The word “medicine” has changed in meaning over the course of history, but the central guiding principle behind the entire medical field is to actively promote the health and wellness of the body.

At Elizabethtown College, the science departments and core requirements foster respect for the scientific method and the practice of medicine. Underlying this, however, is theory—what is science, and how does it work?

In theory, if science is assumed to involve all of our reality, nothing is “unscientific,” because nothing exists outside of science. On the other side, this does not change the fact that science is constantly discovering new things and it is relentlessly self-critical. People should not say that being unscientific is bad, but that some things lack an accepted, scientific explanation. This is one criticism some people have of “alternative” medicine.

The absence of clear scientific evidence is relevant but does not change experience. It is impossible to prove the nonexistence of something.

“Alternative” medicine is not effectively promoted as an “alternative” most of the time. For example, reiki, transcendental meditation and homeopathy are not intended to be treated as an alternative to scientifically verifiable treatment.

According to associate professor of sociology at the College Dr. Michele Kozimor-King, “reiki is a form of Asian biofield medicine which is often misconstrued as an alternative therapy when it is, in fact, complementary. There is a big difference between those two approaches.”

Kozimor-King, a certified reiki master and teacher, goes on to mention that reiki—a twentieth century healing technique based on the channeling of universal life force (“qi” pronounced “chee”)—has been “scientifically shown to slow heart rate and initiate a relaxation response in the body.”

She says that such relaxation “has been demonstrated to have a positive effect on sleep, pain management, healing and mental health.”

Similar evidence has been widely disseminated among the transcendental meditation community. A study of over 40 peer-reviewed articles from sources such as the American Journal of Hypertension, the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality and Hypertension found that transcendental meditation practice is linked to major decrease in risk of heart attack and stroke, lower blood pressure, decrease in high cholesterol and reduction in atherosclerosis—the hardening and narowing of the arteries.

Neither science nor so-called “unscientific” practices are inherently good or bad. Medical practices can have shaky scientific ground and maintain obvious scientific validity in action. For all of the evidence that reiki, for instance, promotes such wellness, efforts to conclusively demonstrate the existence of qi have been unsuccessful.

According to advocates of complementary treatment like professor Kozimor-King, it would be inadvisable to forego other treatments for serious ailments in sole favor of complementary medicine. There are types of complementary medicine that are both non-scientific and harmful.

Some non-scientific practices like transcendental meditation and dianetics have become corporatized, compounding questions of business and profit ethics with personal health.

At the same time, a number of health practices with metaphysical underpinning have been shown to be symptomatically beneficial.

Chiropractic can be considered “alternative” medicine. Chiropractic is founded on the argument that manipulations of the spine could spiritually cure disease and illness. That does not alter the beneficial results many patients report after chiropractic treatment, especially for back and neck pain.

The investigation of truth has long been informed by perception. To call something a “truth” tends to be a result of interpretation, what we can know and experience as humans with perspective. In fields like art and philosophy, many consequences are theoretical. For these areas, subjectivity is often accepted in “truth.”

Sometimes, it could be useful to take inspiration from Dr. Paul Feyerabend, the late professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley: “Anything goes…the terrified reaction of a rationalist who takes a closer look at history.”

We can recognize at the same time that some things may work without a clear explanation, and that other things need further study.