Complementary and Integrative Medicine

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here

Learn More

• Specifics

See, Play and Learn

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Older Adults

Summary

Many Americans use medical treatments that are not part of mainstream medicine. When you are using these types of care, it may be called complementary, integrative, or alternative medicine.

Complementary medicine is used together with mainstream medical care. An example is using acupuncture to help with side effects of cancer treatment. When health care providers and facilities offer both types of care, it is called integrative medicine. Alternative medicine is used instead of mainstream medical care.

The claims that non-mainstream practitioners make can sound promising. However, researchers do not know how safe many of these treatments are or how well they work. Studies are underway to determine the safety and usefulness of many of these practices.

To minimize the health risks of a non-mainstream treatment:

• Discuss it with your doctor. It might have side effects or interact with other medicines.
• Find out what the research says about it
• Choose practitioners carefully
• Tell all of your doctors and practitioners about all of the different types of treatments you use

NIH: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

Start Here

• Integrative Medicine (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

Specifics

• Biofeedback (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• MedlinePlus: Herbs and Supplements (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Complementary Therapies (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Homeopathy (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Real-life use of non-pharmacological strategies and their relationship with symptom burden...
• Article: Beyond conventional healthcare: public knowledge, attitudes, and associated demographic factors of...
• Article: Experiences of healthcare encounters among patients using complementary and alternative medicine...
• Complementary and Integrative Medicine -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Find a Massage Therapist (American Massage Therapy Association)
• Find a Practitioner Directory (National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine)
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

Children

• Complementary and Alternative Medicine (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Older Adults

• Complementary Remedies (AGS Health in Aging Foundation)