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Alternative medicine includes practices that differ from conventional medicine. Some alternative medicine practices are homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic, and herbal medicine. A typical definition is “every available approach to healing that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine”.
Alternative medicine practices may be based on unconventional belief systems or philosophies; biological data and observations or biochemical principles; and some may not follow the scientific method. They may incorporate spiritual, metaphysical, or religious underpinnings, untested practices, pre-modern medical traditions, or newly developed approaches to healing. If an alternative medical approach, previously unproven according to orthodox scientific or regulatory methodologies, is subsequently shown to be safe and effective, it may then be adopted by conventional practitioners and no longer considered “alternative”.
“Alternative medicine” is often categorized together with complementary medicine using the umbrella term Complementary and alternative medicine or CAM.
A 2002 survey of US adults 18 years and older conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (CDC) the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine indicated:
- 74.6% had used some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).
- 62.1% had done so within the preceding twelve months.
- When prayer specifically for health reasons is excluded, these figures fall to 49.8% and 36.0%, respectively.
- 45.2% had in the last twelve months used prayer for health reasons, either through praying for their own health or through others praying for them.
- 54.9% used CAM in conjunction with conventional medicine.
- 14.8% “sought care from a licensed or certified” practitioner, suggesting that “most individuals who use CAM prefer to treat themselves.”
Most people used CAM to treat and/or prevent musculoskeletal conditions or other conditions associated with chronic or recurring pain.
“Women were more likely than men to use CAM. The largest sex differential is seen in the use of mind-body therapies including prayer specifically for health reasons”.
“Except for the groups of therapies that included prayer specifically for health reasons, use of CAM increased as education levels increased”.
The most common CAM therapies used in the U.S. in 2002 were prayer (45.2%), herbalism (18.9%), breathing meditation (11.6%), meditation (7.6%), chiropractic medicine (7.5%), yoga (5.1%), body work (5.0%), diet-based therapy (3.5%), progressive relaxation (3.0%), mega-vitamin therapy (2.8%) and Visualization (2.1%).