Complementary or alternative medicine can be classified into five major categories of practice:
The category names only partially describe their components. Some approaches are understandable within the concepts of modern science, whereas other approaches are not. Many types overlap with others.
Types of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Types |
Description |
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Whole medical systems |
All-encompassing approaches that include philosophy, diagnosis, and treatment |
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Aims to restore balance within the body Uses diet, massage, herbs, meditation, therapeutic elimination, and yoga |
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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* |
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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 |
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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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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Uses mental images to help people relax or to promote wellness or healing of a particular condition, such as insomnia or psychologic trauma |
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Puts people into a state of relaxation and heightened attention to help them change their behavior and thus improve their health |
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Meditation, including mindfulness |
Intentionally regulating attention or systematically focusing on particular aspects of experience |
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Using techniques to slow certain body functions down (for example, by slowing the heart rate) and thus to relieve tension and stress |
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Biologically based practices |
Use of naturally occurring substances (such as particular foods and micronutrients) to promote wellness |
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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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Involves manipulating muscles and other tissues to reduce pain and muscle spasm and to reduce stress and enhance relaxation |
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Uses dried moxa herb (a mugwort) that is burned usually just above but sometimes directly on the skin over acupuncture points |
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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 |
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Scraping (for example, coining, spooning) |
Involves rubbing a dull implement across skin, usually on the back, neck, or extremities Considered a form of massage, also called gua sha |
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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 |
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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 |
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Qi gong |
A gentle movement practice in traditional Chinese medicine using postures, breathing, and meditation to improve healing |
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An energy therapy involving placing magnets on the body to reduce pain or enhance healing |
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An energy therapy involving practitioners channeling energy through their hands and transferring it into a person's body to promote healing |
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An energy therapy using the therapist’s healing energy, usually without touching the person, to identify and repair imbalances in the person's biofield |
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*Many solutions have been diluted so many times that they contain no measurable molecules of the active ingredient. |
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RDA = recommended daily allowances. |
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Whole Medical Systems
Mind-Body Medicine
Mind-body techniques are based on the theory that mental and emotional factors can influence physical health. Behavioral, psychologic, social, and spiritual methods are used to preserve health and prevent or cure disease.
Because of the abundance of scientific evidence backing the benefits of mind-body techniques, many of the approaches are now considered mainstream. For example, the following techniques are used in the treatment of chronic pain, coronary artery disease, headaches, insomnia, and as aids during childbirth:
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Hypnotherapy (hypnosis)
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Meditation, including mindfulness
These techniques are also used to help people cope with disease-related and treatment-related symptoms of cancer and to prepare them for surgery.
Biologically Based Therapies
Manipulative and Body-Based Practices
Manipulative and body-based therapies treat various conditions through bodily manipulation. These therapies include
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Osteopathic manipulation
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Reflexology
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Scraping (for example, coining, spooning)
These therapies are based on the belief that the body can regulate and heal itself and that its parts are interdependent. Acupuncture is also sometimes considered a manipulative therapy.
Some of these therapies (cupping, scraping, and moxibustion) result in lesions that may be mistaken for signs of trauma or abuse. These therapies are thought to stimulate the body’s energy and to enable toxins to leave the body. However, very little high quality research has measured how effective they are.
Energy Therapies
Energy therapies focus on the energy fields thought to exist in and around the body (biofields). These therapies also encompass the use of external energy sources (electromagnetic fields) to influence health and healing. Energy therapies are based on a core belief in the existence of a universal life force or subtle energy that resides in and around the body (vitalism). Limited scientific evidence supports the existence of such a universal life force, which is inherently hard to measure.
Energy therapies include the following:
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Qi gong and Tai chi—components of traditional Chinese medicine using gentle postures, mindful movement, and the breath to bring the person’s energy into better balance
Practitioners of energy therapies typically place their hands on or near the body and use their energy to affect the energy field of the person.
