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."It is often
opposed to evidence based medicine and encompasses therapies with an historical
or cultural, rather than a scientific, basis. The American National Center
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) cites examples including
naturopathy, chiropractic medicine, herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine,
Ayurveda, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, hypnosis, homeopathy, acupuncture,
and nutritional-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
researchers in alternative medicine oppose this grouping, preferring to emphasize
differences of approach, but nevertheless use the term CAM, which has become
standard.