How does Alternative Cancer Treatment work?
“Complementary and alternative medicine” includes any treatments that are not a part of standard medical care. The difference between the two is that complementary therapy is used *in addition to* conventional treatments, while alternative therapy is a *replacement* for standard medical treatments. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/canceralternativetherapies.html Different alternative therapies are meant to work in different ways. Some are biochemical (herbal remedies), some are psychological (positive imagery), some are physical (reflexology), and some involve different types of energy (therapeutic touch). http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/thinking-about-CAM/page5 The reason alternative therapies are not part of traditional medicine is that they have not been scientifically proven to be effective (or, in some cases, to exist at all). Some alternative therapies can provide symptomatic relief (possibly through the placebo effect) and are often incorporated as part of a complementary t
