Expanding the Impact of Integrative Health

Sarah Stilgenbauer used acupuncture, chiropractic care and massotherapy to get back on her paddle board and surf again.

Integrative health affirms the importance of the relationship between the patient and health care provider and focuses on the whole person. It makes use of all appropriate therapeutic and lifestyle approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing. Recently, appreciation for the benefits of integrative health has grown as patients and traditional health care providers embrace non-pharmacologic treatment approaches, especially in light of the nation’s opioid epidemic.

University Hospitals Connor Integrative Health Network is leading the way with a model integrating evidence-based therapies with conventional medicine approaches.

Because UH is home to many prestigious clinical trials and research programs, UH Connor has a platform to advance integrative health research and assess novel treatments in pain management. In 2019, music therapists and researchers from UH Connor and Case Western Reserve University assessed music therapy’s ability to address complex psychosocial and physical needs of cancer patients. Importantly, participants reported pain and anxiety decreases of 18 percent and 45 percent, respectively. As the largest health system-based music therapy program in the country, UH Connor recently received funding for a new study to investigate the effects of music therapy on the cost of care across UH hospitals.

UH Connor is also collaborating with conventional care providers in an acupuncture pilot study. Specifically, patients who had knee or hip replacement surgery received acupuncture therapy to help reduce their pain, stress and anxiety, resulting in decreases of 28 percent, 56 percent and 51 percent, respectively.

UH Connor has established several important institutional relationships that give rise to clinical, research and educational opportunities for current and future physicians and health care providers.