Whole Medical Systems - Examples and Classes

Examples and Classes

Further information: List of branches of alternative medicine

Alternative medicines include a wide range of treatments and practices. Some stem from nineteenth century North America, such as Chiropractic and Naturopathy, some, mentioned by Jütte, originated in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Germany, such as homeopathy and hydropathy, some have originated in China or India.

The following examples include some of the more common methods in use. Most therapies can be considered as part of five broad classes; biological based approaches, energy therapies, alternative medical systems, muscle and joint manipulation and mind body therapies.

Alternative medical systems are complete health systems with their own approaches to diagnosis and treatment that differ from the conventional biomedical approach to health. Some are cultural systems such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine, while others, such as Homeopathy and Naturopathy are relatively recent and were developed in the West.

Writing as a historian Matthew Ramsey has asked whether some counter-hegemonic medicines are better understood as manifestations of more general developments in the larger society, or as the product of a coherent alternative world view.