Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is the term for medical products and practices that (as the name suggests) are complementary to standard medical care. Standard medical care is defined as: the practice by health professionals who hold an M.D, physical therapists, physician assistants, psychologists, and registered nurses.
Complementary medicine is treatments that are used along with standard medical treatments but are not considered to be standard treatments. One example is using acupuncture to help lessen some side effects of cancer treatment.
Integrative medicine is a total approach to medical care that combines standard medicine with the CAM practices that have been shown to be safe and effective. They treat the patient’s mind, body, and spirit.
CAM Medicine can therefore include natural products, mind and body practices and other complementary health approaches
Some standard medical care practitioners are also practitioners of CAM.
The First Multidisciplinary Outpatient Clinic in Cyprus offering a “patient centeredness” multidisciplinary approach to healthcare where our patients can receive, as needed, a comprehensive evaluation and consensus medical opinion from several and relevant leading medical experts.
Our team of experts, as per the American Standards and Practices, review, discuss and evaluate the test results, diagnosis and design a treatment plan with the most appropriate specialist doctor, addressing each individual patient’s needs accordingly. Moreover, a second expert opinion can further be obtained, if required.
CAM therapies have been evaluated for a variety of health conditions and have been found to be safe and effective. However there are others that have been found to be ineffective or possibly harmful.
CAM therapies include a wide variety of botanicals and nutritional products, such as dietary supplements, herbal supplements, and vitamins. Many of these “natural” products are considered to be safe because they are present in, or produced by, nature, but that is not true in all cases and can have their own side effects.
Mind-body techniques are proposed to strengthen the communication between your mind and your body. CAM practitioners say these two systems must be in harmony for you to stay healthy. Examples of mind-body connection techniques include meditation, prayer, relaxation and art therapies.
Manipulation and body-based practices use human touch to move or manipulate a specific part of your body. They include chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation and massage.
There are other approaches to complementary health that focus on a system, rather than just a single practice or remedy, such as massage. These systems center on a philosophy, such as the power of nature or the presence of energy in your body. Examples of these approaches include:
CAM has been praised and found to be useful, when carefully managed by a knowledgeable physician who has had the necessary experience to help a patient adopt the correct type of CAM therapy. Knowing if CAM is right for each person requires an evaluation of their symptoms and other health conditions to provide the best options for optimal heath.
Standard cancer treatments have generally been studied for safety and effectiveness through an intense scientific process that includes clinical trials with large numbers of patients.
Examples of CAM therapies that have been proven to be safe and helpful when they are used in conjunction with standard medical treatment include: