This serve to alleviate back pain.
Movement therapies, another CAM category, are movement-based approaches intended to promote holistic well-being. Examples include the Feldenkrais method, Pilates, Alexander technique, Rolfing Structural Integration, and Trager psychophysical integration.
Manipulation of energy fields is also practiced by some CAM practitioners where it is thought that humans are infused with electromagnetic fields and that manipulating these streams of energy will promote healing. Examples include Qi gong, Reiki, and healing touch.
Finally, whole medical systems, another category of CAM, include Ayurveda medicine and traditional Chinese medicine with, more recently, homeopathy and naturopathy.
Three different CAM treatments from alternative therapy, complementary therapy, and integrative therapy are yoga, message therapy, and attention to nutrition. Each is alternative in that it initiates from cultural / traditional background (generally Asian), rather than stemming from scientific origin (generally Western). Each is complementary since it is often used in conjunction with conventional medicine, either as preventative (e.g. yogurt, or certain herbs, to promote nutritional healing) and/or to mitigate stress (as, per instance, with certain botanicals or minerals). Finally, all three are integrative in that each is safe and effective (nutrition, that is, with conditions) and holistically oriented.
Scientific evidence for message therapy is incomplete and contradictory, mostly because...
However, message does appear to benefit lower-back pain, although benefits are temporal (Bratman, n.d).
According to the Center for the Scientific Study of Yoga and Health, "the academic research literature contains over 200 scientific articles on Yoga covering its effects on a wide range of health conditions." Scientifically significant results have been found for many dieases includign for chronic pain, menopause, and diabetes. Not all of these studies are reliable, but many of them are.
Finally, as HerbMed -- an evidence-based database on the use of herbas for health - laboriously shows, there are at elast tweny fo the most popular herbs that possess scientific evidence (some maore reliabel than others) attesting to their efficacy (http://herbmed.org/).
Source
Bratman, S. (n.d). Message therapy. Tufts Medical Center. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://www.tufts-nemc.org/apps/HealthGate/Article.aspx?chunkiid=43195#How%20rapy?
Center for the Scientific Study of Yoga and Health. Evidence-based yoga. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://www.centerforyogaandhealth.org/Evidence-Based-Yoga.html
HerbMed. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://herbmed.org/
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine. (n. d.). Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/#types
