Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine
Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine : Guidelines, reviews
Thérapies complementaires - Glossaire
Complementary therapies - Glossary
| Complementary therapies (MeSH terms) | Synonyms | MeSH scope note | Other definitions |
| Acoustic stimulation | Auditory stimulation | Use of sound to elicit a response in the nervous system. | |
| Acupressure | Chih Ya ; Shiatsu ; Shiatzu ; Zhi Ya | A type of massage in which finger pressure on specific body sites is used to promote healing, relieve fatigue, etc. Although the anatomical locations are the same as the ACUPUNCTURE POINTS used in ACUPUNCTURE THERAPY (hence acu-), no needle or other acupuncture technique is employed in acupressure. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed). Shiatsu is a modern outgrowth that focuses more on prevention than healing. | Acupressure |
| Acupuncture analgesia | Acupuncture anesthesia | Analgesia produced by the insertion of ACUPUNCTURE needles at certain ACUPUNCTURE POINTS on the body. This activates small myelinated nerve fibers in the muscle which transmit impulses to the spinal cord and then activate three centers - the spinal cord, midbrain and pituitary/hypothalamus - to produce analgesia. | Acupuncture anesthesia |
| Acupuncture points | Acupoints | Designated locations along nerves or organ meridians for inserting acupuncture needles. | Acupuncture points |
| Acupuncture therapy | Treatment of disease by inserting needles along specific pathways or meridians. The placement varies with the disease being treated. It is sometimes used in conjunction with heat, moxibustion, acupressure, or electric stimulation. | Acupuncture | |
| African traditional medicine | African medicine ; African witch doctor ; African witch doctors ; Traditional African medicine | A system of traditional medicine which is based on the beliefs and practices of the African peoples. It includes treatment by medicinal plants and other materia medica as well as by the ministrations of diviners, medicine men, witch doctors, and sorcerers. | African traditional medicine |
| Anthroposophy | Knowledge of the nature of man. A spiritual and mystical doctrine that grew out of theosophy and derives mainly from the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, Austrian social philosopher (1861-1925). (Webster, 3d ed) | Anthroposophy | |
| Applied kinesiology | The study of muscles and the movement of the human body. In holistic medicine it is the balance of movement and the interaction of a person's energy systems. Applied kinesiology is the name given by its inventor, Dr. George Goodheart, to the system of applying muscle testing diagnostically and therapeutically to different aspects of health care. (Thorsons Introductory Guide to Kinesiology, 1992, p13) | Applied kinesiology | |
| Arabic medicine | Unani-tibbi | ||
| Aromatherapy | Aroma therapy ; Aroma therapies ; Aromatherapies | The use of fragrances and essences from plants to affect or alter a person's mood or behavior and to facilitate physical, mental, and emotional well-being. The chemicals comprising essential oils in plants has a host of therapeutic properties and has been used historically in Africa, Asia, and India. Its greatest application is in the field of alternative medicine. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed; from Dr. Atiba Vheir, Dove Center, Washington, D.C.) | Aromatherapy |
| Art therapy | Art therapies | The use of art as an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of neurological, mental, or behavioral disorders. | Art therapy |
| Ayurvedic medicine | Hindu medicine | The traditional Hindu system of medicine which is based on customs, beliefs, and practices of the Hindu culture. Ayurveda means "the science of Life": veda - science, ayur - life. | Ayurvedic medicine |
| Balneology* | Balneotherapy | Therapy by various hot or warm baths in natural mineral waters, spas, or "cures". It includes not only bathing in, but also drinking the waters, but it does not include whirlpool baths (HYDROTHERAPY). |
Balneology Balneotherapy |
| Biofeedback (Psychology) | Biofeedback ; Biofeedbacks (Psychology) ; Psychophysiologic feedback | Process by which a person uses biofeedback information to gain voluntary control over processes or functions which are primarily under autonomic control. It is used in experimental or treatment settings with human subjects. (From APA Thesaurus of Psychological Terms, 8th ed) | Biofeedback |
| Breathing exercises | Ch'i Kung ; Qi Gong ; Qigong ; Respiratory muscle training | Therapeutic exercises aimed to deepen inspiration or expiration or even to alter the rate and rhythm of respiration. |
Breathing exercises Qigong |
| Chinese traditional medicine | Chung I Hsueh ; Hsueh, Chung I ; Traditional Chinese Medicine ; Zhong Yi Xue | A system of traditional medicine which is based on the beliefs and practices of the Chinese culture. | Chinese traditional medicine |
| Chiropractic manipulation | Chiropractic adjustment ; Chiropractic spinal adjustment | Spinal adjustments made by a chiropractor to relieve pressures on the spinal cord for improvement of health. | Chiropractic |
| Color therapy | Chromatotherapy ; Chromotherapy | A form of phototherapy using color to influence health and to treat various physical or mental disorders. The color rays may be in the visible or invisible spectrum and can be administered through colored lights or applied mentally through suggestion. | Color therapy |
| Complementary therapies | Alternative medicine ; Alternative therapies ; Alternative therapy ; Complementary medicine ; Complementary therapy | Therapeutic practices which are not currently considered an integral part of conventional allopathic medical practice. They may lack biomedical explanations but as they become better researched some (PHYSICAL THERAPY; DIET; ACUPUNCTURE) become widely accepted whereas others (humors, radium therapy) quietly fade away, yet are important historical footnotes. Therapies are termed as Complementary when used in addition to conventional treatments and as Alternative when used instead of conventional treatment. |
Complementary medicine Alternative medicine |
| Curanderismo** | Curanderismo | ||
| Dance therapy | Dance therapies | The use of dancing for therapeutic purposes. | Dance therapy |
| Ear acupuncture | Auricular acupuncture ; Auricular acupunctures ; Ear acupunctures | Acupuncture therapy by inserting needles in the ear. It is used to control pain and for treating various ailments. | Auricular acupuncture |
| Electric stimulation therapy* | Electrotherapy ; Therapeutic electric stimulation | Application of electric current in treatment without the generation of perceptible heat. It includes electric stimulation of nerves or muscles, passage of current into the body, or use of interrupted current of low intensity to raise the threshold of the skin to pain. | Electrotherapy |
| Electroacupuncture | A form of acupuncture using low frequency electrically stimulated needles to produce analgesia and anesthesia and to treat disease. | Electroacupuncture | |
| Faith healing | Prayer healing | The use of faith and spirit to cure disease. | Faith healing |
| Historical eclecticism | A system of medicine, most popular in the 19th century, that advocates the use of indigenous plants in the treatment of specific signs and symptoms. | Eclecticism | |
| Holistic health | Holistic medicine ; Holistic therapies ; Wholistic health ; Wholistic medicine ; Wholistic therapies | Health as viewed from the perspective that humans and other organisms function as complete, integrated units rather than as aggregates of separate parts. | Holistic health |
| Homeopathy | Homoeopathy | A system of therapeutics founded by Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), based on the Law of Similars where "like cures like". Diseases are treated by highly diluted substances that cause, in healthy persons, symptoms like those of the disease to be treated. The dilutions are repeated so many times that there is less than one molecule per dose and it is suggested that benefit is from the energetic life force of the original substance. | Homeopathy |
| Hydrotherapy* | Hydrotherapies ; Whirlpool bath ; Whirlpool baths | External application of water for therapeutic purposes. | Hydrotherapy |
| Hypnosis | Hypnoses ; Mesmerism | A state of increased receptivity to suggestion and direction, initially induced by the influence of another person. |
Hypnosis Mesmerism |
| Imagery (Psychotherapy) | Directed reverie therapies ; Directed reverie therapy ; Guided imagery ; Imageries (Psychotherapy) ; Imagery | The use of mental images produced by the imagination as a form of psychotherapy. It can be classified by the modality of its content: visual, verbal, auditory, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, or kinesthetic. Common themes derive from nature imagery (e.g., forests and mountains), water imagery (e.g., brooks and oceans), travel imagery, etc. Imagery is used in the treatment of mental disorders and in helping patients cope with other diseases. Imagery often forms a part of HYPNOSIS, of AUTOGENIC TRAINING, of RELAXATION TECHNIQUES, and of BEHAVIOR THERAPY. (From Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, vol. 4, pp29-30, 1994) | Imagery |
| Kampo medicine | Kampo ; Kanpo ; Kanpo medicine | System of herbal medicine practiced in Japan by both herbalists and practitioners of modern medicine. Kampo originated in China and is based on Chinese herbal medicine (MEDICINE, CHINESE TRADITIONAL). | Kampo medicine |
| Laughter therapy | Therapeutic use of humor and laughter to improve emotional well being in order to facilitate improvement in health. | Humor therapy | |
| Magic | Magics | Beliefs and practices concerned with producing desired results through supernatural forces or agents as with the manipulation of fetishes or rituals. | Magic |
| Magnet therapy** | Magnet therapy | ||
| Massage | Craniosacral massage ; Reflexology ; Rolfing ; Zone therapy | Group of systematic and scientific manipulations of body tissues best performed with the hands for the purpose of affecting the nervous and muscular systems and the general circulation. |
Massage Reflexology Rolfing |
| Meditation | Transcendental meditation | A state of consciousness in which the individual eliminates environmental stimuli from awareness so that the mind can focus on a single thing, producing a state of relaxation and relief from stress. A wide variety of techniques are used to clear the mind of stressful outside interferences. It includes meditation therapy. (Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary, 4th ed) |
Meditation Transcendental meditation |
| Mental healing | The use of mind to cure disease, particularly physical illness. | Mental healing | |
| Meridians | Ching Lo ; Jing Luo ; Jingluo; Luo, Jing | Classical loci in acupuncture. They are main and collateral channels, regarded as a network of passages, through which vital energy circulates and along which acupoints (ACUPUNCTURE POINTS) are distributed. The meridians are a series of 14 lines upon which more than 400 acupoints are located on the body. (The Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary, p. 359; Dr. Wu Lancheng, Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing) | Meridians |
| Mind-body and relaxation techniques | Mind-body and relaxation technics | A group of healing methods which emphasize mind-body interactions with intended benefits that include relaxation and emotional well being. | |
| Mind-body relations (Metaphysics) | Mind-body relation (Metaphysics) ; Mind-body relation (Non-Physiology) ; Mind-body relations (Non-Physiology) ; Mind-body relationship (Non-Physiology) ; Mind-body relationships (Non-Physiology) | The relation between the mind and the body in a religious, social, spiritual, behavioral, and metaphysical context. This concept is significant in the field of alternative medicine. It differs from the relationship between physiologic processes and behavior where the emphasis is on the body's physiology ( = PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY). | Mind-body relations |
| Moxibustion | Moxabustion | The burning of a small, thimble sized, smoldering plug or cone of moxa, usually Artemisia vulgaris (Mugwort), on the skin at an ACUPUNCTURE point. | Moxibustion |
| Musculoskeletal manipulations | Manipulation therapies ; Manipulation therapy ; Manipulative therapies ; Manipulative therapy | Various manipulations of body tissues, muscles and bones by hands or equipment to improve health and circulation, relieve fatigue, promote healing. | |
| Music therapy | The use of music as an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of neurological, mental, or behavioral disorders. | Music therapy | |
| Myofunctional therapy | Myofunctional therapies ; Oral myotherapies ; Oral myotherapy ; Orofacial myotherapies ; Orofacial myotherapy | Training of the orofacial musculature, including modification of habits, in edentulous conditions, malocclusion, or temporomandibular joint disorders. (Dorland, 28th ed) | Myofunctional therapy |
| Native American healing | Native American medicine | ||
| Natural childbirth | Labor and delivery without medical intervention, usually involving RELAXATION TECHNIQUES. | Natural childbirth | |
| Naturopathy | Natural remedies ; Natural remedy ; Naturopathic medicine | A drugless system of therapy, making use of physical forces such as air, light, water, heat, massage, etc. Treatments are often diet- and nutrition-oriented with attention given to the patient's personal history and lifestyle. (From Cassileth, Alternative Medicine Handbook, 1998, p329) | Naturopathy |
| Occultism | Occultisms | Occultism | |
| Organotherapy | Organotherapies | Historically, the treatment of disease by the administration of animal organs or their extracts (after Brown-Sequard). At present synthetic preparations substitute for the extracts of a gland. (From Stedman, 26th ed) | Organotherapy |
| Oriental traditional medicine | Oriental medicine ; Oriental traditional medicine ; Traditional oriental medicine ; Traditional oriental medicines | A system of traditional medicine which is based on the customs, beliefs and practices of the Oriental people. | Oriental medicine |
| Osteopathic manipulation | Musculoskeletal manipulation based on the principles of OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE developed in 1874 by Dr Andrew Taylor Still. It was originally similar to CHIROPRACTIC (MANIPULATION, CHIROPRACTIC) but has become more like FAMILY PRACTICE. | Osteopathy | |
| Phytotherapy | Herb Therapy; Herbal Therapy | Use of plants or herbs to treat diseases or to alleviate pain. | Phytotherapy |
| Play therapy | Play therapies | A treatment technique utilizing play as a medium for expression and communication between patient and therapist. | Play therapy |
| Psychodrama | Psychodramas | Primarily a technique of group psychotherapy which involves a structure, directed, and dramatized acting out of the patient's personal and emotional problems. | Psychodrama |
| Psychophysiology | Mind-body relation (Physiology) ; Mind-body relations (Physiology) ; Mind-body relationship (Physiology) ; Mind-body relationships (Physiology) ; Physiologic psychologies ; Physiologic psychology | The study of the physiological basis of human and animal behavior. | Psychophysiology |
| Radiesthesia | Therapeutic cult concerned with intangible energies surrounding the living body and based on the detection of these intrinsic radiations by dowsing, or divining, or the use of more elaborate instruments (radionics). | Radiesthesia | |
| Reflexotherapy | Reflex therapy | Treatment of some morbid condition by producing a reflex action, as in the household treatment of nosebleed by a piece of ice applied to the cervical spine. (Stedman, 27th ed) | Reflexotherapy |
| Rejuvenation | Rejuvenation | ||
| Relaxation | Relaxations | Activity which reduces feelings of tension. | Relaxation |
| Relaxation techniques | Relaxation technic ; Relaxation technics ; Relaxation technique ; Relaxation therapy | The use of muscular relaxation techniques in treatment. | Relaxation techniques |
| Sensory art therapies | Therapies using arts or directed at the senses. | ||
| Shamanism | An intermediate stage between polytheism and monotheism, which assumes a "Great Spirit", with lesser deities subordinated. With the beginnings of shamanism there was the advent of the medicine man or witch doctor, who assumed a supervisory relation to disease and its cure. Formally, shamanism is a religion of Ural-Altaic peoples of Northern Asia and Europe, characterized by the belief that the unseen world of gods, demons, ancestral spirits is responsive only to shamans. The Indians of North and South America entertain religious practices similar to the Ural-Altaic shamanism. The word shaman comes from the Tungusic (Manchuria and Siberia) saman, meaning Buddhist monk. The shaman handles disease almost entirely by psychotherapeutic means; he frightens away the demons of disease by assuming a terrifying mien. (From Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p22; from Webster, 3d ed) | Shamanism | |
| Spinal manipulation* | Cervical manipulation ; Lumbar manipulation | Adjustment and manipulation of the vertebral column. | Spinal manipulation |
| Spiritual therapies | Spiritual healing | Mystical, religious, or spiritual practices performed for health benefit. | Spiritual healing |
| Tai Ji | T'ai Chi ; Tai Chi ; Tai Chi Chuan ; Tai-ji ; Tai Ji Quan ; Taiji ; Taijiquan | One of the MARTIAL ARTS and also a form of meditative exercise using methodically slow circular stretching movements and positions of body balance. | Tai Chi Chuan |
| Therapeutic touch | Laying-on-of-hands ; Reiki | Placing of the hands of the healer upon the person to be cured with the intent of spiritual energetic healing. |
Therapeutic
touch Reiki |
| Tissue therapy | Biogenic stimulator ; Biogenic stimulators ; Cell therapy | Historically, tissue transplantation, especially of refrigerated tissue (after Filatov). It was theorized that nonspecific substances, capable of initiating restorative processes, formed in tissues when refrigerated. Cell therapy (after Niehans) refers to implantation of tissue by injection. Originally this involved fresh cells but later frozen or lyophilized cells. |
Tissue
therapy Cell therapy |
| Traditional medicine | Ethnomedicine ; Folk medicine ; Folk remedies ; Folk remedy ; Home remedies ; Home remedy ; Indigenous medicine ; Primitive medicine | Systems of medicine based on cultural beliefs and practices handed down from generation to generation. The concept includes mystical and magical rituals, herbal therapy, and other treatments which may not be explained by modern medicine. | Traditional medicine |
| Urotherapy** | Urine therapy | ||
| Witchcraft | Sorceries ; Sorcery | An act of employing sorcery (the use of power gained from the assistance or control of spirits), especially with malevolent intent, and the exercise of supernatural powers and alleged intercourse with the devil or a familiar. (From Webster, 3d ed) | Witchcraft |
| Yoga | A major orthodox system of Hindu philosophy based on Sankhya (metaphysical dualism) but differing from it in being theistic and characterized by the teaching of raja-yoga as a practical method of liberating the self. It includes a system of exercises for attaining bodily or mental control and well-being with liberation of the self and union with the universal spirit. (From Webster, 3d ed) | Yoga |
* Not included in the MeSH list of complementary therapies
** Not a MeSH term
Edited by Aldo Campana,