| A new analysis suggests that physicians use a combination of personal experience and scientific evidence when deciding whether to recommend complementary health approaches. The findings also suggest that physicians who recommend these approaches may have some degree of trust in the opinions of both their peers and patients regarding these approaches. Recently published inJournal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine, the analysis was led by researchers at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) and National Center for Health Statistics and partly funded by NCCIH. Understanding the reasons behind physician recommendations might lead to finding ways to help physicians make appropriate decisions for their patients. For this analysis, the investigators looked at what factors influence whether a physician recommends four common complementary health approaches to patients in an office-based setting. The approaches were herbs and other nonvitamin supplements, chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation, acupuncture, and mind-body therapies (including meditation, guided imagery, and progressive relaxation). | 