Alternative medicine, once shunned by the medical profession as ineffective and even dangerous, has gained popularity and recognition in recent years as its effectiveness and safety have been scrutinized and validated. In particular, the use of natural herbs to treat various ailments has been approved by most medical practitioners as a beneficial supplement to or substitute for traditional pharmaceutical medications. Professional herbalists act as natural pharmacists, growing and dispensing useful plants to patients to assist them with ailments ranging from migraine to menstrual cramps and even psychological disorders like depression or bipolar disorder. While not every ailment responds well to herbal treatments, the field of herbal medicine continues to expand and trained and educated, certified herbalists are always in demand.

While no formal training is required for those who wish to grow herbs and sell them to dispensaries or professional healthcare workers, clinical and professional herbalists typically undergo a lengthy training period that covers many of the same subjects that pharmacists study during their educational process. Classes typically focus on the properties of medicinal herbs, methods of extraction and dosing, and the side effects and interactions between the active ingredients of the herbs and other medications and herbal remedies. Students also gain a broad understanding of the human physiological and anatomical structures including an overview of the main physical structures and organ systems. This offers a basis for diagnosis and a deeper understanding of the possible causes for the symptoms patients may be presenting. Herbal therapy classes combine the two areas, allowing students to gain hands-on experience in diagnosing and prescribing the right herbal remedies for the patients reported symptoms. Lastly, most coursework includes an herbal pharmaceutical class that allows students to practice what they’ve learned by producing herbal medicines based on established formulas and experimental work.

While there is currently no specific educational requirement for practicing herbalists, the American Herbalists Guild is working to create a basic standard for herbalist education that will provide standardized requirements and coursework to allow herbalists to attain certification. Many herbalism courses currently offer a certificate or degree, but since there is no oversight for these courses, the value of the certification or degree program is largely dependent on the institution offering such training. Herbalists can join the American Herbalists Guild either as a general member, which has no specific requirements, or as a professional member. Professional members must meet a number of exacting requirements including four years of training and clinical experience. This qualifies the herbalist for the professional title of Registered Herbalist, the highest current level of accreditation in the herbalism field.

This guest post was written by Wendy Graham, freelancer based in Seattle, WA who often writes about education for Online College Guru, a directory of online colleges.

Great hair can really make a difference and this is defiantly one of those cross-cultural beliefs. Hair and its characteristics has a large link with genetics, however there are some techniques we can do to help different parts of our hair.

Regular upkeep of your hair is a good place to start. A quality diet is good way to keep a good head of hair. In Chinese Medicine the blood needs to be sufficient to nourish the Liver and course the body. The blood is then able to nourish the skin and hair allowing luster in the complexion and hair. Foods to help are red meats, green leafy vegetables, blue/green algae, and beets.

Thinning hair is the most common complaint seeking treatment. Thinning hair can result from changing hormones, age, childbirth, and taxation (Liver blood insufficiency as discussed earlier). Beneficial herbs include:

He Shou Wu / Polygonum

Gou Qi Zi / Goji Berry

Shu Di Huang / Rehmannia

Shan Yao / Dioscorea

These are common herbs used for hair disorders, although many of these are heavy herbs and can cause digestive upset if used all by themselves. Make sure to add Chuan Xiong or aged citrus peel to your tea.

With the modern invention of hair color not many people think about natural or earlier ways of darkening hair to get rid of grey. A simple 9g daily dose of He Shou Wu / Polygonum will do the trick! So whats the trick? Persistence! This is not an easy task and most of us wouldn’t last very long, however this is a well documented form of keeping dark hair that was used often on nobles and authorities.

Natural hair care is actually pretty easy and effective at ensuring ongoing beautiful hair. Nowadays there are some more natural shampoos out there rather than a bottle full of chemicals and dyes. By the way if you are experiencing hair or skin problems make sure to change your shampoo and body wash to hypoallergenic products with no dyes, colors, perfumes, etc. You can also buy shampoo ‘base’ products that are ready to accept your own blend of additives like essential oils or other oils! An additional treatment for hair is adding a premium carrier oil such as sesame oil, jojoba oil or other and add in Lavender essential oil and rosemary oil, wash this out after having it in for 30 minutes to several hours. Quality and natural products should also be used on extensions, hair pieces, and quick weaves. This will allow your hair pieces to last much longer and look great. Also make sure you move to natural hair relaxers. The old or ‘regular’ form of hair relaxers use lye to relax the hair which is dangerous and can burn your scalp. These newer and natural hair relaxers use olive oil, vitamin E, soy extract, and other herbal ingredients to help straighten hair.

Surgery is common not only as a medical emergency, but as an elective surgery in the case of plastic surgery. From a Western stand point surgery causes trauma to the body and then manipulations are made inside the body. Afterwards your body has to deal with removing anesthetics from the body and the trauma made to the body. In the case of many surgeries it is the incisions that need attention, but in the case of cosmetic surgery, like cheek implants, the trauma can include manipulations of skin, muscle and bone.

First your body goes into an inflammatory response and swelling and inflammation need to be dealt with. Afterwards, scar tissue continues to lay and secure the areas that are cut. Common practice is rest and proper care of the wound. From a Chinese Medicine perspective there is a little more going on here. The cut is viewed as a block of proper Qi flow in the body and the trauma is a stagnation of Qi and blood. In Chinese Medicine it is important to restore proper flow and get rid of the stagnant blood. The scar also needs attention to make sure scar tissue is only superficial and not rooted down into the body (continuing to block flow). Chinese Medicine recommends herbs, tui na, and acupuncture post surgery to quicken healing.

What Herbs Can Help?

A popular Western herb that is often recommended is Arnica /  Arnica Montana. Arnica is poisonous and should only be used externally or from an experienced practitioner. Externally Arnica is used as a liniment for the inflammation and bruising. Coming from someone with Chinese Medicine training this is a far inferior liniment method than Chinese herbal liniment that use complex herbal formulas and traditional techniques to make. Since liniment is very penetrating, poultices should be used externally first as strong teas. Try:

Comfrey Leaf

Dandelion Leaf / Pu Gong Ying

Myrrh Gum / Mo Yao

Goldenseal / Huang Lian

Apply this directly over the wound (when it is allowed to get wet, usually a few days after surgery). After a few days of waiting and a few days of a poultice, you should go to a good liniment.

Internally you can start on herbs almost immediately. You can start yourself on a ‘trauma’ type formula or a formula that is specific for post surgery as both a healing AND a supplementing formula. A good combination for post trauma would be:

San Qi / Tien Qi – Heal wounds, remove blood stagnation

Dang Gui / Tien Quei – Tonify blood, reduce swelling, remove blood stagnation

Comfrey Leaf – heal wounds

Huang Qi / Astragalus – Supplement Qi, increase fluids, avoid exhaustion

Chi Shao / Red Peony – clear inflammation, remove blood stasis, tonify blood

Mo Yao / Myrrh Gum – heal wounds, remove blood stasis

Yu Jin or Huang Jing / Tumeric Tuber – clear inflammation, heal wounds

A good tincture of this combination would be great and easily assimilated after surgery. Pills or tea would work fine as well.

Some prefer to use a single formula for a few weeks post surgery that will remove stasis, heal wounds, and supplement the body all at the same time. A basic combination of this would be:

Ren Shen / Ginseng – The number one herb for this. Build original Qi

Di Huang / Foxglove / Rhemania Root – Fresh or prepared can be used to support the blood with will, in the long run, heal the wound and supplement the body

Dang Gui / Tien Quei – Tonify blood, reduce swelling, remove blood stasis

San Qi / Tien Qi – Remove blood stasis, heal wounds

Bai Shao / White Peony – tonify the blood and relax spasms

Chuan Xiong – Correct the movement of qi and blood

Again a tincture or elixir would be preferred, but a tea or pills can be used as well.

There is a growing number of doctors and surgeons that are well aware of holistic medicine and can give you a good referral of someone to see or even some products. A good place to find out information of these elective cosmetic surgeries and recommendations of doctors, I would recommend you find some forums to chat with others about. There are numerous forums with a wealth of information on health, including popular cheek, breast augmentation, and tummy tuck forum. Always do as much research as you can from many sources, from many sides! Brain injury rehabilitation is a slow and very important process after your brain surgery. If you need more information contact head injury site.