Complementary and Alternative Medicines: Knowledge in Practice

Until recently, complementary medical knowledge has generally been treated as 'marginal' or 'heterodox' knowledge. However, the rise of complementary medicine within health-care systems has signalled the end of its marginal status. With this have come concerns about how knowledge is generated within complementary therapies; what kind of authority can be accorded to such knowledge; the nature of research agendas; what ideas and skills are central to training and how they are transmitted. This book examines these concerns in relation to a range of healing practices; acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic, reflexology, Chi Kung, herbalism and osteopathy. The contributors to bring sociological, anthropological and practitioner perspectives to the growing debate about the future of complementary medicine.