What is alternative medicine?

Alternative medicine is generally defined as those treatments and health care practices not taught widely in medical schools, not generally used in hospitals, and not usually covered by employees' health insurance plans. The Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), a federal agency, has developed a classification of alternative health practices, broken down into seven categories. The OAM's classification was designed to facilitate the grant review process and should not be considered definitive.

Alternative systems of medical practice. Alternative medicine, also sometimes referred to as unconventional or complementary medicine, includes such treatments as chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy. Other areas of alternative medicine include:

Bioelectromagnetic applications. Bioelectromagnetics is the study of how living organisms interact with electromagnetic fields. Bioelectromagnetics is applied to bone repair, nerve stimulation, wound healing, and osteoarthritis treatment, and is in limited clinical use.

Diet, nutrition, lifestyle changes. Under this category, the OAM includes the study of diet, macrobiotics, megavitamins, and nutritional supplements on chronic illnesses.

Herbal medicine. Herbal medicine is the study of the medicinal effects derived from various plant sources. OAM includes the following as subcategories in its literature: ginger rhizome, ginkgo biloba extract, ginseng root, and wild chrysanthemum flower.

Manual healing. Manual healing or physical healing methods includes such established therapies as chiropractic medicine and massage therapy as well as acupressure, reflexology, aromatherapy, and rolfing (manipulation of connective tissue).

Mind/body control. Mind/body control concentrates on schools of thought that believe there is an interconnectedness of the mind and body and the power to affect each other. Such treatments under this category include art therapy, biofeedback (trains people to control involuntary functions such as heartbeat), counseling, hypnotherapy, meditation and relaxation techniques.

Pharmacological and biological treatments. Alternative pharmacological and biological treatments are drugs and vaccines that have not yet been accepted by mainstream medicine nor approved by the FDA. The OAM list includes anti-oxidizing agents, chelation therapy (uses chemicals that will attach themselves to toxins in the body so they are excreted more rapidly), and oxidizing agents as alternative pharmacological treatments.