Complementary, Alternative, or Integrative Health:
What’s In a Name?
We’ve all seen the words “complementary,” “alternative,” and “integrative,” but what do they really mean? This fact sheet looks into these terms to help you understand them better and gives you a brief picture of JA Health Advocate's mission and role in this area of research.
Complementary Versus Alternative
Many Americans—more than 30 percent of adults and about 12 percent of children—use health care approaches developed outside of mainstream Western, or conventional, medicine. When describing these approaches, people often use “alternative” and “complementary” interchangeably, but the two terms refer to different concepts:
Most people who use non-mainstream approaches use them along with conventional treatments.
Integrative Medicine
There are many definitions of “integrative” health care, but all involve bringing conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way. The use of integrative approaches to health and wellness has grown within care settings across the world. Researchers are currently exploring the potential benefits of integrative health in a variety of situations, including pain management for military personnel, relief of symptoms in cancer patients and survivors, and programs to promote healthy behaviors.
Complementary Versus Alternative
Many Americans—more than 30 percent of adults and about 12 percent of children—use health care approaches developed outside of mainstream Western, or conventional, medicine. When describing these approaches, people often use “alternative” and “complementary” interchangeably, but the two terms refer to different concepts:
- If a non-mainstream practice is used together with conventional medicine, it’s considered “complementary.”
- If a non-mainstream practice is used in place of conventional medicine, it’s considered “alternative.”
Most people who use non-mainstream approaches use them along with conventional treatments.
Integrative Medicine
There are many definitions of “integrative” health care, but all involve bringing conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way. The use of integrative approaches to health and wellness has grown within care settings across the world. Researchers are currently exploring the potential benefits of integrative health in a variety of situations, including pain management for military personnel, relief of symptoms in cancer patients and survivors, and programs to promote healthy behaviors.
So, What Terms Does JA Health Advocate Use?
We generally uses the term “complementary health approaches” when we discuss practices and products of non-mainstream origin. We use “integrative health” when we talk about incorporating complementary approaches into mainstream health care. We use the term Alternative when we are referring to ONLY non-mainstream, western complimentary therapies.
Types of Complementary Health Approaches
Most complementary health approaches fall into one of two subgroups—natural products or mind and body practices.
Natural Products
This group includes a variety of products, such as herbs (also known as botanicals), vitamins and minerals, and probiotics. They are widely marketed, readily available to consumers, and often sold as dietary supplements.
So, What Terms Does JA Health Advocate Use?
We generally uses the term “complementary health approaches” when we discuss practices and products of non-mainstream origin. We use “integrative health” when we talk about incorporating complementary approaches into mainstream health care. We use the term Alternative when we are referring to ONLY non-mainstream, western complimentary therapies.
Types of Complementary Health Approaches
Most complementary health approaches fall into one of two subgroups—natural products or mind and body practices.
Natural Products
This group includes a variety of products, such as herbs (also known as botanicals), vitamins and minerals, and probiotics. They are widely marketed, readily available to consumers, and often sold as dietary supplements.
Most Common Types of Complementary Health Approaches
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Researchers have done large, rigorous studies on a thousands of natural products, with the results often showing that the products work really well in the treatment of sometimes difficult illnesses such as cancer. Research remains is in progress to capture the potential of many other therapies that conventional medicine practitioners continues to turn their backs on.
Mind and Body Practices
Mind and body practices include a large and diverse group of procedures or techniques administered or taught by a trained practitioner or teacher. Yoga, chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation, meditation, and massage therapy are among the most popular mind and body practices used by adults. The popularity of yoga has grown dramatically in recent years.
Other mind and body practices include acupuncture, relaxation techniques (such as breathing exercises, guided imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation), tai chi, qi gong, healing touch, hypnotherapy, and movement therapies (such as Feldenkrais method, Alexander technique, Pilates, Rolfing Structural Integration, and Trager psychophysical integration).
The amount of research on mind and body approaches varies widely depending on the practice. For example, researchers have done many studies on acupuncture, yoga, spinal manipulation, and meditation, but there have been fewer studies on some other practices.
Other Complementary Health Approaches
The two broad areas discussed above—natural products and mind and body practices—capture most complementary health approaches. However, some approaches may not neatly fit into either of these groups. For example:
The practices of traditional healers, Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathy.
So, here at JA Health Advocate, we refer to those healing practices as truly Alternative.
The objective here is to define, through the help of rigorous, truly independent, scientific investigation, the usefulness and safety of Complementary, Integrative, and Alternative Health interventions and their roles in improving health and health care. People need to know that there are BETTER options to the usual Western fare.
Here at JA Health Advocate, we believe that honest, independent scientific evidence will help inform decision making by the public, by health care professionals, and eventually by health policymakers regarding the use and integration of complementary and integrative health approaches.
Independent Research
To learn more about Alternative, Integrative and Complimentary Therapies visit this independent research website: www.greenmedinfo.com
The two broad areas discussed above—natural products and mind and body practices—capture most complementary health approaches. However, some approaches may not neatly fit into either of these groups. For example:
The practices of traditional healers, Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, and naturopathy.
So, here at JA Health Advocate, we refer to those healing practices as truly Alternative.
The objective here is to define, through the help of rigorous, truly independent, scientific investigation, the usefulness and safety of Complementary, Integrative, and Alternative Health interventions and their roles in improving health and health care. People need to know that there are BETTER options to the usual Western fare.
Here at JA Health Advocate, we believe that honest, independent scientific evidence will help inform decision making by the public, by health care professionals, and eventually by health policymakers regarding the use and integration of complementary and integrative health approaches.
Independent Research
To learn more about Alternative, Integrative and Complimentary Therapies visit this independent research website: www.greenmedinfo.com
