Glossary of alternative medicine

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A

• Acupressure: A technique where pressure is applied to specific points on the body to alleviate pain or treat illnesses, based on the same principles as acupuncture.
• Acupuncture: A traditional Chinese medicine technique involving inserting thin needles into specific points on the body to stimulate energy flow and promote healing.
• Medical acupuncture: Acupuncture practiced by western medical professionals that integrates traditional acupuncture techniques with western medical training.
• Sonopuncture: Uses sound waves to stimulate acupuncture points.
• Affirmative prayer: Spiritual practice of positive thinking and affirmation, believing the desired outcome is already realized.
• Alexander technique: An educational process aiming to retrain habitual patterns of movement and posture.
• Alternative cancer treatments: Non-standard cancer treatments, not commonly recognized in medical practice.
• Apitherapy: Therapeutic use of products made by honeybees, like honey and venom.
• Applied kinesiology: Method of diagnosing illness by testing muscles for strengths and weaknesses.
• Aromatherapy: Use of essential oils to promote health and well-being.
• Astrology: Belief that the positioning of stars and planets affect health and behavior.
• Auriculotherapy: Acupuncture specifically targeting the ear.
• Autogenic training: A relaxation technique that focuses on sensations of warmth and heaviness.
• Autosuggestion: A self-induced suggestion where individuals guide their own thoughts, feelings, or behavior.
• Ayurveda: Ancient Indian holistic healing system based on balancing body, mind, and spirit.

B-E

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• Bach flower therapy: Treatment using natural flower essences to alleviate emotional and mental negative feelings.
• Balneotherapy: Treatment of diseases through bathing, often in mineral-rich waters.
• Bates method: Approach to improve vision through relaxation techniques and exercises.
• Biodanza: Dance-based therapy aiming at enhancing self-awareness and human integration.
• Bioresonance therapy: Uses electronic machines to diagnose/treat illnesses by detecting "energy wavelengths".
• Blood irradiation therapies: Exposing blood to ultraviolet light or other radiations to treat diseases.
• Body-based manipulative therapies: Therapies involving manipulation or movement of body parts.
• Body work or Massage therapy: Physical techniques to improve health, including massage and tai chi.
• Chelation therapy: Use of chemicals to remove heavy metals and other substances from the body.
• Chinese food therapy: Dietary therapy based on traditional Chinese medicine principles emphasizing balance and harmony in food choices.
• Chinese martial arts: Physical practices and traditions originating from China, often linked to Chinese philosophy and medicinal concepts.
• Chinese medicine: A holistic approach to health based on the balance of Yin and Yang and the flow of Qi (energy), encompassing acupuncture, herbal remedies, and more.
• Chinese pulse diagnosis: Diagnostic technique in traditional Chinese medicine based on palpation of the pulse in various positions on the wrist.
• Chiropractic: Health care discipline emphasizing the inherent recuperative power of the body to heal itself without drugs or surgery, primarily through spinal adjustments.
• Chromotherapy: Therapy using colors to heal, also known as color therapy.
• Coding (therapy): Not a commonly recognized term; may require more specific context.
• Coin rubbing: Traditional Southeast Asian therapy, also known as cao gio, where coins are rubbed on the skin to alleviate symptoms of illness.
• Colloidal silver therapy: Use of tiny silver particles suspended in liquid as a form of alternative medicine.
• Colon hydrotherapy: Use of water to cleanse the colon, often referred to as a colonic.
• Color therapy: Use of colors to adjust body vibrations to frequencies resulting in health and harmony, similar to chromotherapy.
• Craniosacral therapy: Therapeutic system focused on providing gentle manipulations of the skull to treat various conditions.
• Creative visualization: Use of imagination to envision specific behaviors or events to achieve healing or other positive outcomes.
• Crystal healing: Use of crystals or gemstones as conduits for healing.
• Cupping: Technique where cups are placed on the skin to create suction, increasing blood circulation.
• Dietary supplements: Products consumed orally containing dietary ingredients intended to supplement the diet.
• Dowsing: Practice of detecting "energies" using divining rods or other tools.
• Ear candling: Placing a hollow candle in the ear canal and lighting it, believed to draw out impurities.
• Electromagnetic therapy: Use of electromagnetic radiation to treat ailments.
• Electrohomeopathy: Homeopathic practice based on the idea that diseases are caused by dysfunctional cells and can be treated with electricity.
• Energy therapies: Treatments based on the belief that the body has energy fields that can be manipulated for health benefits. Includes acupuncture, reiki, qigong, etc.
• Energy medicine: A branch of alternative medicine based on the belief in energy processes that are fundamental to human functioning. This can include practices like acupuncture, reiki, and qigong.
• Energy psychology: Incorporates cognitive interventions with physical methods for mental and emotional healing.

F-I

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• Faith healing: A method where belief and trust in a divine being is used to treat or cure diseases.
• Fasting: Voluntary abstention from eating for spiritual, health, or other reasons.
• Feldenkrais method: A somatic educational system designed to improve movement patterns.
• Feng shui: Ancient Chinese practice of arranging the environment to ensure harmony and balance.
• Five elements: Core concept in Chinese philosophy where the world is made up of five main elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.
• Flower essence therapy: Using dilutions of flower material to provide emotional and spiritual healing.
• Functional medicine: Form of alternative medicine that focuses on interactions between the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems.
• German New Medicine: Approach that believes the cause of every disease can be traced back to a traumatic experience.
• Gua sha: Traditional Chinese medical treatment in which the skin is scraped to produce light petechiae.
• Hair analysis (alternative medicine): Using hair as a specimen to identify mineral imbalances in the body.
• Hatha yoga: Form of yoga emphasizing physical exercises to master the body and breathing to secure vitality.
• Hawaiian massage: Also known as Lomi Lomi, a form of therapeutic massage characterized by flowing strokes.
• Herbalism: Practice of using plants for medicinal purposes.
• Herbal therapy: Use of plant-based formulas for therapeutic purposes.
• Herbology: Study of the medicinal and therapeutic properties of plants.
• Holistic living: A lifestyle approach that considers the whole person and how they interact with their environment.
• Holistic medicine: A form of healing that considers the whole person, including mind, body, spirit, and emotions.
• Homeopathy: A system of alternative medicine that treats patients with heavily diluted preparations which cause effects similar to the symptoms presented.
• Home remedies: Traditional treatments using ingredients commonly found at home or in nature.
• Hypnosis: A trance-like state of focused attention and heightened suggestibility, often accompanied by relaxation.
• Hypnotherapy: Use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes.
• Iridology: Study of the iris to diagnose potential health problems.
• Isopathy: A therapy that involves treating a disease with the causative agent itself or products of the disease.

J-N

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• Journaling: The process of writing out thoughts and emotions for self-reflection and healing.
• Kampo: Traditional Japanese medicine system based largely on the classical Chinese medicine.
• Light therapy: Use of light with specific qualities for therapeutic purposes, often to treat depression or skin conditions.

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• Macrobiotic lifestyle: Dietary regimen that involves eating grain as a staple food supplemented with other foodstuffs such as vegetables and beans.
• Magnetic healing: Use of static magnets to alleviate pain or treat other conditions.
• Manipulative therapy: Treatments involving manipulation or movement of one or more body parts.
• Massage therapy: Manual manipulation of soft body tissues to enhance well-being.
• Medical acupuncture: Acupuncture practiced by a doctor trained and licensed in Western medicine who has also undergone training in acupuncture.
• Medical intuition: Use of intuition to diagnose or treat illnesses.
• Meditation: A practice to focus the mind, relax the body, and promote spiritual growth.
• Meridian (Chinese medicine): Pathways through which the life-energy known as "qi" flows.
• Mindfulness meditation: A form of meditation focusing on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment.
• Transcendental meditation: A specific form of silent, mantra meditation introduced by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
• Vipassana: An ancient Indian form of meditation involving insight into the true nature of reality.
• Mega-vitamin therapy: Use of large doses of vitamins, often far exceeding recommended maximums.
• Mind–body intervention: Therapeutic and healing techniques that explore the interplay between the mind and body.
• Music therapy: Clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals.
• Natural Health: A holistic approach to health that focuses on the body's natural healing mechanisms.
• Natural therapies: Therapies that are not part of conventional medicine, often emphasizing plants, natural phenomena, or the body's intrinsic healing capacities.
• Naturopathic medicine: A system where medical doctors treat patients using natural remedies like light, air, and herbs.
• New thought: A movement emphasizing positive thinking and the law of attraction.
• Neuro-linguistic programming: An approach to personal development and psychotherapy based on the interplay between mind, language, and behavior.
• Nutritional healing: Healing approach based on diet and nutritional supplements.
• Nutritional supplements: Consumption of vitamins, minerals, and other substances to improve health or wellness.

O-R

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• Orgonomy: Study of cosmic orgone energy developed by Wilhelm Reich.
• Orthomolecular medicine: Therapeutic use of substances normally present in the body.
• Osteomyology: Blend of techniques for musculoskeletal disorders.
• Osteopathy: Medicine that emphasizes physical manipulation of muscle and bone.
• Pilates: A physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century.
• Polarity therapy: Alternative health treatment using human energy fields.
• Power yoga: A vigorous fitness-based approach to yoga.
• Pranic healing: An energy-based healing system.
• Prayer: A solemn request or expression of thanks to a deity or higher power.
• Psychic surgery: A pseudoscientific medical fraud where practitioners create the illusion of performing surgery with their bare hands.
• Qi: The central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts; translated as "life energy".
• Qigong: A holistic system of coordinated body posture, movement, breathing, and meditation used for health and spirituality.
• Quantum healing: A pseudoscientific mixture of ideas which posits that quantum phenomena are responsible for health and wellness.
• Radionics: An alternative medicine that claims to diagnose and heal by applying appropriate frequencies to balance the discordant frequencies of sickness.
• Rebirthing: A form of therapy involving controlled breathing and recalling personal experiences.
• Reflexology: An alternative medicine involving application of pressure to the feet and hands with specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques.
• Reiki: A form of alternative therapy involving the transfer of universal energy from the practitioner's palms to their patient.
• Rolfing: A form of bodywork that aims to reorganize the connective tissues, called fascia, of the body.

S-Z

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• Seitai: A Japanese bodywork therapy focusing on body alignment and its natural healing power.
• Self-hypnosis: A process or result of hypnosis which is self-induced.
• Shiatsu: A form of Japanese bodywork based on traditional Chinese medicine concepts of qi.
• Siddha medicine: A traditional treatment system generated from Tamil culture.
• Sonopuncture: A stimulation of acupuncture points with sound.
• Sound therapy: Use of sound for therapeutic purposes.
• Spiritual mind treatment: A step-by-step process to realize a desired outcome or manifest a particular condition.
• Structural Integration: A type of bodywork that focuses on the connective tissue, or fascia, of the body.
• Support groups: Groups of individuals who share a common condition or situation and provide mutual support.
• T'ai chi ch'uan: A Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and health benefits.
• Thai massage: A traditional healing system combining acupressure and assisted yoga postures.
• Thalassotherapy: Therapeutic use of seawater, marine products like algae, and shore climate.
• Therapeutic horseback riding: Riding horses to improve physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
• Therapeutic touch: An energy therapy where practitioners hover their hands over or lightly touch patients.
• Tibetan eye chart: A tool used in Tibetan medicine to diagnose health conditions based on the eyes.
• Traditional Chinese medicine: Ancient medical practice involving herbal medicine, acupuncture, cupping therapy, and qigong.
• Traditional Japanese medicine: A traditional form of medicine native to Japan, including herbal medicine and acupuncture.
• Traditional Mongolian medicine: A type of traditional medicine practiced in Mongolia, influenced by Tibetan medicine.
• Traditional Tibetan medicine: An ancient holistic system of healing that incorporates spiritual and physical healing methods.
• Trager approach: A form of somatic education and therapy.
• Transcendental meditation: A specific form of silent, mantra-based meditation.
• Trigger point: A tight area within muscle tissue that causes pain in other parts of the body.
• Tui na: A form of Chinese manipulative therapy often used in conjunction with acupuncture and qigong.
• Unani medicine: A traditional medicine system which originated in ancient Greece.
• Urine therapy: An alternative medicine where individuals consume their own urine or use it topically.
• Visualization (cam): The use of mental imagery to influence bodily processes.
• Water cure (therapy): Therapeutic use of water, both internally and externally, for health benefits.
• Wellness (alternative medicine): An active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a healthy life.
• Yoga: A group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices that originated in ancient India.
• Zang fu theory: A concept within traditional Chinese medicine that sees the organs as related entities.