Integrative, complementary, and alternative medicine includes a variety of therapeutic approaches taken from around the world and not historically included in traditional Western medicine.
Many aspects of this medicine are rooted in indigenous ancient systems of healing, such as those from China, India, Tibet, Africa, and the Americas.
Complementary, alternative and integrative medicine are terms that are often used interchangeably but have different meanings.
- Complementary medicine: refers to the traditional practices used with traditional (mainstream) medicine.
- Alternative medicine refers to non-traditional practices used in place of conventional medicine.
- Integrative medicine refers to the use of all appropriate therapies - traditional and non-traditional - in a framework that focuses on health, the therapeutic relationship, and the whole person.
Although the distinction between conventional medicine and integrative or complementary and alternative medicine is not always easy to make, there is a fundamental philosophical difference.
Traditional medicine tends in its practice to rely on the best available scientific evidence.
In contrast, complementary and alternative medicine tends to be based on Its practices are based on evidence-informed practices standards - evidence that may not necessarily meet the highest and most accurate of effectiveness and safety, (However, some CAM practices, including the use of some nutritional supplements), verified by high and rigorous traditional scientific standards).
Traditional medicine generally defines health as the absence of disease or dysfunction.
The main causes of disease and dysfunction are usually identifiable factors, such as bacteria or viruses, biochemical imbalances, and aging, and often treatments include medications or surgery.
In contrast, IMH and CAM practices often determine health holistically, ie in the balance between the physical, emotional, and spiritual systems that involve the whole person.
The dissonance between these systems is thought to contribute to disease. Treatment involves strengthening the defenses own body and
Integrative medicine aims to combine complementary and alternative medicine with conventional medicine when appropriate.
Now some of these treatments are used in hospitals and covered by insurance companies.
Acupuncture and some physiotherapy (for example, chiropractic or osteopathic chiropractic).
As interest in the use of complementary and alternative medicine is augmenting, more and more medical school curricula are introducing information about these treatments, such as acupuncture and medicine.
Botanicals, chiropractic (practice), and homeopathy.
- Deep breathing exercises (11%).
- Yoga, tail chi, and qi going (10%).
- Manual therapy (8%).
- Meditation yoga (6,1%).
Use of other therapies and alternative therapies remains low: homeopathy ( 2.2% ), naturopathic ( 0.4% ), and energy healing ( 0.5% ). In addition, 17.7% of adults used at least one dietary supplement.
In 1992, an Office of Alternative Medicine was formed within the National Institutes of Health to research the efficacy and safety of alternative therapies. In 1999, this office became the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and in 2015 it was renamed the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine ( NCCIH ).
The efficacy of alternative therapies is a necessary consideration.
Many complementary and alternative medicine therapies have been studied and found to be ineffective or inconsistent.
Some treatments are effective in certain cases.
However, these treatments are often also used to treat other conditions and symptoms, despite the lack of scientific evidence for these uses, as is sometimes the case in traditional medicine.
Some complementary and alternative medicine therapies have not been tested in well-designed studies.
But the lack of scientific studies does not mean that the treatment is ineffective.
Many complementary and alternative medicine therapies are said to have been applied for hundreds or thousands of years.
They include meditation, yoga, therapeutic meals, massage, and acupuncture.
A long history of use is sometimes indicated to support the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine therapies:
- Long-term use is not scientifically equivalent to a proven effect. Some treatments have been used for many years and have or are ineffective.
- It is difficult to determine for how long the treatment has been used.
- The way treatment was used in the past may differ from how it is used today, as may the treatment itself.
Thus, scientific evidence, using well-designed studies, is still preferable to determine whether a treatment is effective.
However, it can be difficult to conduct well-designed studies of alternative medicine treatments.
Barriers to research on conventional medicine treatments include:
- Lack of support and financial resources for complementary and alternative medicine among medical researchers.
- Limited training and skills to conduct scientific research among advocates of complementary and alternative medicine.
- More flexible regulations require evidence that complementary and alternative medicine products or treatments are effective before they become available to the public, compared to regulations regulating conventional medicine treatments.
- In general, the financial returns are lower for companies that study alternative medicine, compared to companies that research drugs or devices.
It can be difficult to apply traditional research methods to the study of complementary and alternative medicine for many additional reasons, including:
Traditional research design requires that everyone in the study be given the same treatment.
However, many treatments in complementary and alternative medicine attempt to take into account treating the unique and specific imbalances of individuals.
Thus, patients who have the same medical diagnosis are often given a variety of treatments For example, patients who suffer from headaches may have acupuncture needles placed in different positions, or they may be prescribed different homeopathic or herbal medicines.
The traditional research design compares an active treatment with a placebo (an intervention that is similar to a drug or treatment but doe not include an active drug or treatment) or without a new intervention (the control group).
In herbal medicine, designing a placebo is relatively easy.
But designing a placebo for physical therapies such as acupuncture or chiropractic is difficult.
Designing a placebo for meditation or a completely healthy diet is even more difficult.
It is difficult to separate the effects of the active component of CAM from the effects of a placebo; for example, CAM therapists usually interact with patients in a known positive and supportive way that makes patients feel better, regardless of what other treatments are used.
The alternative is the placebo effect :
The traditional research design uses double blinding
Double blinding involves masking researchers and practitioners from knowing who has received treatment.
Patients and practitioners typically expect active treatment to be better than a placebo.
Double blinding also reduces the likelihood that this expectation will lead to The results being biased in favor of the treatment.
However, it may be difficult to blind the practitioners, for example, a Reiki practitioner knows if true energy therapy will be applied.
The treatment that was used :
Complementary and alternative medicine treatments and diagnoses may not be standardized; for example, different practitioners use different regimens of acupuncture, and the contents and effects of natural product preparations vary widely.
However, despite these challenges, many well-designed studies have been conducted on complementary and alternative medicine treatments (such as acupuncture and homeopathy).
For example, one acupuncture study used a well-designed placebo, making double blinding possible, This is done by placing an opaque (opaque) sheath on the patient's skin at the acupuncture point.
Some sheaths contained a needle that penetrated the skin (active treatment), while some did not contain a needle (placebo).
There is evidence that it is more effective when compared to a placebo or control.
A lack of funding for well-designed alternative medicine studies is often cited as a reason why these studies have not been conducted.
But complementary and alternative medicine products are a multibillion-dollar business, which suggests that non-profitability should not be a reason for companies not to study these products.
Profitability is generally much greater for conventional drug development than for complementary and alternative medicine products.