Complementary Medicine

Last update: 28 September 2009,
by Maureen Bell

I've divided this page into two sections. The first provides you with some tips on searching for material on Medline, and the second provides links to other web resources.

Searching Medline

Remember that Medline has a Thesaurus of terms - MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), a controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles in Medline. MeSH terminology provides a consistent way to retrieve information where authors may use different terminology for the same concepts.

You will find material on this subject in Medline, but you will need to be aware of the thesaurus (MeSH) terms used to search for the various topics. The term complementary therapies has an extensive number of more specific terms associated with it, and you can see these listed in the MeSH database.

MeSH - Complementary Therapies

Many topics in MeSH have hierarchies of more specific subcategories or related terms. The indentations in the lists reflect the structure of the hierarchy, and the + signs at the end of terms indicate that there is a further hierarchy of terms not displayed here. Any of these terms can be searched individually, or you can "explode" terms to search sections of the list.

Try using the search structure below for finding articles on acupuncture therapy and headache.

COMBINE

Acupuncture Therapy (MeSH Term)

AND

Headache (MeSH Term)
Pain in the cranial region that may occur as an isolated and benign symptom or as a manifestation of a wide variety of conditions including SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE; CRANIOCEREBRAL TRAUMA; CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM INFECTIONS; INTRACRANIAL HYPERTENSION; and other disorders. In general, recurrent headaches that are not associated with a primary disease process are referred to as HEADACHE DISORDERS (e.g., MIGRAINE).

PubMed Search Formulation

acupuncture therapy[majr] AND headache[majr] AND english[lang]

This search strategy uses the headings acupuncture therapy and headache. The section in the square brackets includes majr - which focuses the search on articles where the subject is a major issue in the article. The search is then limited to articles which are in English.

PubMed's default setting is to "explode" all terms, and so this search will include all the subcategories of acupuncture therapy listed below.

Acupressure
Acupuncture Analgesia
Acupuncture, Ear
Electroacupuncture
Meridians +
Moxibustion

Click here to see how it works. PubMed Search.

PubMed also has a number of subsets which allow searches to be limited by subject. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and The National Library of Medicine (NLM) have partnered to create CAM on PubMed, a special subset of the NLM's PubMed You simply create your search strategy, and add the subset at the end. For example

osteoarthritis AND cam [sb]

Other Sources

Alternative Medicine Foundation - Information Resource Guides
The Alternative Medicine Foundation is a nonprofit organization, founded in March 1998 to provide responsible and reliable information about alternative medicine to the public and health professionals.

The Alternative Medicine Homepage
This page is maintained by the Falk Library of the Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh.

Australian Traditional-Medicine Society
Information about a variety of approaches used in traditional medicine.

CAM on PubMed ( Complementary Medicine Subset Strategy)
This strategy was created to facilitate searching for subjects in the area of complementary and alternative medicine on PubMed. (It's very easy to use!)

Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States
Committee on the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by the American Public. Washington D.C., National Academies Press, 2005.

eBMJ -- Collected Resources: Complementary Medicine
A collection of articles on this subject from the BMJ.

eCMAJ -- Collected Resources : Other Complementary Medicine & Alternative Therapies
A collection of articles on this subject from the CMAJ Canadian Medical Association Journal.

eMJA: Articles on Complementary Medicine
A collection of articles on this subject from the Medical Journal of Australia.

Enhancing the Accountability of Alternative Medicine
A report by the Milbank Memorial Fund, January 1998.

Health Report - Alternative Medicine
Transcripts from Radio National's Health Report, with Norman Swan.

MEDLINEplus: Complementary and Alternative Medicine
MEDLINEplus: Herbal Medicine
MEDLINEplus is the National Library of Medicine's consumer health information portal. Lists of links are evaluated/reviewed/quality-filtered.

NOAH: Complementary and Alternative Medicine
New York Online Access to Health (NOAH) is a project that brings together four New York partners who have worked together on a variety of projects for 26 years: The City University of New York, The Metropolitan New York Library Council, The New York Academy of Medicine and The New York Public Library. This link is to the complementary medicine section of their huge site.

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - NCCAM - National Institutes of Health - NIH
The Congressional mandate establishing the NCCAM in 1998 stated that the Center's purpose is to "facilitate the evaluation of alternative medical treatment modalities" to determine their effectiveness. The mandate also provides for a public information clearinghouse and a research training program.

University of Washington Medicinal Herb Garden
Database of medicinal herbs by botanical names and common names. Images of herbs are available as well as links to Medline literature on the herb.

WholeHealthMD the source for Alternative medicine, Complementary medicine, Integrative medicine
This is a well designed site with information provided by physicians and alternative medicine practitioners.

Yuthog Foundation for Tibetan Medicine
This site includes a virtual library of links to Tibetan medicine resources.