Alternative Therapies and Treatments
By Cathy Wong, About.com Guide
Are You Considering Alternative Medicine?
If you're thinking of trying alternative medicine, there might be a treatment you've heard of and want to try. Or you may have exhausted the conventional route and would like to know what can be done using alternative medicine. Or maybe you just want to be stay healthy and are interested in finding out new methods to help you. Whatever your situation, you undoubtedly have lots of questions. Can alternative medicine help you? Are you covered for any treatments? Are there any treatments that you should steer clear of? Arm yourself with the information you need to make a smart decision about alternative care.
- What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine?
- What are the Five Main Types of Alternative Medicine?
- What are the Most Popular Alternative Treatments?
- Why Do People Use Alternative Medicine?
- What Should I Know About Insurance Coverage for Alternative Treatments?
- How to Be a Smart Consumer
Whole Medical Systems
These treatments are built on complete systems of theory and practice. Often, these systems have evolved apart from and earlier than the conventional medical approach used in the United States.
Mind-Body Medicine
These treatments use a variety of techniques designed to enhance the mind's capacity to affect bodily functions and symptoms. Some techniques that were considered alternative in the past, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, have become mainstream. These are some of the mind-body techniques that are considered part of complementary and alternative therapy.
Biologically-based therapies
These treatments use substances found in nature, such as herbs, foods, and vitamins. They also include the use of other so-called natural, but as yet scientifically unproven, therapies.
Manipulative and Body-Based Therapies
Massages can be indulgent, for sure. But they, along with these other body-based therapies, can be healing. These techniques are based on the manipulation and/or movement of one or more parts of the body.
Energy Therapies
These therapies involve the use of energy fields. There are of two types of energy therapies: Biofield therapies are intended to affect energy fields that purportedly surround and penetrate the human body. Some forms of energy therapy manipulate biofields by applying pressure and/or manipulating the body by placing the hands in, or through, these fields. The existence of such fields, however, has not yet been scientifically proven. The second type, bioelectromagnetic-based therapy, involves the unconventional use of electromagnetic fields.
