Types of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Types | Description | |
|---|---|---|
Whole medical systems | All-encompassing approaches that include philosophy, diagnosis, and treatment | |
Aims to restore balance within the body Uses diet, massage, herbs, meditation, therapeutic elimination, and yoga | ||
Based on the law of similars: A substance that causes certain symptoms when given in large doses can cure the same symptoms when it is used in minute doses* | ||
Aims to prevent and treat disease by promoting a healthy lifestyle, treating the whole person, and using the body’s natural ability to heal itself Uses a combination of therapies, including acupuncture, counseling, exercise therapy, guided imagery, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, medicinal herbs, natural childbirth, nutrition, physical therapies, and stress management | ||
Aims to restore the proper flow of life force (qi) in the body by balancing the opposing forces of yin and yang within the body Uses acupuncture, massage, medicinal herbs, and meditative exercise (qi gong) | ||
Mind-body medicine | Use of behavioral, psychologic, social, and spiritual techniques to enhance the mind’s capacity to affect the body and thus to preserve health and prevent or cure disease | |
Uses electronic devices to provide people with information about biologic functions (such as heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension) and teaches people how to control these functions | ||
Uses mental images to help people relax or to promote wellness or healing of a particular condition, such as insomnia or psychologic trauma | ||
Puts people into a state of relaxation and heightened attention to help them change their behavior and thus improve their health | ||
Meditation, including mindfulness | Intentionally regulating attention or systematically focusing on particular aspects of experience | |
Using techniques to slow certain body functions down (for example, by slowing the heart rate) and thus to relieve tension and stress | ||
Biologically based practices | Use of naturally occurring substances (such as particular foods and micronutrients) to promote wellness | |
Botanical medicine and natural products | Uses substances that occur naturally in plants or animals to treat symptoms or disease (such as cartilage used to treat joint pain) | |
Uses a drug to bind with and remove a metal or mineral that is believed to be present in excess or toxic amounts in the body | ||
Use specialized dietary regimens (such as the macrobiotic, Paleo, low carbohydrate, or Mediterranean diet) to treat or prevent a specific disease, to generally promote wellness, or to detoxify the body | ||
Manipulative and body-based practices | Manipulation of parts of the body (such as joints and muscles) to treat various conditions and symptoms Based on the belief that the body in balance will improve certain symptoms and that its parts are interdependent | |
Involves manipulating the spine (mainly) to restore the normal relationship between the spine and nervous system May involve physical therapy (such as heat and cold therapy and electrical stimulation), massage, acupressure, and/or exercises or lifestyle changes | ||
Uses heated cups, inverted and placed on the skin to create vacuum that sucks the skin partway into the cup, which may be left in place for several minutes Considered a form of massage that increases blood flow to targeted regions in an effort to alter inflammation and certain conditions | ||
Involves manipulating muscles and other tissues to reduce pain and muscle spasm and to reduce stress and enhance relaxation | ||
Uses dried moxa herb (a mugwort) that is burned usually just above but sometimes directly on the skin over acupuncture points | ||
Involves applying manual pressure to specific areas of the foot, hand, or ear that are believed to correspond to different organs or systems of the body | ||
Gua sha (for example, scraping, coining, spooning) | Involves rubbing a dull implement such as a coin or a spoon across skin, usually on the back, neck, or extremities Considered a form of massage, also called gua sha | |
Energy therapies | Manipulation of energy fields thought to exist in and around the body (biofields) to maintain or restore health Based on the belief that a universal life force or subtle energy resides in and around the body and throughout the universe | |
Stimulates specific points on the body, usually by inserting very thin needles into the skin and underlying tissues to affect the flow of qi along energy pathways (meridians) and thus restore balance in the body | ||
Qi gong | A gentle movement practice in traditional Chinese medicine using postures, breathing, and meditation to improve healing | |
An energy therapy involving placing magnets on the body to reduce pain or enhance healing | ||
An energy therapy involving practitioners channeling energy through their hands and transferring it into a person's body to promote healing | ||
An energy therapy using the therapist’s healing energy, usually without touching the person, to identify and repair imbalances in the person's biofield | ||
* Many solutions have been diluted so many times that they contain no measurable molecules of the active ingredient. | ||
RDA = recommended daily allowances. | ||