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A few definitions

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In 2002, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Section staff of the National Library of Medicine classifies alternative medicine under the term complementary therapies. This is defined as 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, such as physical therapy, diet, and acupuncture, become widely accepted whereas others, such as humors or 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.

The National Library of Medicine's previous definition was an unrelated group of non-orthodox therapeutic practices, often with explanatory systems that do not follow conventional biomedical explanations and non-orthodox therapeutic systems which have no satisfactory scientific explanation for their effectiveness.

All of the article can be found here. It's a useful starting point if nothing else.

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