Overview Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the popular name for health care practices that traditionally haven’t been part of conventional medicine. In many cases, as evidence of safety and effectiveness grows, these therapies are being combined with conventional medicine. Thus, the term “alternative” has been dropped from the name. These therapies are now called […]

OVERVIEW | PROCEDURE DETAILS | RISKS / BENEFITS | RECOVERY AND OUTLOOK | WHEN TO CALL THE DOCTOR | ADDITIONAL DETAILS What is integrative medicine? Integrative medicine focuses on you as a whole person and not just your illness or disease. While it seeks to understand the underlying cause of your symptoms or condition, it does so by looking at your complete mind, body and […]

Both learning and verbal instructions influence expectations and people’s perception of pain, but responses differ in different regions of the brain, according to a new study by researchers from the National Institutes of Health, published in eLife. The findings of this study, which was conducted by the intramural research programs of the National Center for Complementary and […]

Many people use medicines or remedies that are not part of the prescription medications prescribed by their healthcare provider. Alternative medicine refers to remedies used in place of conventional medicine. Using alternative therapy together with prescribed treatments is called complementary medicine. Alternative remedies can include herbal medicines, vitamins, supplements, and folk remedies.   Safety and Side Effects People […]

What’s the Bottom Line? How much do we know about complementary health approaches for children? We know a lot about the usage rates of complementary health approaches for children but little about their effects and safety.1 What do we know about the effectiveness of complementary health approaches for children? Studies have looked at many complementary […]