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Alternative medicine broadly describes methods and practices used in place of conventional medical treatments. It may also be described as "diagnosis, treatment, or therapy which can be provided legally by persons who are not licensed to diagnose and treat illness", although some licensed practitioners also use aspects of alternative medicine.
Medical doctors and scientists define alternative medicine as any treatment that has not been verified through peer-reviewed, controlled studies.
Complementary medicine uses both alternative medicine methods and practices alongside conventional medical treatment. Integrative medicine, as defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, combines conventional medical treatments and alternative treatments for which there is some peer-reviewed evidence of their safety and efficacy. Collectively, these variations on alternative medicine are often referred to as complementary and alternative medicine (or simply as CAM).
Legal jurisdictions differ as to which branches of alternative medicine are legal, which are regulated, and which (if any) are provided by a government-controlled health service . Regulation does not, however, reflect the effectiveness of the methods used. Some practitioners and branches of alternative medicine have been investigated by governmental agencies for health fraud, and in a few cases criminal charges have been brought.
Advocates of alternative medicine hold that alternative medicine may provide health benefits through patient empowerment, by offering more choices to the public, including treatments that are simply not available in conventional medicine.
Any positive effects that such alternative medicine treatments offer, even if they are only based on placebo effects, still provide benefits to overall patient health that traditional medicine might not have provided.
Some physicians are willing to embrace some aspects of alternative medicine. Dr. Russell Greenfield states: "I tell them 'I'm one of you' and that we have the data - we have the studies, we're not making this up," when talking to other physicians. Greenfield was referring to published studies on the beneficial effect of saw palmetto on enlarged prostates, and how body work, or massage therapy, is effective for treating lower back pain.
Dr. Karen Koffler states: "I've learned how to balance the intellectual processes of medicine with an intuitive understanding of what this person, this patient really needs to gain strength for healing. That is never taught in medical school and is lost entirely from medicine now." (McClain 2004).
Dr. Dan Waniek, professor of peripheral retina and iris anatomy at the Canadian Neuro-Optical Research Institute, defines alternative medicine as "the ability of providing care for the patient wherever patient care is not effective" (See Jipa, 2004).
A major objection to alternative medicine is that it is done in place of conventional medical treatments. As long as alternative treatments are used alongside standard conventional medical treatments, most physicians find most forms of complementary medicine acceptable (Vickers 2004).
Those physicians that practice complementary medicine believe there is some value in alternative forms of treatments.
The boundary lines between alternative and mainstream medicine have changed over time. Some methods once considered alternative have later been adopted by conventional medicine, when confirmed by controlled studies. Many very old conventional medical practices are now seen as alternative medicine, as modern controlled studies have shown that certain treatments were not actually effective. Supporters of alternative methods suggest that much of what is currently called alternative medicine will be similarly assimilated by the mainstream in the future.