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Definition Page:

"CAM"

CAM -- an acronym for "Complimentary and Alternative Medicine." The term is widely used to define a therapy or medicinal modalities which are not established or widely accepted in the orthodox medical community as defined in the West. (Many CAM approaches, such as TCM, ayurveda, or accupuncture ARE orthodox in THEIR countries of origin -- which only annunciates the myopic boundaries of the very term itself, which was created by the orthodox community in the U.S. as a pejorative term.) The National Center for CAM in NIH (National Institute of Health, in the U.S.) defines CAM's healing philosophies, approaches, and therapies used in addition to, or instead of, traditional treatments. Although this acronym is also used, medically, for cell adhesion molecule, usage readily determines the writer's application.