ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a review of the various healing modalities. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, designated five major domains of complementary and alternative medical practices in 2006: alternative medical systems, mind–body interventions, biologically based treatments, manipulative and body-based methods, and energy therapies. Thermal therapies are used in conventional medicine, although some of them may be considered cutting-edge therapies. Laser surgery is a minimally invasive thermal therapy presently used to treat many different conditions. Microwave therapy has been used for 20 years, primarily in Russia and the Ukraine. The therapy is a nonionizing level of electromagnetic energy that is used at a nonthermal intensity, either pulsed or continuous. HeartMath therapy is a process of reducing stress and unwanted emotion by focusing on the heart to help restore equilibrium to the body.
