The document defines complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and discusses several CAM modalities. It describes CAM as non-traditional practices used together with or in place of conventional medicine. Several CAM therapies are then outlined, including alternative medical systems like traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, mind-body interventions such as meditation and hypnosis, biologically based therapies like herbalism, and body-based methods including massage, chiropractic, and hydrotherapy. Reasons people use CAM and considerations for nurses are also presented.