Williams, Allison M, Kitchen, Peter, Eby, Jeanette · BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2011 · DOI
This study looked at how many people in Ontario, Canada visited alternative health care providers like massage therapists, acupuncturists, and naturopaths in 2005. Researchers found that about 13% of adults (over 1.2 million people) used these services. People with chronic conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome, were more likely to visit alternative providers, especially if they felt their regular doctors weren't meeting their health needs.
ME/CFS patients often report unmet health needs and may turn to alternative therapies when conventional medicine provides limited relief. This study documents that CFS patients—particularly women—do seek alternative care at higher rates when they perceive their needs are not being addressed, highlighting an important gap in standard care that researchers and clinicians should acknowledge and address.
This study does not establish whether alternative therapies are effective for ME/CFS or other conditions—it only documents that people use them. It cannot prove that unmet health care needs *caused* people to seek alternative care versus other motivations (cultural beliefs, personal preference, word-of-mouth recommendations). The cross-sectional design means causality cannot be determined.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
Spotted an error in this entry? Report it →