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Q1: Where does the statement that alternative medicine is not evidence-based or scientific come from?
A1: The source for this statement is a report produced by the National Science Foundation, which—while surveying scientific beliefs among the public—used the term "alternative medicine" to refer to all treatments that had not been proven effective using the scientific method. The report went on to describe the American Medical Association definition as "neither taught widely in U.S. medical schools nor generally available in U.S. hospitals." The source is different than the definitions used by major medical bodies and its use as a primary source is not consistent with Wikipedia's guideline on identifying reliable medical sources, but its inclusion remains important to some and a point of contention to others.
Q2: Why don't I see lots of references in the lead?
A2: To keep the lead from looking like a jungle with all the references which are actually used, they have been hidden from view, but are visible when in the editing mode. If a reader has a serious question about the sourcing for a statement in the lead, they can start a thread on this talk page and request to see the reference(s). Then, an editor will unhide that reference for them.
Whole medical systems was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 13 September 2012 with a consensus to merge. Its contents were merged into Alternative medicine. The original page is now a redirect to this page. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history; for its talk page, see here.
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The contents of the Holistic health page were merged into Alternative medicine. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history ; for the discussion at that location, see its talk page.
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Wiki Education assignment: Global Poverty and Practice

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 January 2022 and 15 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Angelica.gnlz (article contribs).

Add Type: Physical therapy

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insert this subsection under Types. Many of these techniques appear on the List of forms of alternative medicine and their articles reference the Alternative medicine page but there is very little mention of these here.

Besides the above reason, inclusion of this section will add the small amount of nuance about the subgroup of alternative medicine based on anecdotal or placebo based treatments with a lack of direct negative side-effects, as well as "treatments" science is unequiped to extract causality from due to difficulty of blinded trials, as mentioned above in A Biased Perspective?

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.
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Physical therapy, along with related disciplines like Pilates, Yoga as therapy, and Tai chi, focuses primarily on the treatment of musculoskeletal issues and occupies a unique position on the fringe of conventional medicine, largely due to challenges in conducting standardized medical trials for addressing specific problems. These practices, which include manipulative techniques such as osteopathy and massage, as well as other methods like foam-rolling, manual lymphatic drainage, acupressure, taping, and sauna, often lack definitive proof of effect. Nonetheless, they are some of the few alternative medicine practices frequently recommended by healthcare professionals and sometimes funded by healthcare providers[1] due to their minimal risk of harm. However, their use in place of established treatments for serious conditions, such as cancer[2] , can still lead to adverse outcomes. Elkir (talk) 15:51, 18 April 2024 (UTC) [reply ]

  1. ^ Eardley, Susan; Bishop, Felicity L; Prescott, Philip; Cardini, Francesco; Brinkhaus, Benno; Santos-Rey, Koldo; Vas, Jorge; von Ammon, Klaus; Hegyi, Gabriella; Dragan, Simona; Uehleke, Bernard; Fønnebø, Vinjar; Lewith, George (2012). "A systematic literature review of complementary and alternative medicine prevalence in EU". Forsch Komplementmed. 19 Suppl 2: 18–28. doi:10.1159/000342708. PMID 23883941.
  2. ^ Ades, TB, ed. (2009). "Myofascial release". American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Complementary and Alternative Cancer Therapies (2nd ed.). American Cancer Society. pp. 226–228. ISBN 978-0-944235-71-3.
Not done. The sources provided don't support the content. Is it common in the literature that physical therapy is described as alternative medicine? Are there sources that support it holding a "unique position on the fringe"? Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 16:28, 18 April 2024 (UTC) [reply ]

Mainstream reflects popularity not a specific medical practice

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The article creates false dichotomies between broadly applied and innovative practices. No critique of pharmaceutical practices is provided (i.e., what works in highly controlled clinical trials may be far less efficacious in the "real world"). A more helpful start to this topic might first parse medical care for acute and chronic physical injury and disease, mental and behavioral trauma and progressive illness, and personalized genetic functionality and dysfunction. This said, indivifual situations might reflect a combination of physical, behavioral, and genetic issues thereby calling for a combinatorial approach. BlueSkiesRI (talk) 11:00, 11 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]

No. 208.87.236.180 (talk) 00:47, 24 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
If you think you can improve the article then find useful sources and then make use of theWikipedia:BOLD, revert, discuss cycle. Cheers 22FatCats (talk) 09:21, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
Added references will not ballance the bias in the entre. An implicitclaim is made that alternative and complementary care is ineffective. BlueSkiesRI (talk) 10:05, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
There is no a priori assumption that CAM is ineffective. But if a CAM approach is shown to be effective, it is no longer CAM, it becomes mainstream medicine. tgeorgescu (talk) 10:16, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
Mainstream likr 5NP acuponcture for managing withdrawal ? An assumption must be made that a treatment may be effective before it is declared to be ineffective. There are areas of treatment where safety and egficacy have been demonstrated under controlled vonditions. Behavioral health is an underserved aspect of mainstream healthcare. BlueSkiesRI (talk) 11:31, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
Acupuncture is neither mainstream nor effective. See Acupuncture. --Hob Gadling (talk)
If you cannot improve the article within the framework of Wikipedia rules, then you cannot improve the article; you are in the wrong place and should go to a forum instead. --Hob Gadling (talk) 12:17, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
November 30, 2023
Efficacy and Safety of Auricular Acupuncture for DepressionA Randomized Clinical Trial
Daniel Maurício de Oliveira Rodrigues, PhD1,2,3; Paulo Rossi Menezes, MD, PhD1; Ana Elise Machado Ribeiro Silotto, BSc1,2; et alArtur Heps, BSc1; Nathália Martins Pereira Sanches, MD4; Mariana Cabral Schveitzer, PhD5; Alexandre Faisal-Cury, MD, PhD1
Author Affiliations Article Information
JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(11):e2345138. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.45138 BlueSkiesRI (talk) 13:41, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
You can find the guidelines for sourcing on medical topics at WP:MEDRS. This paper does not meet that standard. MrOllie (talk) 13:55, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
BlueSkiesRI, that's an odd choice. It shows safety but lack of efficacy.[1] It is also not suitable here as it does not pass muster as a MEDRS source. We prefer systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Our standards are higher than those used by medical journals. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 15:40, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]
OK. The rules of evidence preclude. I am through here. BlueSkiesRI (talk) 17:30, 28 August 2024 (UTC) [reply ]

Wiki Education assignment: Anthropology of Happiness

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This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 January 2025 and 15 April 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Lenasotirop45 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Lenasotirop45 (talk) 20:29, 6 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

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