The United States agency that conducts scientific research into complementary and alternative medicines is the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health. The NCCAM monitors natural products like minerals, vitamins, probiotics, herbs and other botanicals, dietary supplements and amino acids. They also study mind and body practices like massage therapy, acupuncture, chiropractors, tai chi, yoga, qigong, meditation and other relaxation techniques.
Many of the techniques in alternative and complementary medicine are centuries old, including traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic practices and treatments, naturopathic medicine and homeopathic medicines.
A wide range of these non-traditional medicines and practices are given to children, including acupuncture, dietary supplements, and yoga. One study by the NCCAM claimed that nearly 12 percent of American children (defined as ages 4 to 17) had been given an alternative health product or undergone a complementary practice in the year before 2012, the date of the survey’s release. The alternative approaches were most often used for head or chest colds, back or neck pain, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and stress, and sleep issues.
Whether traditional medicine supports a particular treatment or medicine usually relies on whether studies have proven their efficacy. Often, a treatment that was skeptically greeted by traditional medicine may be embraced down the road when scientific support for its claims emerges. Even treatments where there is no full understanding of how or why it works - like acupuncture - may be embraced if its effectiveness is shown.