風濕病之另類療法及未來的展望

The Prospect of Alternative Therapy in Rheumatic Disease

風濕病為國人常見的疾病。風濕病以侵犯骨關節系統為主，疾病種類甚多。此病最常表現的症狀為疼痛，但治療效果不一，且國內民眾對此病瞭解不足，故常尋求其他替代之治療方式，包括針灸、按摩指壓、溫泉療法及中藥等。事實上國外包括澳洲、加拿大、歐洲等國皆有相當多之風濕病患者（>50%）使用此類治療方式。目前國內使用針灸及中藥治療風濕病相當普遍，然因部分傳統中藥摻雜西藥及未經嚴謹之臨床試驗，故大部分中藥其真正之療效未明，且有時使病情更複雜化。希望未來政府能大力支持研究經費及結合更多之醫師，尤其是西醫，能投入中醫藥或其他相關之研究，以使另類療法在風濕病領域中有「雲開見月明」之一天。

Rheumatic disease is a common problem in Chineses. It comprises a lot of diseases, which mainly affect muscloskeletal system. Pain is the most frequent symptom. Owing to the uncertainty of treatment with Western medicines and less acknowledgement to this disease by general public, seeking an alternative therapy is becoming popular worldwide. The alternative therapy consists of acupuncture, massage, SPA and traditional herbs, etc. Recently, more than 50% of rheumatic patients from different countries, for instance, Canada, Australia and Europe, etc., received this kind of remedy. It is also common to do that in our Taiwanese patients. However, many investigators and doctors criticize the use of herb medicines in patients by the fact that there were not many double-blind clinical trails in most herbs and besides, adulteration of Western medicines in herbs made disease getting worse sometimes. Therefore, we hope, under the government financial support and participation of many doctors or investigators, the alternative therapy can have a bright future in rheumatology.