Many different fields make up the practice of complementary and alternative medicine.
Traditional alternative medicine has been practiced for centuries worldwide. Healing by touch is based on the idea that illness or injury located in one area of the body can affect all parts of the body. If, with manual manipulation, the other parts can be brought back to optimum health, the body can concentrate on healing at the site of injury or illness without distraction. Nutritional excess and nutritional deficiency have become problems in today's society, both leading to certain chronic diseases. Many dietary and herbal approaches attempt to balance the body's nutritional well-being.