Alternative/Complementary etc.

There is much argument and posturing over nomenclature in the world of alternative medicine, just as in many other walks of life. Much time and energy are frittered away in such controversy. This page may be a little tongue-in-cheek but it makes a point that must be made. Words are not everything, names mean even less. It is deeds that count.

The term Holistic Medicine (or holistic veterinary medicine) applies to an approach to the patient and to medicine that embraces the concept of interconnectedness, of microcosms within macrocosms and that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. No part of the body can be considered in isolation and no patient can be considered apart from environment, lifestyle and management. Usually, more than one approach is necessary to cover all aspects of a case. It is described in more detail on the page with that title. It is not so much about which particular branch of medicine is practised but more about how it is approached and practised. For this reason, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbalism and other medicine systems can be holistic. Even modern conventional medicine can be practised in a holistic manner although the mode of application of the medicines strays a little from the holistic concept. Really, it is a matter of using 'joined-up thinking'.

The term Alternative Medicine* (or alternative veterinary medicine) might imply that the medicine is used 'instead of' or as an 'alternative' to something else. If one specifies that something may be used instead of modern conventional medicine, in certain cases, then it is clearly an alternative! People sometimes become hung-up on the notion that those who offer 'alternatives' do so to the absolute exclusion of conventional medicines and of conventional diagnosis and care. At the AVMC, while we offer clients and patients an alternative to what has gone before, we do not reject or fail to consider conventional medicine or diagnostic methodology and would not hesitate to recommend it or to use it, should it prove necessary. Since homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine and others can offer very real and credible alternatives to conventional therapy, they can rightly be labelled 'alternative'. The AVMC is so-called because it offers a real alternative to general veterinary practice, in that it offers a different view, different prognosis, different emphasis and different tools. (N.B.: One should be careful, in using the term 'alternative', that one does not authorise, canonise or enshrine a procedure that cannot be supported. An example is talking about alternatives to animal experiments, as if animal experiments have a value in the first place. We should not seek for 'alternatives to animal experiments' as they are flawed science in the first place and should simply be abolished).

The term Natural Medicine (or natural veterinary medicine) implies that it is part of nature and occurs in the natural world, rather than being man-made. Herbal medicine earns this appellation with little argument (so long as it is unadulterated and not using extracts of supposed 'active ingredients'). Homeopathy often uses natural substances but they are usually 'potentised', rendering them more 'man-made'. It may, nonetheless, justifiably still be called 'natural', when using these. It also uses many 'potentised' man-made chemicals in its armoury, which cannot be called 'natural'. Acupuncture is far from 'natural', unless of course one classes the healing response by the body as a 'natural' process. Tissue Salts, Aromatherapy, Bach Flowers and Crystals can justifiably be classed as 'natural'. Chiropractic, Osteopathy and Physiotherapy are arguable.

The term Complementary Medicine (or complementary veterinary medicine) is something hatched up by those who would insist that the only valid form of medicine is modern conventional medicine, while all others must only act in support of it or 'complementary' to it. It is also used defensively by some practitioners of alternative medicine therapies to palliate criticism by way of apologia. In such contexts, it is anything but 'complimentary' (note spelling)! However, one may forget that conventional medicine may act in a 'complementary' role to, say, homeopathy or acupuncture, when used in support of homeopathic treatment or acupuncture treatment. The term 'complementary' really, therefore, applies to the mode of employment of the medicine, not to the system of medicine itself. Physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy, however, are not systems of medicine in their own right and can therefore only ever act in a 'complementary' or 'supportive' role in the treatment of disease.

The terms 'Complementary and Alternative Medicine' (CAM) and its veterinary counterpart 'Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine' (CAVM) have been used to try to cover all bases, mostly in the USA.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". (Romeo & Juliet: Act II, Scene II).

Actually, we DON'T CARE whether we are called holistic vets, natural vets, alternative vets, complementary vets, homeopathic vets, acupuncture vets, herbal vets, chiropractic vets or what. Let's just get back to the work of helping animals and stop the bickering over terminology!

At the AVMC, however, we do take serious issue with those commercial interests who market products with 'natural' connotations, when they are, in reality, far from 'natural'.

N.B. Many of the therapies are restricted to use by a fully-qualified veterinary surgeon (Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966). On this site, each page describing a therapy has a note, explaining this.

The US has the most thorough definition (of Alternative Medicine).

A recent European Commission report says the accepted definition in the US is: "A broad domain of healing resources that encompass all health systems, modalities and practices, and their accompanying theories and beliefs, other than those intrinsic to the politically dominant health system of a particular society or culture in a given historical period.

"It includes all such products and ideas self defined by their users as preventing or treating illness or promoting health and well-being.

"Boundaries within complementary and alternative medicine and between complementary and alternative medicine and the domain of the dominant system are not always sharp or fixed."

Biographic detail: Christopher Day, practising at the Alternative Veterinary Medicine Centre, is a holistic vet (homeopathic vet, acupuncture vet, herbal vet, chiropractic vet, alternative vet, natural vet or complementary vet) of 37 years experience in holistic and natural medicine, especially homeopathy. The AVMC was the first dedicated holistic veterinary practice (or alternative veterinary practice) in the UK, founded in 1987, in Stanford in the Vale, Oxfordshire, England.

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