General information. Alternative medicine History Terminology Alternative veterinary medicine Quackery health fraud Rise of modern medicine Pseudoscience Antiscience Skepticism Scientific Therapeutic nihilism.

Fringe medicine and science. Conspiracy theories. Alternative medical systems Mind—body intervention Biologically based therapy Manipulative methods Energy therapy.

Traditional medicine. African Muti Southern Africa Ayurveda Dosha MVAH Balneotherapy Brazilian Bush medicine Cambodian Chinese Blood stasis Chinese herbology Dit da Gua sha Gill plate trade Long gu Meridian Moxibustion Pressure point Qi San Jiao Tui na Zang-fu Chumash Curandero Faith healing Hilot Iranian Jamu Kayakalpa Kambo Japanese Korean Mien Shiang Mongolian Prophetic medicine Shamanism Shiatsu Siddha Sri Lankan Thai massage Tibetan Unani Vietnamese.

Adrenal fatigue Aerotoxic syndrome Candida hypersensitivity Chronic Lyme disease Electromagnetic hypersensitivity Heavy legs Leaky gut syndrome Multiple chemical sensitivity Wilson's temperature syndrome.

See also: Terminology of alternative medicine. See also: Traditional medicine. See also: List of forms of alternative medicine. Main article: Herbal medicine. See also: Shamanism. Main article: History of alternative medicine. Further information: Regulation of alternative medicine and Regulation and prevalence of homeopathy.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. May See also: List of herbs with known adverse effects.

Most of these practices are used together with conventional therapies and therefore have been called complementary to distinguish them from alternative practices, those used as a substitute for standard care.

Until a decade ago or so, 'complementary and alternative medicine' could be defined as practices that are neither taught in medical schools nor reimbursed, but this definition is no longer workable, since medical students increasingly seek and receive some instruction about complementary health practices, and some practices are reimbursed by third-party payers.

Another definition, practices that lack an evidence base, is also not useful, since there is a growing body of research on some of these modalities, and some aspects of standard care do not have a strong evidence base.

CAM includes such resources perceived by their users as associated with positive health outcomes. Boundaries within CAM and between the CAM domain and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed.

There cannot be two kinds of medicine — conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work speculation, and testimonials do not substitute for evidence.

Although the Commissioners support the provision of the most accurate information about the state of the science of all CAM modalities, they believe that it is premature to advocate the wide implementation and reimbursement of CAM modalities that are yet unproven.

To cure in a mild, prompt, safe, and durable manner, it is necessary to choose in each case a medicine that will excite an affection similar ὅμοιος πάθος to that against which it is employed. Ludmerer noted in "Flexner pointed out that the scientific method of thinking applied to medical practice.

By scientific method, he meant testing ideas with well-planned experiments to establish accurate facts. The clinician's diagnosis was equivalent to the scientist's hypothesis: both medical diagnosis and hypothesis required the test of an experiment.

Flexner argued that mastery of the scientific method of problem solving was the key for physicians to manage medical uncertainty and to practice in the most cost-effective way. Consumer health: a guide to intelligent decisions 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN OCLC New England Journal of Medicine.

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Astin, J. JAMA Internal Medicine. Pelletier, K. American Journal of Health Promotion. of Health and Human Services Staff United States March White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy Final Report Report. US Government Printing Office. Chapter 2 archived Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Complementary medicine, defined as health care which lies for the most part outside the mainstream of conventional medicine. The Lancet. NCI website. Physician Data Query PDQ. National Cancer Institute NCI , NIH. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

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World Health Organization Report. American Board of Physician Specialties. July 16, Retrieved March 11, Frontiers in Public Health. Traditional medicine is defined as the ways of protecting and restoring health that existed before the arrival of modern medicine.

It is underestimated part of healthcare that finds in almost every country in the world. Traditional medicine has been being used in the maintenance of health and the prevention, diagnosis, improvement, or treatment of physical and mental illness.

Traditional medicine, as defined by the World Health Organization, is the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement, or treatment of physical and mental illness.

Some traditional medicine systems are supported by huge volumes of literature and records of the theoretical concepts and practical skills; others pass down from generation to generation through verbal teaching.

Paris: UNESCO International Bioethics Committee. Retrieved 29 March Whereas traditional medicine is based on analogical reasoning and a holistic approach to disease and health, conventional medicine rests on scientific knowledge and is evidence-based.

Nature Plants. Although the initial development of these holistic traditional herbal prescriptions predated modern science, the process was based on thousands of years of phenotype-based and personalized human clinical trials.

Meanwhile, meticulous descriptions of disease symptoms and systematic medical theories have also been recorded by generations of herbal doctors, relating therapeutic properties of diverse medicinal plants to their utility in treating specific symptoms.

Yet most of the foundational concepts in the traditional medical systems—for example, the concepts of yin versus yang and cold versus hot in traditional Chinese medicine—are disconnected from the modern descriptions of normal and disease states in the language of physiology and molecular biology.

The lack of modern scientific and clinical evidence for safety, efficacy and action mechanisms further prevented those holistic herbal medicine prescriptions from being accepted beyond their culture of origin.

March Journal of Ethnopharmacology. When adopted outside its traditional or root culture, traditional medicine is often classified as a form of alternative medicine AM , for example by Western professional medical organizations, insurers and healthcare systems.

This problematically leads to lack of regulation e. where these approaches are at best relegated to the nutraceutical market largely outside the FDA sphere of regulation and a lack of fidelity to original formulations, dose schedules, delivery methods and indications.

International Journal of Health Sciences. Complementary and alternative healthcare and medical practices CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine.

The list of practices that are considered as CAM changes continually as CAM practices and therapies that are proven safe and effective become accepted as the "mainstream" healthcare practices Alternative medicine is commonly categorized together with complementary medicine under the umbrella term "complementary and alternative medicine".

Complementary medicine refers to therapies that complement traditional western or allopathic medicine and is used together with conventional medicine, and alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine.

Alternative medicine refers to therapeutic approaches taken in place of traditional medicine and used to treat or ameliorate disease. Oxford University Press OUP. Unfortunately, the term 'holistic medicine' has been somewhat hijacked by alternative therapists and is often thought mistakenly to be at odds with conventional medicine.

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Guest Editorial. Current Science. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Retrieved 1 February International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health. Science-based medicine, with its emphasis on controlled study, proof, evidence, statistical significance and safety is being rejected in favour of 'alternative medicine' — an atavistic portmanteau of anecdote, hearsay, rumour and hokum.

Probably the most commercially successful and widely used branch of alternative or complementary medicine is 'phytotherapy'. These are the tablets, powders and elixirs, otherwise known as herbal medicine, that are sold in most countries, through health shops and pharmacies as 'nutritional supplements'.

Only a tiny minority of these remedies have been shown to have mild-to moderately beneficial health effects So why are affluent, otherwise rational, highly educated people for this is the average user profile so hungry for phytotherapy? people still believe that 'natural' equals good and safe despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.

as far as the human body is concerned, 'natural' is meaningless Equally, what's so safe about consuming substances that need meet no standards of contents? December NIH News. Bethseda, Maryland: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine. Retrieved 4 June Current Paediatrics.

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One of the few growth industries in contemporary Britain is alternative medicine. An apparently endless stream of books, articles, and radio and television programmes urge on the public the virtues of treatments ranging from meditation to drilling a hole in the skull to let in more oxygen.

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University of Chicago Press. Retrieved March 18, National Council Against Health Fraud NCAHF website. At the Montreal West Island Integrative Health Centre, we believe that you deserve to enjoy vibrant health. We seek to find the naturopathic root cause of any health concerns or imbalances, and create a plan to help guide you on your path to wellness.

Collaborative care is our goal. Naturopathic medicine does not replace conventional medical care, we believe in a patient-centred approach, where people can benefit from both forms of medicine. We use natural, safe and effective evidence-based methods for health optimization and disease prevention.

When given the right conditions, the body has an incredible innate ability to heal. Our goal is to educate and support you to attain your optimal health. Our naturopaths are licensed and board certified in a regulated jurisdiction, and follow the standards of continuing education required by their respective boards.

Naturopathic medicine is not currently regulated in the province of Quebec, as it is in other provinces across Canada. Find out more about our practitioners.