Complementary and alternative medicine: What is it?
16 12 07 - 00:00
When you were a child and sprained an ankle or came down with the flu, you probably visited a pediatrician to soothe your symptoms. As an adult, you most likely visit your primary care physician for everything that ails you. But now your friends are suggesting complementary and alternative medicine treatments that you've never heard of — things like homeopathy, ayurveda, acupuncture and herbs.
What are these complementary and alternative medicine therapies? Are they safe? Will they work? Educate yourself before starting any new complementary and alternative medicine therapy, and always tell your doctor which ones you're trying.
What is complementary and alternative medicine?
Complementary and alternative medicine generally refers to practices that aren't integral parts of conventional medicine. What is or isn't considered complementary and alternative medicine changes constantly as an increasing number of treatments undergo rigorous study and are proved to be effective or not.
Though the two terms are often grouped together, complementary medicine and alternative medicine aren't necessarily the same thing. Complementary treatments are often thought of as treatments used along with the conventional therapies your doctor may prescribe, such as using tai chi or massage in addition to prescription medicine for anxiety.
Alternative approaches are generally thought of as being used instead of conventional methods. For example, this might mean seeing a homeopath or naturopath instead of your regular doctor.
Many complementary and alternative medicine practitioners base their work around a few common principles. Some of these are similar to what your conventional doctor might do, while others are quite different. Basic philosophies of complementary and alternative medicine include:
Your body heals itself. Complementary and alternative medicine practitioners see themselves as facilitators. To them your body does all the healing work, and you only need treatment to encourage your natural healing processes.
Prevention is key. Your complementary and alternative medicine practitioner may wish to see you before you get sick to make sure you're doing all you can to keep yourself healthy.
Learning and healing go hand-in-hand. Your complementary and alternative medicine practitioner views himself or herself as a teacher and mentor who offers guidance. To the practitioner, you're the one who does the healing.
What are some examples of complementary and alternative medicine?
To make sense of the many therapies available, it might help to look at them in the five broad categories that the National Institutes of Health uses for classification.
Healing systems
Healing systems are complete sets of theories and practices. A system isn't just a single practice or remedy — such as massage — but many different practices that all revolve around a philosophy or lifestyle, such as the power of nature or the presence of energy in your body. Many healing systems developed before the conventional Western medicine commonly used in the United States.
Examples of complementary and alternative medicine healing systems include ayurveda, which emphasizes a unique cure per individual circumstances, homeopathy, which uses minute doses of medicine to evoke cures, and naturopathy, which focuses on noninvasive treatments to help your body do its own healing. Traditional Chinese, Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian and Tibetan practices also fall into the healing systems category.
Mind-body connections
Mind-body techniques strengthen the communication between your mind and your body. Complementary and alternative medicine practitioners believe these two systems must be in harmony for you to stay healthy. Examples of mind-body connection techniques include meditation, yoga, biofeedback, prayer, hypnosis, relaxation and art therapies, such as poetry, music and dance.
Dietary supplements and herbs
These treatments use ingredients found in nature. Examples of herbs include ginseng, ginkgo and echinacea, while examples of other dietary supplements include selenium, glucosamine sulfate and SAMe. Herbs and supplements can be taken as teas, oils, syrups, powders, tablets or capsules. Many people trust herbal medicine because it's been used for thousands of years. Others like it because it's "natural." Remember, though, that natural doesn't mean that herbs and supplements can't hurt you.
Manipulation and touch
These methods use human touch to move or manipulate a specific part of your body. A chiropractor, for instance manipulates your spine using his or her hands. And a massage therapist uses his or her hands to massage your sore muscles. Other types of manipulation and touch therapies include osteopathy, craniosacral therapy and acupressure.
Energy therapies
Some complementary and alternative medicine practitioners believe an energy force flows through your body. You can't see this energy, but if its flow is blocked or unbalanced you can become sick. Different traditions call this energy by different names, such as chi, prana and life force. Unblocking or re-balancing your energy force is the goal of these therapies, and each one accomplishes that goal differently. Proponents of acupuncture, for instance, believe that the insertion of needles into points along energy pathways in your body restores your natural energy.
Other energy therapies include therapeutic touch, in which practitioners move their hands back and forth across your body to manipulate your energy, and Reiki, a Japanese technique that transfers healing energy from one person to another. Others you may have heard of include magnet therapy, polarity therapy and light therapy.
Why are conventional doctors opposed to complementary and alternative medicine?
Most doctors aren't opposed to complementary and alternative medicine. It's true that some doctors may not want to discuss complementary and alternative medicine therapies, but as many as half the doctors in the United States refer people to complementary and alternative practitioners. Your doctor may, in fact, be willing to discuss these options with you.
Conventional doctors have good reason to be skeptical when it comes to complementary and alternative medicine. Some alternative medicine practitioners make exaggerated claims about curing diseases, and some ask you to forgo treatment from your conventional doctor to use their unproven therapies. Some forms of alternative medicine can even hurt you.
Work together with your conventional doctor when considering complementary and alternative medicine. He or she can help provide you with information about risks and benefits so that you can make informed decisions regarding these treatments.
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