Regional definitions

Public information websites maintained by the governments of the US and of the UK make a distinction between "alternative medicine" and "complementary medicine", but mention that these two can overlap. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine NCCAM of the National Institutes of Health NIH a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services states that "alternative medicine" refers to using a non-mainstream approach in place of conventional medicine and that "complementary medicine" generally refers to using a non-mainstream approach together with conventional medicine, and comments that the boundaries between complementary and conventional medicine overlap and change with time.^[25] The National Health Service NHS website NHS Choices owned by the UK Department of Health, adopting the terminology of NCCAM, states that when a treatment is used alongside conventional treatments, to help a patient cope with a health condition, and not as an alternative to conventional treatment, this use of treatments can be called "complementary medicine"; but when a treatment is used instead of conventional medicine, with the intention of treating or curing a health condition, the use can be called "alternative medicine".^[51]

Similarly, the public information website maintained by the National Health and Medical Research Council NHMRC of the Commonwealth of Australia uses the acronym "CAM" for a wide range of health care practices, therapies, procedures and devices not within the domain of conventional medicine. In the Australian context this is stated to include acupuncture; aromatherapy; chiropractic; homeopathy; massage; meditation and relaxation therapies; naturopathy; osteopathy; reflexology, traditional Chinese medicine; and the use of vitamin supplements.^[9]

The Danish National Board of Health's "Council for Alternative Medicine" Sundhedsstyrelsens Råd for Alternativ Behandling SRAB, an independent institution under the National Board of Health Danish: Sundhedsstyrelsen, uses the term “alternative medicine” for:^[52]

• Treatments performed by therapists that are not authorized healthcare professionals.
• Treatments performed by authorized healthcare professionals, but those based on methods otherwise used mainly outside the healthcare system. People without a healthcare authorisation are [also] allowed to perform the treatments.