Terms and concepts in alternative medicine provides a glossary of quick and to the point definitions of important terms and concepts unique to alternative medicine (CAM).
Acupuncture is the practice of inserting very thin needles in specific acupuncture points or combinations of points on the body to improve health and well-being. "There are over 1,000 acupoints that can be stimulated through the insertion of needles. Acupuncture has been used to treat health problems and conditions ranging from the common cold to addiction and chronic fatigue syndrome." (See CDC Advance Data Report #343 below.)
Alternative medicine is a broad term for any diagnostic method, method of treatment or therapy whose theoretical bases and techniques diverge from generally accepted medical methods. It is generally considered to be the most dangerous form of CAM by the scientific community because it is used in place of conventional medicine. (See criticisms of alternative medicine for details.)
Alternatively defined in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary as: a wide range of treatments for medical conditions that people use instead of or with western medicine: Alternative medicine includes treatments such as acupuncture, homeopathy and hypnotherapy.
Biofeedback links the mind with the body through high-technology devices that allows the mind to control certain bodily functions. In this treatment method, an individual is hooked up to monitoring devices which provides an indication of how brain waves, breathing patterns, muscle activity, sweat gland function, pulse, skin temperature, and blood pressure are responding to relaxation techniques, such as meditation. "Biofeedback has been used to reduce stress, eliminate headaches, recondition injured muscles, control asthmatic attacks, and relieve pain." (See CDC Advance Data Report #343 below.)
The Biomedical model of health is a conceptual model of illness that excludes psychological and social factors and includes only biological factors in an attempt to understand a person's illness.
The Biopsychosocial model of health sees health, illness and healing as resulting from the interacting effects of events of very different types, including biological, psychological, and social factors.
Body work is a new name for massage treatments which is how this health profession is trying to disassociate itself from the sex industry. Body work "involves pressing, rubbing, and otherwise manipulating muscles and other soft tissues of the body, causing them to relax and lengthen and allowing pain relieving oxygen and blood to flow to the affected area. Using their hands and sometimes feet, elbows, and forearms, massage therapists may use over 75 different methods, such as Swedish message, deep-tissue massage, neuromuscular massage, and manual lymph drainage. Massage is considered effective for relieving any type of pain in the body's soft tissue, including back, neck, and shoulder pain, headaches, bursitis, and tendonitis. (See CDC Advance Data Report #343 below.)
Chelation therapy is the use of chelating agents such as EDTA to remove heavy metals from the body. While in conventional medicine, chelation therapy is used only to treat heavy metal poisoning, some alternative practitioners advocate the use of chelation therapy to treat coronary artery disease.
Chiropractic is a popular form of alternative medicine whose physical mode of action is spinal manipulations that allegedly unblock nerve signals sent by the brain so that the body can heal itself. "It is primarily used to treat back problems, headaches, nerve inflammation, muscle spasms, and other injuries and traumas." (See CDC Advance Data Report #343 below.)
A survey released in May 2004 by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine focused on who used (CAM), what was used, and why it was used in the United States by adults age 18 years and over during 2002. According to this recent survey, Diet-based therapy as a form of CAM was to treat 3.5% of the adult population in the United States during 2002 (See CDC Advance Data Report #343 below, table 1 on page 8).
Homeopathy is an alternative medical practice founded on resemblances. The underlying theory is that disease are cured by remedies which produce, on a healthy person, similar effects to the symptoms of the patient's complaint. "For example, someone suffering from insomnia may be given a homeopathic dose of coffee. Administered in diluted form, homeopathic remedies are derived from many natural sources, including plants, metals, and minerals. Numbering in the thousands, these remedies have been used to treat a wide variety of ailments including seasonal allergies, asthma, influenza, headaches, and indigestion." (See CDC Advance Data Report #343 below.)
Hypnotherapy is the treatment of a symptom, disease, or addiction by means of hypnotism. Hypnosis is "an altered state of consciousness, it is characterized by increased responsiveness to suggestion. The hypnotic state is attained by first relaxing the body then shifting the client's attention toward a narrow range of objects or ideas as suggested by the hypnotist or hypnotheraptist. The procedure is used to access various levels of the mind to effect positive changes in a person's behavior and to treat numerous health conditions. For example, hypnosis has been used to lose weight, improve sleep, and reduce pain and stress." (See CDC Advance Data Report #343 below.)
Integrative medicine, as defined by NCCAM, combines conventional medical treatments and CAM alternative treatments for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of their safety and effectiveness.
Massage therapy "involves pressing, rubbing, and otherwise manipulating muscles and other soft tissues of the body, causing them to relax and lengthen and allowing pain relieving oxygen and blood to flow to the affected area. Using their hands and sometimes feet, elbows, and forearms, massage therapists may use over 75 different methods, such as Swedish message, deep-tissue massage, neuromuscular massage, and manual lymph drainage. Massage is considered effective for relieving any type of pain in the body's soft tissue, including back, neck, and shoulder pain, headaches, bursitis, and tendonitis. (See CDC Advance Data Report #343 below.)
