Complementary medicine is an approach that is used together with other therapies. Examples are acupuncture, yoga, aromatherapy, therapeutic massage, meditation, and others. Their purpose is to enhance and improve the ability of the patient to heal or be relieved of symptoms.
When we need medical treatment in the United States, we most often expect to find a doctor who practices traditional medicine, sometimes called allopathic medicine.
This traditional medicine provides for a diagnosis, then treatment using drugs or other therapies that have been developed through observation over time, and through research studies and clinical trials. Examples are pharmaceutical drugs or surgeries.
Eastern cultures (Chinese culture, for example) have developed medical treatments over thousands of years that are just now becoming more accepted in the United States. Those treatments and therapies are called complementary or alternative (CAM).
The National Institutes of Health now recognizes complementary therapies. However, they have not yet been adopted by most patients or providers in Western cultures like those in the United States, Canada or Europe.
