There are many sources that attempt to back alternative medicine practices with scientific study. Between 2000 and 2002, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine awarded 15 grants to academic institutions to develop curricular initiatives in integrative medicine (see Table 1); evaluation methods are being explored within the initiatives and many of the institutions that received these grants are members of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine (CAHCIM).
The supposed mechanisms of energy healing, homeopathy, and acupuncture are unscientific and violate basic laws of physics and chemistry Other alternative treatments, including many nutritional supplements, are unproven, unregulated, and occasionally dangerous.
Functional medicine uses the patient’s story as a key tool for integrating diagnosis, signs and symptoms, and evidence of clinical imbalances into a comprehensive approach to improve both the patient’s environmental inputs and his or her physiological function.
This concept—that any given therapy or healing approach …