[Alternative treatment of athletic injuries].

A questionnaire was carried out in a Danish sports clinic to find out how many sports-injured patients seek alternative medical treatment. One hundred and fifty persons (81%) answered the questionnaire. Forty-seven percent of the women and 35% of the men had at some time tried alternative medicine. These high numbers might be explained by dissatisfaction with the official medical treatment of sports injuries in Denmark. No age or income difference was found between the persons who had tried alternative medicine compared to the patients who had never tried it. Fifty-nine percent of those who had sought alternative medicine did not find it effective. There is a need for clinically controlled trials to find out if some alternative medical treatments do have effects on some specified injuries.