Complimentary or Alternative Therapy

Complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) are treatments that fall outside of mainstream healthcare. These medicines and treatments range from acupuncture and homeopathy, to aromatherapy, meditation and colonic irrigation. There is no universally agreed definition of CAMs.

Although “complementary and alternative” is often used as a single category, it can be useful to make a distinction between the two terms.

• When a non-mainstream practice is used together with conventional medicine, it’s considered “complementary”.
• When a non-mainstream practice is used instead of conventional medicine, it’s considered “alternative”.

There can be overlap between these two categories. For example, aromatherapy may sometimes be used as a complementary treatment, and in other circumstances is used as an alternative treatment.

A number of complementary and alternative treatments are typically used with the intention of treating or curing a health condition:

• homeopathy
• acupuncture and acupressure
• hyponbirthing
• osteopathy
• chiropractic
• herbalism

Whilst some have been proven to work for certain health conditions such as osteopathy, chiropractic and acupuncture for treating lower back pain and ginger and acupressure for morning sickness, other complementary and alternative medicines or treatments are based on principles and evidence which are not recognised by the majority of independent scientists.

At Innermost Healthcare we only recommend practitioners who are registered by a Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) associations. These include those practitioners who are registered with:

• British Acupuncture Council
• Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council
• The Federation of Holistic Therapists