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Alternative and Complementary Therapies

Tess Thompson

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is a division of the National Institute of Health. It is responsible for providing information on any therapy that is outside the realm of conventional medicine as practiced in USA. Medical practitioners other than the following are covered under this institute.

• Doctors or physicians with a medical degrees like M.D. and D.O.
• Professionals like physiotherapists, psychologists.
• Other health care providers like registered nurses.

NCCAM defines Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) as ‘a group of diverse medical health care systems, practices and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine’. It also differentiates whole medical systems from practices and techniques.

Whole Medical Systems – The Whole Medical Systems comprise of the following therapies:

• Homeopathy that attempts to stimulate the body’s self healing ability with very small doses of highly diluted remedies, which in larger doses would produce the same negative symptoms.

• Naturopathic Medicine is a system that supports the body’s self healing ability through dietary and lifestyle changes together with natural remedies, herbs, massages and joint manipulation.

• Ayurveda, originated in India, which aims to integrate mind, body and spirit to prevent and treat disease. It is primarily based on herbal remedies, massages and yoga.

• Traditional Chinese Medicine, (TCM) which is based on the concept that all disease results from a blockage of vital energy (Qi) and an imbalance of negative and positive forces of yin and yang. Therapies used for treatment include herbal medicine, massage, meditation and acupuncture.

Practices and Techniques – The Practices and techniques covered under CAM are:

• Mind-Body Medicine that comprises of a variety of techniques that increase the mind’s ability to affect bodily functions and symptoms.

• Biologically Based Practices that use herbs, foods, vitamins and other natural products for their therapeutic value.

• Manipulative Body Practices that include chiropractic manipulation of joints and massages. These are often used as part of other therapies and whole medical systems.

• Energy Therapies

  1. Bio-field therapies that affect energy fields surrounding and penetrating the body. Qi gong, Reiki and Therapeutic Touch are major examples of such a technique.

  2. Bio-electro-magnetic therapies that use electromagnetic fields for treatment.

• Acupressure, a part of TCM, that involves the insertion of needles at pressure points to unblock Qi.

The list of alternative and complementary therapies is long and also includes some of the lesser known therapies. Some techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy and group support systems, which were earlier in the list of alternative and complementary therapies under Mind and Body Medicine, have now been included in the mainstream. It is regrettable, however, that whole medicine systems like Homeopathy, TCM and Ayurveda are still considered to be ‘alternate’ therapies despite a proven record of effective treatment and cure.