Alternative Medicine Therapies

Listed below you will find our directory of alternative medicine therapies and treatments. You will also find listings in each therapy of schools, practitioners and educational resources. Many people are finding more interest in natural and holistic therapies to help heal ailing family and pets. Alternative Medicine is a general term for many types of healing modalities. Our extensive list includes therapies such as acupuncture to meditation. Holistic, natural, complementary and integrative therapies all fall under the Alternative Medicine blanket. Browse our directory and let us know if you have a speciality alternative medicine that you would like listed!

Acupressure
Acupuncture
Aromatherapy
Ayurveda
__________________________

Biofeedback
Breath Therapy
__________________________

Chelation Therapy
Chinese Medicine
Chiropractic
Color Therapy
Craniosacral Therapy
__________________________

Dance Therapy
__________________________

Energy Healing
__________________________

Fasting
__________________________

Guided Imagery
__________________________

Hellerwork
Herbal Medicine
Homeopathy
Hypnotherapy
__________________________

Iridology
__________________________

Light Therapy
__________________________

Magnet Therapy
Massage Therapy
Meditation
Mind/Body Medicine
Music Therapy
__________________________

Naturopathy
Nutrition
__________________________

Osteopathy
Ozone Therapy
__________________________

Prarthana
__________________________

Reflexology
Reiki
Relaxation Techniques
Rolfing
__________________________

Shiatsu
Spirituality
__________________________

Tai Chi
Therapeutic Touch
__________________________

Visualization
__________________________

Yoga

About Alternative Medicine

lternative and complementary medicine encompasses a great number of practices and systems of healthcare. Some have been incorporated into standard care as in the many integrative or integrated medicineclinics that have recently opened, usually under the direction of a conventional physician or MD.

Conventional medicine or western biomedicine is sometimes referred to asallopathic medicine, derived from the Greek, allo, meaning opposite, and pathos, meaning suffering. In general, conventional medicine focuses on diseases and employs techniques to eradicate it. For example, antibiotic drugs for bacterial infections or anti-hypertensives for high blood pressure.

Alternative and complementary medicine is frequently referred to as CAM, although the two terms have different connotations. Alternative medicine is used to replace conventional treatments, so opting for a nutritional therapy for cancer instead of chemotherapy is truly alternative. Complementary therapies are used alongside conventional treatments. For example, acupuncture or herbs may be used for the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

Conventional biomedicine is sometimes referred to as traditional medicine. This is a misnomer.Traditional systems of medicine existed long before the development of modern western medicine. Traditional systems, such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), or Tibetan Medicine have developed distinctly different concepts of health and disease that usually combine concepts of body, mind, and spirit. Notions of cancer or infectious diseases have no direct parallels in these systems.

New perspectives on health and medicine, incorporating ideas of "life force", balance and harmony may be referred to as mind-body approaches. Yoga, guided imagery, biofeedback, hypnosis are examples. Novel approaches emphasizing spiritual practices and the wholeness of all aspects of human life are often referred to as holistic, wholistic or New Age medicine.