This is a glossary for terms and concepts being used in Alternative Medicine, an umbrella term for a large number of practices that fall outside the scope of conventional medicine.

A

• Acupuncture is the practice of inserting very thin needles in specific acupuncture points or combinations of points on the body.
• Alternative Medical Systemsis the name of a NCCAM classification for those forms of alternative medicine that are built upon a complete system of ideas and practice. It can include:
  • Ayurveda
  • Chiropractic
  • Homeopathy
  • Naturopathic medicine
  • Osteopathy
  • Traditional Chinese medicine
• Anthroposophical medicine is a holistic and salutogenic approach to healing developed in the early twentieth century by Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman. Practitioners supplement the uniquely anthroposophical approach with conventional and homeopathic therapies and remedies. Anthroposophical doctors must have a recognized medical degree (M.D. or equivalent).
• Anthroposophic Pharmacy is the discipline related to conceiving, developing and producing medicinal products according to the anthroposophic understanding of man, nature, substance and pharmaceutical processing. Anthroposophic medicinal products are used within anthroposophic medicine but not only.
• Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils and other aromatic compounds from plants to affect someone’s mood or health.
• Attachment therapy is a form of therapy aimed at children with alleged ‘attachment disorders’, usually fostered or adopted children. It is substantially based on outdated notions of suppressed rage due to early adverse experiences. Traditionally it uses a variety of confrontational and physically coercive techniques of which the most common form is holding therapy, accompanied by parenting methods which emphasize obedience. Following implication in a number of child death and maltreatment cases in the USA there has been a recent move away from coercion by some leading theorists and practitioners. It is largely unvalidated.

B

• Bates method – an alternative approach to eyesight improvement and maintenance. It is based on the belief that errors in visual accommodation are due to mental strain, and that vision may be improved by appropriate relaxation techniques.
• “Biologically based therapies”, is the precise name of a NCCAM classification, for alternative treatments that use substances found in nature and/or some other natural therapy. It can include:
  • Chinese food therapy
  • Fasting
  • Herbal therapy
  • Macrobiotic lifestyle
  • Natural health
  • Natural therapy
  • Diet and Food
  • Dietary supplements
  • Exercise
  • Naturopathy
  • Orthomolecular medicine
  • Urine therapy
• 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. According to this model, health constitutes the freedom from disease, pain, or defect, thus making the normal human condition health. The model’s focus on the physical processes, such as the pathology, the biochemistry and the physiology of a disease, does not take into account the role of social factors or individual subjectivity. The model also overlooks the fact that the diagnosis (that will affect treatment of the patient) is a result of negotiation between doctor and patient.
• Body work is a term used to describe any therapeutic, healing or personal development work which involves some form of touching, energetic work or the physical manipulation of a practically oriented physical and somatic understanding of the body.

C

• CAM is an acronym for complementary and alternative medicine, an umbrella term for a large range of treatments and of theories on the nature of health and illness, many of them unrelated, which have in common that they are not commonly employed by the conventional medical establishment.
• 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.
• Chinese medicine – the group of philosophies embodied by Chinese medicine are, more accurately, referred to as Oriental Medicine with roots in many different Asian countries. This millennia-old Asian medical tradition works to bring balance to the body through acupuncture, massage, Eastern herbalism, diet; and lifestyle changes such as martial arts and meditation.
• The practice of Chiropractic is a manual therapy involving the manipulation of the vertebral subluxation to restore proper, motion, biomechanics, and nerve flow from the brain to the body.
• Christian Science is a small denomination that teaches that Christian healing as practiced by Jesus of Nazareth and his followers for several centuries after him, was in fact not a short-term dispensation to induce faith but had an underlying principle (specifically God) and method. While its practice is regarded within the denomination as incompatible with medical care, it also respects the philanthropy of the medical faculty and is uncondemningly non-compulsory. Resort to Christian Science may be private or involve the care of a Christian Science practitioner.
• Colorpuncture is an alternative medicine practice asserting that light can be used to stimulate acupuncture points for the purpose of balancing energy in the body and promoting healing and better health. It is also called color light acupuncture in North America. It is a form of color therapy.
• Complementary medicine refers to treatments that are used alongside (“complementary to”) conventional medicine.

D

• Diet-based therapy uses a variety of diets in order to improve health and longevity, to control weight, as well as to treat specific health conditions like high cholesterol.
  • Breatharian
  • Fruitarianism
  • List of diets
  • Living foods diet
  • Macrobiotic lifestyle
  • Okinawa diet
  • Ovo-lacto vegetarian
  • Raw foodist
  • Vegan
  • Vegetarianism
  • Low-fat diet
  • Low-carb diet (Zone diet, Atkins diet)

• The Doctrine of signatures was developed around 1500 and claims that a plant’s physical appearance reveals its medical value. The Doctrine of Signatures is often associated with Western herbalism.

E

• Eclectic medicine was a nineteenth-century system of medicine used in North America that treated diseases by the application of single herbal remedies to effect specific cures of certain signs and symptoms.
• Energy medicineis the name of a NCCAM classification, for alternative treatments that involve the use of veritable (i.e., that which can be measured) and putative (i.e., that which have yet to be measured) energy fields. It can include:
  • Jin Shin Jyutsu
  • Magnet therapy
  • Medical Qigong
  • Reiki
  • Shiatsu
  • Therapeutic Touch
  • The WISE Method (Holistic Integrated Spiritual Energy)
• Eden Energy Medicine – approach developed by Donna Eden
• Exercise-based therapy uses a variety of traditional forms of physical movement, in order to improve health and longevity, to increase, lengthen & tone muscle mass, gain flexibility, as well as to treat specific health conditions and to relieve stress. It can include:
  • Active Isolated Stretching
  • Aerobic exercise
  • Aerobics
  • Bodybuilding
  • Feldenkrais method
  • Martial arts
  • Physical Culture
  • Pilates
  • PNF stretching
  • Stretching
  • Some forms of Qigong
  • T’ai chi
  • Walking
  • Weight training
  • Yoga

F

• Feldenkrais Method is an educational system centered on movement, aiming to expand and refine the use of the self through awareness.
• Flower essence therapy is regarded by some as a sub-category of homeopathy which uses homeopathic dilutions of flowers. This practice was begun by Edward Bach with the Bach flower remedies but is now practiced much more widely.
• Folk medicine is the collection of procedures traditionally used for treatment of illness and injury, aid to childbirth, and maintenance of wellness.

G

• Grahamism, named for Sylvester Graham, recommended hard mattresses, open bedroom windows, chastity, cold showers, loose clothing, pure water and vigorous exercise.

H

• Herbalism is the practice of making or prescribing herbal remedies for medical conditions.
• Heroic medicine is any medicine or method of treatment that is aggressive or daring in a dangerously ill patient. It is generally used to refer to the pre-scientific treatments of 18th-century doctors, such as bloodletting.
• Holism is the study and advocacy of wholeness in health, science, politics, or any other area of life.
• Hydrotherapy is the external use of water in the medical treatment of disease, such as through the use of baths, the application of hot and cold compresses or sheet packs, and shower sprays. These applications typically use water as a medium for delivery of heat and cold to the body, capitalising on the thermoregulatory properties of the body for therapeutic effect.

I

• Integrative medicine as defined by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine combines conventional medical treatments and CAM treatments for which there is some claimed scientific evidence of their safety and effectiveness. Integrative medicine also adopts the term “integrative health” which incorporates mental, spiritual and community wellness with personal health.
• Iridology (also known as iridodiagnosis) is an alternative medicine technique whose proponents believe that patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the iris can be examined to determine information about a patient’s systemic health. Practitioners match their observations to iris charts which divide the iris into zones corresponding to specific parts of the human body.

L

• Life extension is a movement the goal of which is to live longer through intervention, and to increase maximum lifespan or average lifespan, especially in mammals. Researchers of life extension are a subclass of biogerontologists known as “biomedical gerontologists”. See also the List of life extension related topics.
• Lifestyle describes the particular attitudes, habits or behaviors associated with an individual.
• Lifestyle diseases are diseases that appear to increase in frequency as countries become more industrialized and people live longer.

M

• Manipulativeand body-based methods, is the precise name of a NCCAM classification, for alternative treatments that are based on manipulation and/or movement of one or more parts of the body. It can include:
  • Acupressure
  • Alexander Technique
  • Body work
  • Bowen Technique
  • Chiropractic
  • Feldenkrais Method
  • Manipulative therapy
  • Massage therapy
  • Medical acupuncture
  • Metamorphic Technique
  • Myofascial Release
  • Naprapathy
  • Osteopathy
  • Rolfing
  • Shiatsu
  • Taijiquan
  • Trager Approach
  • Tui na
  • Zero Balancing
• Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) is a type of gentle massage which is believed by proponents to encourage the natural circulation of the lymph through the body.
  The mind-body connection idea says that the causes, development, and outcomes of an illness are determined as much from the interaction of psychological and social factors as they are due to the biological factors of health. Many mind-body therapists take the definition of “mind-body connection” further and state that the root cause of illness is actually in the mind and spirit, and that for complete and permanent eradication of an illness, the cause must be addressed and cure focused there.
• Mind-Body Interventionis the name of a NCCAM classification, that covers a variety of techniques designed to enhance the mind’s capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms. It can include:
  • Aromatherapy
  • Art Therapy
  • Autosuggestion
  • Bach Flower Therapy
  • Buteyko method
  • Eutony
  • Feldenkrais method
  • Hatha yoga
  • Hypnotherapy
  • Metamorphic Technique
  • Journaling
  • Meditation
  • Music Therapy
  • Nia technique
  • Reiki
  • Self-hypnosis
  • Support groups
  • Taijiquan
  • Trager Approach
  • Visualization
  • Vivation
  • Yoga

N

• “Nature cure” is the progenitor of naturopathy in Europe. It postulates that all disease is due to violations of nature’s laws, and that true healing consists in a return to natural habits.
• Natural health is an eclectic self-care system of natural therapies that purports to build and restore health by working with the natural recuperative powers of the human body.
• Naturopathy is the eclectic practice of Naturopathic Doctors (N.D.) using many different natural therapies as treatment. The original method of treatment of Naturopathy was the water cure.
• Natural therapy is the treatment method used by advocates of natural health.
• NCCAM classifications– The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, or NCCAM,[1] has classified complementary and alternative therapies into five different categories, or domains:
  • Whole Medical Systems
  • Mind-Body Intervention
  • Biologically Based Therapy
  • Manipulative and body-based methods
  • Energy Therapy

Q

Qigong is an exercise aspect of Chinese medicine. Qigong is mostly taught for health maintenance purposes, but there are also some who teach it, especially in China, for therapeutic interventions. There are hundreds of different schools, and it is also an adjunct training of many East Asian martial arts.

R

Reiki is a form of treatment developed by Mikao Usui in Japan around 1922. Practitioners use their hands on or above the patient in order to control, increase or open up a postulated energy, “ki”, in the body. Training is usually through short courses, after which one can become certified as a “Reiki master”.

T

• Thalassotherapy – the use of seawater as a form of therapy. Thalassotherapy was popular in England during the second half of the eighteenth century, with Doctor Richard Russell credited as playing a significant role in its popularity.
• Therapeutic music – music played live at the bedside of persons who are faced with physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges, generally in the person’s home, a hospice or in a clinical setting.[citation needed]
• Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a system of health care which is based on the Chinese notion of harmony and balance inside the human body as well as harmony between the body and its outside environment. TCM can include or address the following components:
  • Acupressure
  • Acupuncture
  • Chinese martial arts
  • Chinese pulse diagnosis
  • Coin rubbing
  • Cupping
  • Five Elements
  • Food therapy
  • Herbology
  • Jing
  • Meridian
  • Moxibustion
  • Neigong
  • Qigong
  • San Jiao
  • Shen
  • Tao Yin
  • TCM model of the body
  • Trigger point
  • Tui na
  • Yin and yang
  • Zang Fu theory
  • Traditional Japanese medicine – Pre-Western Japanese medicine was strongly influenced by traditional Chinese medicine and is often seen as a sub-category of TCM.

W

• Water cure in the therapeutic sense is a course of medical treatment by hydrotherapy. In the nineteenth century, the term “Water Cure” was used synonymously with “hydropathy”, which itself is the 19th century term for hydrotherapy. Conceptually, water cures include a broad range of practices – essentially any therapeutic uses of water.
• Wellness has been used in CAM contexts since Halbert L. Dunn began using the phrase “high level wellness” in the 1950s, based on a series of lectures at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington, VA. Wellness is generally used to mean a healthy balance of the mind-body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being.

Y

• Yoga is a diverse and ancient East Indian practice. There are many different styles and schools of yoga. It is generally a combination of breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation, that calms the nervous system and balances body, mind, and spirit. It is thought to prevent specific diseases and maladies by relaxing the body, deepening respiration and calming the mind. Yoga has been used to lower blood pressure, reduce stress, and improve flexibility, concentration, sleep, and diges