In
Western culture,
alternative medicine is any healing practice "that does not fall within the realm of conventional
medicine", or "that which has not been shown consistently to be effective." Alternative medicine is often based on the belief that a particular health regimen has efficacious effects even while there exists various bodies of evidence to contradict such a belief under the rigorous standards of
evidence based medicine. In practice, alternative medicine encompasses therapies with a historical or cultural, rather than a scientific, basis. Commonly cited examples include
naturopathy,
chiropractic,
herbalism,
traditional Chinese medicine,
Unani,
Ayurveda,
meditation,
yoga,
biofeedback,
hypnosis,
homeopathy,
acupuncture, and diet-based therapies, in addition to a range of other practices. It is frequently grouped with
complementary medicine, which generally refers to the same interventions when used in conjunction with mainstream techniques, under the umbrella term
complementary and alternative medicine, or
CAM. Some significant researchers in alternative medicine oppose this grouping, preferring to emphasize differences of approach, but nevertheless use the term CAM, which has become standard.