"Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness."
Non-traditional forms of healing and treatment, including practices such as acupuncture, massage therapy, and herbal remedies.
Acupuncture: A practice that involves inserting thin needles into specific points on the body to stimulate healing and relaxation.
Ayurveda: A system of traditional medicine that originated in India, which emphasizes a holistic approach to wellness through lifestyle considerations, such as diet, exercise, and meditation.
Chiropractic: A healthcare discipline that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal issues, primarily of the spine.
Herbal Medicine: A practice that involves using natural herbs and plant extracts to promote health and healing.
Homeopathy: A medical system that involves using highly diluted substances to treat a variety of ailments and conditions.
Hypnotherapy: A form of therapy that uses hypnosis to promote healing, relaxation, and positive behavior change.
Massage Therapy: A practice that uses various techniques to manipulate soft tissue, muscles, and joints to promote relaxation and improve physical function.
Naturopathy: A system of alternative medicine that focuses on prevention and natural remedies to promote wellness and healing.
Nutrition: A field that examines the role of food and nutrients in maintaining health and preventing disease.
Reflexology: A practice that involves applying pressure and massage to specific areas on the feet, hands, and ears to promote relaxation and healing.
Reiki: A form of energy healing that involves the transfer of universal energy to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): An ancient medical system that combines multiple therapies, such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, and qigong, to promote health and healing.
Yoga: A physical and mental discipline that combines postures, breathing, and meditation to promote overall health and well-being.
Aromatherapy: A practice that involves using essential oils to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.
Energy Healing: A broad category that includes practices such as Reiki, polarity therapy, and healing touch, which aim to restore balance and promote healing by manipulating the body's energy fields.
Mind-Body Medicine: A field of study that examines the connection between the mind and body and how mental, emotional, and spiritual factors can affect physical health.
Meditation: A practice that involves training the mind to focus and achieve a state of heightened awareness and relaxation.
Music Therapy: A practice that involves using music to promote healing, relaxation, and emotional expression.
Tai Chi: A practice that combines slow, flowing movements with deep breathing and meditation to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
Visualization: A technique that involves using mental imagery and guided imagery to promote healing, relaxation, and positive thinking.
Acupuncture: This therapy involves the use of thin needles to stimulate specific parts of the body for the treatment of various ailments.
Aromatherapy: This type of therapy involves the use of essential oils extracted from different plants to promote healing.
Ayurveda: This ancient Indian practice of medicine is based on the concept of balancing the three doshas - Vata, Pitta, and Kapha - to treat various ailments.
Chiropractic: This practice involves the manipulation of the spine to relieve pain and promote healing.
Homeopathy: This type of therapy is based on the concept that "like cures like," and involves the use of small doses of natural substances to stimulate the body's natural healing processes.
Naturopathy: This alternative medicine practice emphasizes the use of natural remedies such as herbs, diet, and lifestyle changes to promote optimal health.
Reiki: This therapy involves the use of energy healing to balance the body's energy fields and promote healing.
Traditional Chinese Medicine: This ancient practice involves the use of acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other therapies to bring the body into balance and promote healing.
Yoga: This practice involves various postures, breathing techniques, and meditation to promote physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
"Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of medical science."
"Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery."
"...but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies,' pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"Some alternative practices are based on theories that contradict the established science of how the human body works; others resort to the supernatural or superstitious to explain their effect or lack thereof."
"In others, the practice has plausibility but lacks a positive risk–benefit outcome probability."
"Research into alternative therapies often fails to follow proper research protocols (such as placebo-controlled trials, blind experiments, and calculation of prior probability), providing invalid results."
"Much of the perceived effect of an alternative practice arises from a belief that it will be effective (the placebo effect)."
"Multiple studies have shown significantly worse outcomes if patients turn to alternative therapies. While this may be because these patients avoid effective treatment, some alternative therapies are actively harmful..."
"The alternative medicine sector is a highly profitable industry with a strong lobby, and faces far less regulation over the use and marketing of unproven treatments."
"Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine attempt to combine alternative practices with those of mainstream medicine."
"Traditional medicine practices become 'alternative' when used outside their original settings and without proper scientific explanation and evidence."
"Alternative methods are often marketed as more 'natural' or 'holistic' than methods offered by medical science, that is sometimes derogatorily called 'Big Pharma' by supporters of alternative medicine."
"Billions of dollars have been spent studying alternative medicine, with few or no positive results and many methods thoroughly disproven."
"...despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness."
"...do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies', pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"...but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural 'energies,' pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources."
"Some alternative therapies are actively harmful (e.g. cyanide poisoning from amygdalin, or the intentional ingestion of hydrogen peroxide) or actively interfere with effective treatments."
"Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method... alternative therapies reside outside of medical science and do not originate from using the scientific method."
"This is further exacerbated by the tendency to turn to alternative therapies upon the failure of medicine, at which point the condition will be at its worst and most likely to spontaneously improve."