CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. Examples include: mind-body medicine, homeopathic medicine, naturopathic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation, and biofield therapies. These interventions are considered to be complementary medicine when they are used together with conventional medicine (as when meditation is used to reduce a patient’s pain following surgery). The same interventions are described as alternative medicine when they are used in place of conventional medicine (as when a person is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy). Integrative medicine combines treatments from conventional medicine and CAM for which there is some high-quality evidence of safety and effectiveness. For more information on CAM, go to the website of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the National Institutes of Health at http://NCCAM.NIH.GOV.
Dr. Levy article series
