We’ve all seen the words “complementary,” “alternative,” and “integrative,” but what do they really mean?
This fact sheet looks into these terms to help you understand them better and gives you a brief picture of NCCIH’s mission and role in this area of research.
Complementary Versus Alternative
Many Americans—more than 30 percent of adults and about 12 percent of children—use health care approaches developed outside of mainstream Western, or conventional, medicine. When describing these approaches, people often use “alternative” and “complementary” interchangeably, but the two terms refer to different concepts:
- If a non-mainstream practice is used together with conventional medicine, it’s considered “complementary.”
- If a non-mainstream practice is used in place of conventional medicine, it’s considered “alternative.”
True alternative medicine is uncommon. Most people who use non-mainstream approaches use them along with conventional treatments.
Integrative Medicine
There are many definitions of “integrative” health care, but all involve bringing conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way. The use of integrative approaches to health and wellness has grown within care settings across the United States. Researchers are currently exploring the potential benefits of integrative health in a variety of situations, including pain management for military personnel and veterans, relief of symptoms in cancer patients and survivors, and programs to promote healthy behaviors.
Integrative Approaches for Pain Management for Military Personnel and Veterans
Integrative Approaches for Symptom Management in Cancer Patients and Survivors
Integrative Approaches and Health-Related Behaviors
So, What Terms Does NCCIH Use?
NCCIH generally uses the term “complementary health approaches” when we discuss practices and products of non-mainstream origin. We use “integrative health” when we talk about incorporating complementary approaches into mainstream health care.
Types of Complementary Health Approaches
Most complementary health approaches fall into one of two subgroups—natural products or mind and body practices.
Natural Products
This group includes a variety of products, such as
herbs (also known as botanicals),
vitamins and minerals, and
probiotics. They are widely marketed, readily available to consumers, and often sold as
dietary supplements.
According to the
2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which included a comprehensive survey on the use of complementary health approaches by Americans, 17.7 percent of American adults had used a dietary supplement other than vitamins and minerals in the past year. These products were the most popular complementary health approach in the survey. (See chart.) The most commonly used natural product was fish oil.
Researchers have done large, rigorous studies on a few natural products, but the results often showed that the products didn’t work. Research on others is in progress. While there are indications that some may be helpful, more needs to be learned about the effects of these products in the human body and about their
safety and potential
interactions with medicines and other natural products.
Mind and Body Practices
Mind and body practices include a large and diverse group of procedures or techniques administered or taught by a trained practitioner or teacher. The 2012 NHIS showed that
yoga,
chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation,
meditation, and
massage therapy are among the most popular mind and body practices used by adults. The popularity of yoga has grown dramatically in recent years, with almost twice as many U.S. adults practicing yoga in 2012 as in 2002.
Other mind and body practices include
acupuncture,
relaxation techniques (such as breathing exercises, guided imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation),
tai chi,
qi gong,
healing touch,
hypnotherapy, and
movement therapies (such as Feldenkrais method, Alexander technique, Pilates, Rolfing Structural Integration, and Trager psychophysical integration).
The amount of research on mind and body approaches varies widely depending on the practice. For example, researchers have done many studies on acupuncture, yoga, spinal manipulation, and meditation, but there have been fewer studies on some other practices.
Other Complementary Health Approaches
NCCIH’s Role
NCCIH is the Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on complementary and integrative health approaches.
NCCIH’s Mission and Vision
The mission of NCCIH is to define, through rigorous scientific investigation, the usefulness and safety of complementary and integrative health interventions and their roles in improving health and health care.
NCCIH’s vision is that scientific evidence will inform decisionmaking by the public, by health care professionals, and by health policymakers regarding the use and integration of complementary and integrative health approaches.
No comments:
Post a Comment