Table 5.

Patients’ reasons for taking CAM

Reason	Proportion N = 181
I want to have control over my own health	79 (43.6%)
I want to prevent future illness	65 (35.9%)
Alternative therapies are less harmful to my body than prescription drugs	33 (18.2%)
At the suggestion of another physician (not orthopaedic surgeon)	33 (18.2%)
At the suggestion of my orthopaedic surgeon	23 (12.7%)
Prescription drugs are not effective or do not work	13 (7.2%)
I cannot take prescription drugs because of my health condition	8 (4.4%)
I have experienced dissatisfaction with conventional practitioners (ie, physicians)	7 (3.9%)
I do not trust the effectiveness of conventional medicine	4 (2.2%)
Cultural/traditional	1 (0.6%)
Other	66 (36.5%)