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Complementary Medicine: Alternative Medicine
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Complementary medicine teaches proper nutrition in conjunction with vitamin and mineral supplements. Plants and herbs are commonly used in alternative medicine to treat illness, as well as remedies produced from animals and minerals. Hydrotherapy and hypnotherapy are ... utilized in complmentary medicine for maximum benefits. All in all, complementary medicine improves mental, emotional, and physical health. It encourages psychic and spiritual growth, and an overwhelming sense of wellness. You can read more about complementary medicine here at Holistic Junction where you will find a broad spectrum of complementary medicine articles, information and directories.
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Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the term for medical products and practices that are not part of standard care. Standard care is what medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy and allied health professionals, such as registered nurses and physical therapists, practice. Alternative medicine means treatments that you use instead of standard ones. Complementary medicine means nonstandard treatments that you use along with standard ones. Examples of CAM therapies are acupuncture, chiropractic and herbal medicines.
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Complementary medicine is another expression for "alternative" medicine, though the two are often linked as complementary and alternative medicine and referred to as CAM. The term 'complementary' seems to have been introduced by the purveyors of quackery in an attempt to produce the bias that untested or discredited treatments should be used along with conventional medical treatments. There really is no such thing as "alternative" medicine; if it's medicine, it's medicine. 'Alternative medicine' is a deceptive term that tries to create the illusion that a discredited or untested treatment is truly an alternative to an established treatment in conventional medicine. By adding 'complementary medicine' to the repertoire of misleading terms, the purveyors of quackery have improved on the illusion that their remedies somehow enhance or improve the effects of standard conventional treatments.
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There is one other strategy, and that is the strategy which the Institute of Medicine took toward complementary and alternative medicine when the IOM engaged its study, published in 2005. They simply refused to have anyone advise who has any relationship to the practices under review. Abhorrent as this was to the CAM fields - a blatant double standard, Cochrane might consider a strategy to always have reviewers from other specialties or field who have never had a single relationship with Big Pharma. Or maybe they should just give Cundiff a shot at leading a self-study team to examine how pervasive the pattern of misinformation and oversights may be.
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Directory of Databases, Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York : "compilation of established sources in the USA, Eur ope and Asia, designed to facilitate research by both professionals and the public. This may be clinical, biomedical, review, meta-analytical or survey research. The listing is hyperlinked to existing Web sites where available, or to brief information on the resource, such as: how to obtain further details; type of literature covered; size of the holding; and mode of access"
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Conventional doctors are learning more about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) because they recognize that more than half of people try some kind of alternative treatment. Many health care institutions have begun integrating therapies that aren't part of mainstream medicine into their treatment programs. A number of medical schools now include education on nontraditional techniques in their curriculum. As complementary and alternative therapies prove effective, they're being combined more often with conventional care. This is known as integrative medicine. You're practicing integrative medicine when you choose to add a complementary treatment to an existing conventional treatment.
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