Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine is commonly what we call herbs, modalities and therapies that fall outside the definition of modern western medicine

Alternative medicine is based on historical or cultural traditions rather than on scientific evidence based medicine that is common in North America today. Natural medicines are only considered alternatives by todays standard practices whereas though natural herbs, modalities and therapies have been for centuries and continue to be used today based on observed results.

Traditional Healing Practices

In fact the observed results of traditional healing practices have lead to the "discovery" then chemical synthesis of herbs. A common example white birch, the original ingredient in aspirin, now replicated chemically. There are many examples where whole plant based herbs traditionally used as alternative medicine have been broken down to isolated chemical elements and found their way into mainstream medicine. The unfortunate result of this is that the ingredients are chemically replicated and used outside of the balance nature intended.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

A good example of alternative medicine is Traditional Chinese Medicine which has been practiced for thousands of hears. In fact, contrary to todays financially driven focus on payment before solution, in ancient times, the Chinese patient did not pay if the doctor did not solve the problem!