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Alternative medicine can be defined as any form of therapy, practice or treatment which is outside the mainstream or beyond the realm of the conventional.
More generally it can be defined as any approach or medicine which differs from conventional Western forms. Alternative medicine is often talked about in conjunction with Complementary Therapy and the umbrella term Complementary & Alternative Medicine or CAM is used.
As a general guide some of the more mainstream CAMs are acupuncture, acupuncture, aromatherapy, herbal medicine, homoeopathy, hypnotherapy, massage therapy, naturopathy, reiki, reflexology & Yoga.
Alternative medicine in the UK is growing year on year and in 2006 it generated expenditure of 1.6 billion pounds. Large numbers of people choose to seek out alternative forms of medicine subsequent to a diagnosis from their GP or other traditional route. However in the main, research shows that people tend to use CAMs in parallel with conventional medicine. There is often resistance from GPs to recommend or refer a patient to an alternative therapy where they consider empirical evidence to be limited or non-conclusive and the research methods are not always standardised as with traditional medicine. There are also often funding issues relating to onward referrals within the NHS. more…
