Oxford Handbook of Complementary Medicine

The Oxford Handbook of Complementary Medicine presents evidence-based information on CAM in an easily accessible form, thereby enabling hospital doctors, GPs, nurses, medical students and other healthcare professionals to competently advise patients about CAM treatments. The book covers definitions, cost, safety, regulation, legal and ethical questions and a range of practical issues, diagnostic techniques, and risk-benefit assessments of CAM modalities. The main part of the book is organised by condition, outlining for each the CAM treatments available, ranked according to level of evidence of effectiveness, followed by a concise clinical bottom line assessing risks and benefits, also in relation to conventional treatment. The information is presented in a concise, matter-of-fact fashion, avoiding the obscure jargon sometimes used in CAM. Many issues surrounding CAM remain controversial and this handbook discusses them openly and critically.

About the Author

Professor Ernst qualified as a physician in Germany where he also completed his MD and PhD theses. He was Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at Hannover Medical School (Germany) and Head of the PMR Department at the University of Vienna (Austria). He came to the University of Exeter in 1993 to establish the first Chair in Complementary Medicine. He is founder/Editor-in-Chief of two medical journals (FACT ('Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies') and 'Perfusion'). His work has been awarded with 13 scientific prizes/awards and two Visiting Professorships. He served on the 'Medicines Commission' of the British 'Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency' (1994 - 2005) and on the 'Scientific Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products' of the 'Irish Medicines Board'. In 1999 he took British nationality. Publications: >1000 papers in the peer-reviewed literature, 39 books (translated into 5 5 languages). About five hundred invited international lectures. Dr Pittler is a physician and deputy director of Complementary Medicine at the Peninsula Medical School of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth. He holds an MD in Applied Physiology from the University of Freiburg, Germany and a PhD in Medical Sciences from the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, UK. He is founding associate editor of the review journal FACT - Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies and co-editor of 4 books including the desktop guide to complementary medicine (Mosby/Elsevier), numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed articles. Barbara Wider, MA (Exeter, UK), Staatsexamen (Freiburg, Germany) is a Research Fellow in Complementary Medicine at the Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, UK. With a background in humanities, earth sciences and European studies, Barbara studied at the Universities of Freiburg (Germany), Montpellier (France) and Exeter (UK) and worked as an assistant researcher and tutor in Germany and France before joining the Complementary Medicine group in Exeter in 1996. She is co-author/editor of three books including the Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Elsevier, 2006), several book chapters and peer-reviewed articles. Barbara also edits the journal FACT (Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies), a quarterly review journal of complementary medicine research.