Types of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Types Description

All-encompassing approaches that include philosophy, diagnosis, and

Whole medical systems
treatment

Aims to restore balance within the body

Ayurveda Uses diet, massage, herbs, meditation, therapeutic elimination, and
yoga

Based on the law of similars: A substance that causes certain

Homeopathy symptoms when given in large doses can cure the same symptoms
when it is used in minute doses*

Aims to prevent and treat disease by promoting a healthy lifestyle,

treating the whole person, and using the body’s natural ability to heal
itself
Naturopathy Uses a combination of therapies, including acupuncture, counseling,
exercise therapy, guided imagery, homeopathy, hydrotherapy,
medicinal herbs, natural childbirth, nutrition, physical therapies, and
stress management

Aims to restore the proper flow of life force (qi) in the body by
Traditional Chinese balancing the opposing forces of yin and yang within the body
medicine Uses acupuncture, massage, medicinal herbs, and meditative exercise
(qi gong)

Use of behavioral, psychologic, social, and spiritual techniques to

Mind-body medicine enhance the mind’s capacity to affect the body and thus to preserve
health and prevent or cure disease

Uses electronic devices to provide people with information about

Biofeedback biologic functions (such as heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle
tension) and teaches people how to control these functions

Guided imagery Uses mental images to help people relax or to promote wellness or
healing of a particular condition, such as insomnia or psychologic

* Many solutions have been diluted so many times that they contain no measurable molecules of the active
ingredient.

RDA = recommended daily allowances.

Types Description

trauma

Puts people into a state of relaxation and heightened attention to

Hypnotherapy
help them change their behavior and thus improve their health

Meditation, including Intentionally regulating attention or systematically focusing on

mindfulness particular aspects of experience

Using techniques to slow certain body functions down (for example,

Relaxation techniques
by slowing the heart rate) and thus to relieve tension and stress

Biologically based Use of naturally occurring substances (such as particular foods and
practices micronutrients) to promote wellness

Botanical medicine and Uses substances that occur naturally in plants or animals to treat
natural products symptoms or disease (such as cartilage used to treat joint pain)

Uses a drug to bind with and remove a metal or mineral that is

Chelation therapy
believed to be present in excess or toxic amounts in the body

Use specialized dietary regimens (such as the macrobiotic, Paleo, low

Diet therapies carbohydrate, or Mediterranean diet) to treat or prevent a specific
disease, to generally promote wellness, or to detoxify the body

Manipulation of parts of the body (such as joints and muscles) to treat

Manipulative and body- various conditions and symptoms
based practices Based on the belief that the body in balance will improve certain
symptoms and that its parts are interdependent

Involves manipulating the spine (mainly) to restore the normal

relationship between the spine and nervous system
Chiropractic May involve physical therapy (such as heat and cold therapy and
electrical stimulation), massage, acupressure, and/or exercises or
lifestyle changes

Cupping Uses heated cups, inverted and placed on the skin to create vacuum
that sucks the skin partway into the cup, which may be left in place for

* Many solutions have been diluted so many times that they contain no measurable molecules of the active
ingredient.

RDA = recommended daily allowances.

Types Description

several minutes
Considered a form of massage that increases blood flow to targeted
regions in an effort to alter inflammation and certain conditions

Involves manipulating muscles and other tissues to reduce pain and

Massage
muscle spasm and to reduce stress and enhance relaxation

Uses dried moxa herb (a mugwort) that is burned usually just above
Moxibustion
but sometimes directly on the skin over acupuncture points

Involves applying manual pressure to specific areas of the foot, hand,

Reflexology or ear that are believed to correspond to different organs or systems
of the body

Gua sha (for example, Involves rubbing a dull implement such as a coin or a spoon across
scraping, coining, skin, usually on the back, neck, or extremities
spooning) Considered a form of massage, also called gua sha

Manipulation of energy fields thought to exist in and around the body

(biofields) to maintain or restore health
Energy therapies
Based on the belief that a universal life force or subtle energy resides
in and around the body and throughout the universe

Stimulates specific points on the body, usually by inserting very thin

needles into the skin and underlying tissues to affect the flow of qi
Acupuncture
along energy pathways (meridians) and thus restore balance in the
body

A gentle movement practice in traditional Chinese medicine using

Qi gong
postures, breathing, and meditation to improve healing

An energy therapy involving placing magnets on the body to reduce

Magnets
pain or enhance healing

Reiki An energy therapy involving practitioners channeling energy through

their hands and transferring it into a person's body to promote

* Many solutions have been diluted so many times that they contain no measurable molecules of the active
ingredient.

RDA = recommended daily allowances.

Types Description

healing

An energy therapy using the therapist’s healing energy, usually

Therapeutic touch without touching the person, to identify and repair imbalances in the
person's biofield

* Many solutions have been diluted so many times that they contain no measurable molecules of the active
ingredient.

RDA = recommended daily allowances.

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