MeSH Browser

MeSH Heading: Complementary Therapies
Tree Number(s): E02.190
Unique ID: D000529
RDF Unique Identifier: http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D000529
Annotation: General or unspecified; prefer specifics; not for "alternative health care delivery system" (= DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE) or specific health service.
Scope Note: Therapeutic practices which are not currently considered an integral part of conventional allopathic medical practice. They may lack biomedical explanations but as they become better researched some (PHYSICAL THERAPY MODALITIES; DIET; ACUPUNCTURE) become widely accepted whereas others (humors, radium therapy) quietly fade away, yet are important historical footnotes. Therapies are termed as Complementary when used in addition to conventional treatments and as Alternative when used instead of conventional treatment.
Entry Version: COMPLEMENTARY THER
Entry Term(s): Alternative Medicine; Alternative Therapies; Complementary Medicine; Complementary Therapy; Medicine, Alternative; Medicine, Complementary; Therapy, Alternative; Therapy, Complementary
Public MeSH Note: 2002; see ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE (1986-2001)
History Note: 2002(1986)
Date Established: 1986/01/01
Date of Entry: 2024/08/09
Revision Date: 2024/03/18

Allowable Qualifiers: adverse effects (AE)

classification (CL)

economics (EC)

education (ED)

ethics (ES)

history (HI)

instrumentation (IS)

legislation & jurisprudence (LJ)

methods (MT)

mortality (MO)

nursing (NU)

psychology (PX)

standards (ST)

statistics & numerical data (SN)

trends (TD)

veterinary (VE)

Concept UI: M0381156
Scope Note: Therapeutic practices which are not currently considered an integral part of conventional allopathic medical practice. They may lack biomedical explanations but as they become better researched some (PHYSICAL THERAPY MODALITIES; DIET; ACUPUNCTURE) become widely accepted whereas others (humors, radium therapy) quietly fade away, yet are important historical footnotes. Therapies are termed as Complementary when used in addition to conventional treatments and as Alternative when used instead of conventional treatment.
Terms: Complementary Therapies Preferred Term
Term UI T001607
Date03/01/1995
LexicalTag NON
ThesaurusID NLM (1996); Complementary Therapy
Term UI T001143370
Date03/18/2024
LexicalTag NON
ThesaurusID NLM (2025); Therapy, Complementary
Term UI T001608
Date03/01/1995
LexicalTag NON
ThesaurusID NLM (1996)

Complementary Therapies MeSH Descriptor Data 2025