"Alternative medicine" is a collective term for therapies that do not belong to the modern scientific medicine. Often the terms "naturopathy," "Gentle medicine" or "holistic medicine" are used. The alternative medicine has a long tradition. Its roots lie in folk healing and healing way by primitive peoples. The human being is considered in the alternative medicine as a unity of body, mind and soul. He can recover only if all three components are in harmony. The individual organs are not considered in isolation but in relationship with each other set, which also plays an essential role in the diagnosis.

The alternative medicine includes not only herbal medicine and manual therapy only, but it also involves astrological, energetic and spiritual perspectives in the treatment with one. Well-known examples are the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the Indian shamanism. With the progressive development of modern medicine and pharmacology, alternative medicine came from the end of the 18th Century, more and more into the background. Only in the eighties of the last century have been rediscovered and naturalistic treatment are increasingly accepted. The alternative medicine is often used to accompany the traditional medical treatment.

Many orthodox medicine untreatable or chronically ill patients seek help in natural medicine and can report excellent healing results. Successful natural healing methods in obstetrics and in paediatrics are used. Also in veterinary medicine is taken more often on natural health back. In many natural treatment methods are offered as a preventive health or the term "wellness". This concerns in particular the manual therapies like massage, but also fasting, special diets and relaxation techniques. To alternative medicine continue to include therapies such as acupuncture, homeopathy, Bach flower therapy, Schuessler salts, hypnosis, Ausleitungsverfahren, autologous blood therapy, reflexology therapy and oriental massages like Shiatsu. In the field of alternative medicine are also various methods of diagnosis, including specific blood tests, kinesiology studies, iris and diagnostics segment. One of the most famous healers in the Middle Ages was the physician Paracelsus, who dealt extensively with alchemy and healing achieved remarkable successes. Doctors also were Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, Edward Bach, who developed the Bach Flower Therapy, and William Schuessler, the discoverer, named after him Schuessler salts. Special procedures naturopathic and holistic nutrition were known to be developed by Father Sebastian Kneipp and the abbess Hildegard of Bingen.

These procedures and findings are still used unchanged. Based on the traditional herbal medicine in the modern pharmaceutical industry has developed.

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