Healthcare practices have existed among civilizations since ancient times. In different cultures and regions these systems have developed in various ways.

Many medical systems such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Herbal remedies and Reiki developed prior to the era of modern medicine in the Eastern side of the world.

Orthodox Medicine as understood today is the mainstream tradition which was developed in the Western world since the 14 th Century. This system strives to uniquely identify conditions by their symptoms and establish evidence that treatments are affective for a majority of the population. It is also called biomedicine, Hippocratic tradition or allopathic medicine.

Many forms of alternative medicine focus on customized and holistic treatments and tend to look at the person as a whole rather than just the ailment. Some alternative practices also place a great emphasis on a person's emotional well being or spirituality as well as nutrition. Alternative medicine explores the stressors (environmental, biological, chemical, psychological, and emotional) in a patient's life that cause a weakening of a particular energy field; which in turn allows the manifestation of a disease condition in a weakened area.

In order to maintain a state of health, all energy systems within the body need to exist in a state of balance or equilibrium. Imbalance leads to conditions of discomfort (dis-ease) which eventually spirals into ill health if not corrected. The patient's immune system and the immune system alone is responsible for healing and recovery from ill health. The Chinese and Indians (Ayurvedic medicine) had worked all of this out thousands of years ago.

Medical science has historically grouped many of these treatments in the category of complementary and alternative medicine ( CAM ) and has questioned the efficacy of the treatments due to lack of scientific study. Recently many of these treatments have increasingly been subjected to scientific study. While some have been discarded as mere superstitions, others have been adopted to varying degrees into mainstream medicine.

Interest in Eastern medicine whether as an alternative or to complement treatment of specific conditions is growing. Rising medical costs, a desire to treat naturally or seek alternatives to allopathic treatment of conditions, are leading to this.

In this section we feature some therapies and cures with inputs from such health practitioners.

Note: Alternate medicines and healing therapies are safe only in the hands of a qualified and experienced practitioner. With the right practitioner, alternative medicines can work effectively along with conventional therapies. Speak with your family physician and specialists whom you consult regularly before you embark on alternative therapies.