alternative medicine

1. healthcare and treatment practices, including traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, folk medicine, and naturopathy, that minimize or eschew the use of surgery and drugs.

alternative medicine

noun

1. another name for complementary medicine See also holism

alternative medicine

1. A variety of therapeutic or preventive health-care practices that are not typically taught or practiced in traditional medical communities and offer treatments that differ from standard medical practice. Homeopathy, herbal medicine, and acupuncture are types of alternative medicine.

alternative medicine

1. Medical practice or therapy that uses methods that have not been associated with the traditional, standard care most generally taught and executed by AMA-certified medical schools.

Alternative medicine includes practices such as acupuncture, naturopathy, and chiropractic, as well as such therapies as chelation therapy, homeopathic remedies, and biofeedback. There has been an explosion of interest in alternative medicine in recent years.

Word History and Origins

Origin of alternative medicine¹

First recorded in 1980–85