CHE_325_Module_Four_Short_Paper.docx CHE 325 Module Four: Complementary or Alternative

CHE_325_Module_Four_Short_Paper.docx    CHE 325 Module Four: Complementary or Alternative Medicine  Southern New Hampshire University  Complementary and alternative medicine, also known as CAM, is a term used for medical products and practices that are not a normal part of the standard of medical care. Standard medical care is practiced by doctors as well as other health professionals such as psychologists, nurses, and. Standard medicine is also referred to as biomedicine, orthodox, mainstream, Western, or regular medicine. Some of these standard medical care doctors are also practitioners of CAM.Complementary medicine, such as acupuncture, can be used alongside standard medical treatment for heart attacks and strokes however, it is not considered by itself to be standard treatment. Alternative medicine is used in place of standard medical treatment. (NIH, 2020).  A highly regarded form of complementary medicine used today is acupuncture. The theory and practice of acupunctureoriginated in China but was first recorded in documents dating back a few hundred years before the Common Era. Instead of using needles, they used sharpened stones or long sharp bones around 6000 BCE for acupuncture treatment. The theory of acupuncture is about how energy flows within the body and how this energy can be channeled to create health and balance. This energy flow, called qi (pronounced œchee), moves throughout the body along the main channels, or meridians, which represent the major organs and their specific functions. Ac