Study Reveals Consumer Attitudes Towards Alternative Therapy Are Changing

Public acceptance surrounding the holistic industry is steadily increasing. According to the National Institutes of Health, by 2016 the amount of revenue generated by the alternative medicine industry is expected to amount to approximately 14.3 billion U.S. dollars in the United States and in Britain more patients than ever are turning to alternative therapies to bridge the gap left by NHS care.

The industry, in which only osteopathy and chiropractic practices are currently regulated in the same way as practitioners of conventional medicine, has often left consumers questioning the qualifications, safety or ethics of those carrying out the treatments. But with information now more readily available and NHS waiting times reaching up to 18 weeks,  consumers are starting to rethink their attitudes.

Speaking about the findings, Alex Taylor, from alternative health specialists, Qi Wellness said: “There definitely seems to be a changing attitude towards alternative therapy in the UK and this seems to be fuelled by a need for more immediate care, especially in cases where patients are on a waiting list, and more information is readily available about the therapies.”

In the recent poll carried out by wellness practitioners, QI Wellness, out of the 1,019 people asked, 100 percent said they would be happy to try a more holistic approach to their health, with 23 percent admitting that their willingness had been prompted by a need to bridge NHS treatment gaps or access top up care while they waited for appointments.

Almost half of all those questioned (48 per cent) said they would be persuaded to try an alternative therapy if they were to read positive personal testimonials or press articles. And 100 per cent of those quizzed revealed they would give alternative therapies a try.

Topping the list of therapies was acupuncture – used by 65 per cent of all those polled, followed by massage (64 per cent), chiropractic massage (48 per cent) and osteopathy (42 per cent). And only one in four (26 per cent) questioned said that they needed to see more proof that therapies worked before they gave them a try.