medicine clinics and some 300,000 Chinese medicine practitioners worldwide. Meanwhile in the U.S., the number of osteopathic physicians -- who often combine alternative strategies such as acupuncture and massage -- increased 73 percent between 2000 and 2012. They accounted for more than 6.5 percent of the total physician population in the U.S., as of 2012.

Dr. Gary Deng, a New York-based physician who practices both Chinese and Western medicine at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said that cancer patients can immensely benefit from alternative medicine during and after chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.

According to Deng, some 30 American medical institutions that specialize in cancer treatments, all designated by the National Cancer Institute of the country, currently offer both Western and alternative, or traditional, medicine for their patients.

He stressed that there are specific conditions suffered by cancer patients that can only be eased by alternative medicine. For example, patients with the following cancers -- throat, tongue, head and neck cancers -- can experience dry mouths after receiving radiation therapies, as the treatment can damage one’s saliva salivary glands and reduce their saliva. “Your mouth is always very dry and your teeth can easily rot,” he said.

Western medicine has no treatment options for dry mouths caused by radiation therapy apart from drugs that often cause side effects, but acupuncture can significantly improve the condition, he said.

“We’ve done a lot of clinical trials and concluded that acupuncture treatments work much better than (Western drugs for this condition.)”

He also said alternative medicine can offer a lot to breast cancer patients who have underwent mastectomy, chemotherapy and hormone therapy. A lot of them struggle with weight gain as a result of hormone therapy, chronic pain after mastectomy and anxiety as they worry about the recurrence of the disease, he said. Most Western-doctors only offer mammograms to survivors who have completed their cancer treatments every six months, but do not offer much for post-cancer conditions, Deng added.

“So in the U.S., many western doctors refer such patients to alternative doctors, as alternative medicine such as acupuncture and herbal medicine can improve their quality of life.”

Unlike the U.S. and Germany, western medicine doctors in South Korea have been fiercely protesting against Korean medicine practitioners expanding their area of expertise in the country. Most general hospitals here do not offer Western and alternative treatment options at the same time for cancer patients.

The Association of Korean Medicine, one of the largest bodies of traditional doctors in Korea, has been demanding that the government guarantee their right to use nontraditional medical equipment, such as ultrasounds. 

The 2016 Okinawa Declaration of ICOM stated that its members “support and approve the active use of medical devices by oriental medicine practitioners of each country to enhance evidence-based objectivity of oriental medicine through the diagnosis and treatment in a modern scientific way.”

“I think (traditional) Korean doctors can focus on conditions that Western medicine do not have a lot to offer,” Deng said. “So you are not taking something away from them. Meanwhile you help patients feel better and this can be a mutually beneficial relationship. Everyone has to be more collaborative, rather than competitive."

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)