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History of alternative medicine — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alternative_medicine
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-10-06T09:00:08.576Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 37d1642ac86e0f87976a75270fc31e4dc6a597a2a3bdd055a0c1bf5405ed7d09
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History of alternative medicine — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alternative_medicine (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_de76cf8aeb95 (Metraipolis archive dc_de76cf8aeb95, sha256 37d1642ac86e0f87976a75270fc31e4dc6a597a2a3bdd055a0c1bf5405ed7d09)

BibTeX

@misc{dcde76cf8aeb95,
  title = {History of alternative medicine — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alternative_medicine},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_de76cf8aeb95; sha256 37d1642ac86e0f87976a75270fc31e4dc6a597a2a3bdd055a0c1bf5405ed7d09},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alternative_medicine. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

The history of alternative medicine covers the history of a group of diverse medical practices that were collectively promoted as "alternative medicine" beginning in the 1970s, to the collection of individual histories of members of that group, or to the history of western medical practices that were labeled "irregular practices" by the western medical establishment. It includes the histories of complementary medicine and of integrative medicine. "Alternative medicine" is a loosely defined and very diverse set of products, practices, and theories that are perceived by its users to have the healing effects of medicine, but do not originate from evidence gathered using the scientific method, are not part of biomedicine, or are contradicted by scientific evidence or established science. "Biomedicine" is that part of medical science that applies principles of anatomy, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, and other natural sciences to clinical practice, using scientific methods to establish the effectiveness of that practice. Much of what is now categorized as alternative medicine was developed as independent, complete medical systems, was developed long before biomedicine and use of scientific methods, and was developed in relatively isolated regions of the world where there was little or no medical contact with pre-scientific western medicine, or with each other's systems. Examples are traditional Chinese medicine, European humoral theory and the Ayurvedic medicine of India. Other alternative medicine practices, such as homeopathy, were developed in western Europe and in opposition to western medicine, at a time when western medicine was based on unscientific theories that were dogmatically imposed by western religious authorities. Homeopathy was developed prior to discovery of the basic principles of chemistry, which proved homeopathic remedies contained nothing but water. But homeopathy, with its remedies made of water, was harmless compared to the unscientific and dangerous orthodox western medicine practiced at that time, which included use of toxins and draining of blood, often resulting in permanent disfigurement or death. Other alternative practices such as chiropractic and osteopathy, were developed in the United States at a time that western medicine was beginning to incorporate scientific methods and theories, but the biomedical model was not yet fully established. Practices such as chiropractic and osteopathy, each considered to be irregular by the medical establishment, also opposed each other, both rhetorically and politically with licensing legislation. Osteopathic practitioners added the courses and training of biomedicine to their licensing, and licensed Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine holders began diminishing use of the unscientific origins of the field, and without the original practices and theories, osteopathic medicine in the United States is now considered the same as biomedicine. Until the 1970s, western practitioners that

Tema degli esploratori: storia e filosofia della scienza (deposito sistematico; ricerca «history of medicine»).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «History of alternative medicine» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alternative_medicine
Wikidata Q5867346 (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5867346
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alternative_medicine?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1374127706, consultata il 2026-10-06T08:21:13.346Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: db04bd0cc4ccf292d165f8c1ba87a9c15ae81fa11def46b05ecae6fab7727e92