title: Research on traditional medicine: what has been done, the difficulties, and possible solutions.
abstract: Traditional medicine (TM) is being used more frequently all over the world. However most often these are choices made by the patient. Integrating TM into mainstream health care would require research to understand the efficacy, safety, and mechanism of action of TM systems. This paper describes research done on TM and difficulties encountered in researching TM, especially when an attempt is made to conform to the model for conventional medicine. The research articles were PubMed searched and categorized as experimental, quasiexperimental, reviews, descriptive, historical, interviews, case histories, and abstract not available. The last part of the report provides suggestions to make research on TM more acceptable and useful, with the ultimate goal of integrating TM into mainstream healthcare with sufficient knowledge about the efficacy, safety, and mechanism of action of TM systems.
authors.affiliation: Patanjali Research Foundation, Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar 249405, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: Shirley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Telles
authors.affiliation: Patanjali Research Foundation, Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar 249405, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: Shivangi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pathak
authors.affiliation: Patanjali Research Foundation, Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar 249405, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: Nilkamal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Patanjali Research Foundation, Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar 249405, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: Acharya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balkrishna