In part one of Exploring the Basics of Alternative Medicine we took a general look at alternative medicine and care. Here in part two we look more specifically at the categories that NIH has established. There are four in total and they are worth becoming more knowledgeable about because they can enrich and enhance your health and your overall life.
Mind-Body Medicine:
Meditation would fit into this category, as would prayer, music therapy and Tai Chi. These therapies are geared towards developing the mind’s ability to have an effect on physical symptoms that occur in relation to health issues. The goal of these therapies is to use the mind to focus in on the conditions that affect the functioning of the human body.
Biologically-Based Practices:
These therapies have to do with the substances that can be used to heal the body, such as vitamins, herbs and herbal remedies, dietary supplements and healthy foods. Herbal remedies would include plants that are used either for medicinal purposes or for improved nutrition. They can be obtained through a variety of means such as health food stores, grocery stores, pharmacies or through herbalists. You can purchase them in capsule form, as extracts, teas or tinctures.
The FDA does not regulate any of these items at the present time.
Manipulative and Body-Based Practices:
Massage and chiropractic treatments fit into this category of alternative health treatments. These natural therapies are based upon the manipulation and movement of parts of the body. Therapeutic touch would fit in here as well. If an alternative practitioner manually puts pressure on the body and realigns its parts to help it to heal and to alleviate symptoms of pain and discomfort then it is a manipulative and body-based practice.
Chiropractors are a perfect example of this. These doctors use manual manipulation to adjust the spinal column and to have a positive effect on the nervous system.
Energy Medicine:
This category of alternative medicine is based upon a theory that at present does not have any scientific basis in fact. Nevertheless it has many believers. The theory that underlies it is that there are energy fields that penetrate and surround the human body. Examples of these include therapeutic touch (which is also, as previously mentioned, a manipulative and body-based practice), qi gong and Reiki.
Included in this area are also treatments that are based upon bioelectromagnetics. This is the theory that electrical currents found in all living beings are capable of producing magnetic fields that surround the body and from there extend beyond it into the natural environment.
Some alternative therapies do not fit neatly into any of these four categories and as previously mentioned, there is often overlap between the categories. For instance acupuncture comes from the practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and deals with stimulating points along the meridian of the body with thin needles in order to bring balance and harmony to the body by unlocking the pathways of energy. Homeopathic medicine and such practices as Ayurveda incorporate elements from a number of these categories.
Samantha
Alternative Health for Today 
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