About thirty percent of Americans today use health care approaches created outside of the mainstream or conventional medicine. When classifying these approaches, people often say "alternative" and "complementary" as they are the same thing, but these terms indicate different views: "complementary" is considered a non-mainstream practice used together with conventional medicine. "Alternative" is considered a non-mainstream practice used in place of conventional medicine.
Standard medical care is the medicine that is practiced by health professionals who hold an M.D. or D.O. degree. It is also practiced by other health professionals, such as physical therapists, physician assistants, psychologists, and registered …show more content…
Although research on integrative programs is in the early stages, some studies have had great results. For example, NCCIH research suggested: Some cancer patients who get integrative therapies while in the hospital have less pain than ones who don 't, massage therapy might cause short-term improvements in pain and mood in long-term cancer patients and patients with advanced cancer, and yoga might relieve fatigue that some women experience after breast cancer