Complementary and alternative medicine: contemporary trends and issues

Abstract

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) incorporates a heterogeneous array of approaches and applications. CAM is increasing in popularity and use globally, with many people using CAM to treat and/or prevent musculoskeletal conditions, or chronic or recurring pain.

Objectives: To describe the contemporary trends, and outline some of the issues and challenges for the use and development of CAM.

Major findings: CAM has become a widely used form of healthcare but the prevalence of use of CAM varies by region and modality. CAM more often complements conventional care, and various reasons for the increasing popularity of CAM have been proposed. Issues and challenges for CAM include: across-therapy and within-therapy variances; the complexity of the holistic approach with its multimodal and individualized application of treatment; and the difficulty in identifying suitable research frameworks.

Conclusions: Consumer demand for CAM suggests that a number of health needs are being met by the practice of CAM. Further research is required to tease out the elements of CAM that are valued by consumers, and to understand the complexity of CAM at both a modality-specific and multimodal level.

Keywords:

• Complementary and alternative medicine
• Utilization patterns
• Issues
• Challenges

A University of Otago Postgraduate Scholarship and a University of Otago Postgraduate Publishing Bursary supported this research.