Complementary Medicine

Complementary Medicine or Alternative Medicine refers to a wide variety of healthcare practices and therapies that are not generally integrated into the conventional practice of medical doctors and allied health professionals in our society.
Most Complementary Medicine practices and therapies would be considered “traditional medical systems” or “whole medical systems”, which are complete systems of theory and practice that have evolved independently over time in different cultures.

Modern Complementary Medicine brings together centuries of systematic development, practice, and research into a contemporary, scientific framework that can comfortably work alongside, or as an alternative to, other forms of medicine.
The boundary between conventional medicine and complementary medicine has blurred over time as conventional medicine has begun to adopt some of the therapeutic approaches from traditional medical systems. Complementary medicine encompasses therapeutic modalities, lifestyle practices and underpinning theories and philosophies used in the maintenance of health, as well as prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of physical and mental illness.

Most Complementary medicine disciplines take a holistic view of illness and wellness and encompass therapeutic approaches that address body, emotions, mind and spirit within a framework of patient-centred care.
It is only when each of these elements is looked at as a whole picture, for the interconnectedness that they share, is when true health and wellness is experienced.