Complementary and alternative medicine
In general, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) refers to health practices that aren't integral parts of conventional medicine. What is or isn't considered complementary and alternative can change, but there are some common threads which mostly apply:
- practitioners as facilitators, wherein practitioners help a patient's body heal itself;
- practitioners as teachers or mentors;
- practitioners who prevent as well as intervene, a philosophy focusing on keeping people healthy as well as treating them when they are ill.
The topic is controversial; terminology by practitioners in these areas is almost as value-laden or loaded as phrases used when discussing abortion or religion.
The US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) disseminates information and supports and trains researchers on the subject. It is one of the centers within the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Brief history
Before the 19th century, illness was treated by folk medicine practitioners or shamans. In the late 1800s, therapies based on particular scientific methods became the dominant paradigm (in the Kuhnian sense). This popularity was enhanced by the introduction of licensing of health care practitioners and the evolving formalization of a dominant medical school curriculum. All contributed to the development of biomedicine, a term dating to the 1940s for present-day conventional medicine. Systems and other therapies which had emerged in parallel with biomedicine, such as homeopathy, thermotherapy/hydrotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic, botanic medicine, and Christian Science, became somewhat marginalized with respect to the dominant emerging methods taught and licensed, resulting in rifts among practitioners of the various healing arts and sciences.
Today, although the language used by some practitioners remains value-laden, a broader cultural embracement of pluralism have led to more peaceful co-existence of biomedicine with many other systems and therapies. For example, modern osteopathic medicine is seen as a system parallel to biomedicine with an emphasis on primary care and the recognition of the utility of body manipulation. Chiropractic, naturopathy, and acupuncture are all professionalized practices of heterodox medical systems. Homeopathy, herbalism, body-based methods, and lay midwifery can be seen as a complementary part of a holistic health movement.
Taxonomy
The following taxonomy is an attempt to organize CAM practices using controversy-avoiding terms. It is based on terminology used by NCCAM.
Complementary and alternative medicine can be organized into five types of health therapy: alternative medical systems, mind-body interventions, biologically-based therapies, manipulation and body-based methods, and energy therapies.
Alternative medical systems
Alternative medical systems are built upon complete systems of theory and practice. Often, these systems have evolved apart from and earlier than the conventional medical approach used in the United States. Examples of alternative medical systems that have developed in Western societies include homeopathic medicine and naturopathic medicine. Examples of systems that have developed in non-Western cultures include traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. Other Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native American practices also fall into this category.
Mind-body interventions
Mind-body medicine uses a variety of techniques designed to enhance the mind's capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms. Some techniques that were considered CAM in the past have become mainstream in the West, such as patient support groups, biofeedback, and cognitive therapy. Other mind-body techniques are still considered CAM, including yoga, meditation, prayer, mental healing, and therapies that use creative outlets such as art, music, or dance.
Biologically-based therapies
Biologically based therapies in CAM use substances found in nature, such as herbs, foods, vitamins, and dietary supplements. Examples of such herbs include ginseng, ginkgo and echinacea; examples of other supplements include selenium and glucosamine.
Manipulation and body-based methods
Manipulative and body-based methods in CAM are based on the practioner's movement of one or more parts of the patient's body, such as muscles or the spine. Some examples include chiropractic medicine, manipulation techniques used by osteopaths, and various forms of massage therapy, such as acupressure.
Energy therapies
Energy therapies involve the use of energy fields, such as electromagnetic fields used in magnetic therapy, that some believe surround and penetrate the human body. Other examples include qigong, Reiki, and therapeutic touch. Another example of the latter is acupuncture which is intended to heal through the insertion of needles into points along meridians (energy pathways) in your body.