Alternative and complementary therapies, or holistic therapies, are becoming more common in the healthcare of older individuals (Okoro et al., 2011; McLaughlin et al., 2012). First, let us define the terms we often read with this topic. ‘Holistic’ therapies emphasize the mind and the body working together to bring about the desired effect. For example, in tai chi, patients are told to bring their attention to a spot just below the umbilicus and drop their minds into their bodies like sand in an hourglass, and then lead their movement from that place. Mind and body working together, with the breath coordinated in a specific way, is the mark of a ‘holistic’ therapy.

The term ‘alternative’ refers to a therapy that is not known to be part of allopathic medicine, nor is it listed as a therapeutic measure in traditional ‘gold standards’ of care. The therapy is an alternative to standard care. An example would be when a patient turns to acupuncture for pain relief rather than taking acetaminophen. The term ‘complementary’ refers to a therapy that, again, is not part of standard allopathic regimens, but is used ‘in addition to’ standard care rather than replacing the care, so it ‘complements’ the care. This happens, for example, when physical therapists utilize John F. Barnes’s method (sustained release) of myofascial release as a way of preparing a person’s soft tissue for traditional exercise programs (Barnes, 1990, 2009). ‘Integrative’ therapy is a term used when traditional and holistic therapies are closely interwoven in care, integrated to the point that non-traditional and traditional methods flow together. As more holistic therapies become validated by the traditional gold standard randomized controlled trial, they are being integrated more smoothly into comprehensive care programs. Many hospitals have begun including wellness and prevention programs that integrate tai chi, yoga and Pilates as part of their outpatient clinics’ group exercise programs.

Whether alternative, complementary or integrative is used, there is another, more profound, definition of holistic therapies that has to do with a theory about how they work. This author most commonly uses the term ‘complementary’ therapies when referring to those therapies that are not listed as standard for allopathic care, but integrate the mind and the body together in their action, thus are ‘holistic’. The difference is that they have as their basic goal to unblock body energy that is not flowing freely, for whatever reason, and therefore the body/mind is hindered from healing itself, or self-regulating (Han, 2007).

Fundamental to this viewpoint is the belief that body and mind cannot be separated, and that all cells of the body vibrate naturally for their own healing. This natural vibration is facilitated by the flow of a vital energy (or ch’i), and this natural state of healing flow can be interrupted by injury, toxins or imbalances, causing the body energy or chi to become blocked, to not flow smoothly. When this happens, the body/mind becomes vulnerable to bacterial and viral invasion, endocrine imbalance (diabetes, depression) and loss of self-regulation that insures proper pH, body temperature and pituitary function. The goal is to restore the flow of chi so the body can once again heal itself, or self-regulate.

Controversy over the use of holistic therapies relates to the resistance of some practitioners to using any therapy that has not been proven efficacious by traditional randomized controlled trial (Harris, 2001). However, many alternative and complementary therapies arise from an Eastern philosophy in contrast to Western Cartesian and Newtonian thought. Traditional or mechanistic therapies, based on the physics of Isaac Newton, aim to ‘fix what is broken’. Reliability and validity of traditional therapies are proven by randomized trials that can replicate the efficacy of an approach when the same outcome is observed within a variety of patients using the same process over and over.

Complementary therapies restore balance or homeostasis by removing blocks to the flow of bioelectric body energy. They do not lend themselves readily to validation by research methods that count on replication of the exact process. A subject’s energy pattern and flow will change as it is impacted by the energy of the examiner. Thus, for example, a therapist placing her hands under the cranium of a patient to feel the craniosacral rhythm will impact that rhythm with her own energy that is emitted from her hands in the process. A second therapist attempting to validate the flow of the craniosacral rhythm at the feet will also be observing the flow of the patient and his energy flow. To then try to attempt interrater reliability between the two therapists with the patient’s energy as that which is constant becomes an impossibility, as was shown by Rogers et al. (1998).

Traditional mechanistic science or reductionism has its roots in the early 17th century. The philosopher René Descartes claimed that the best way to elevate and organize the search for truth would be to eliminate that which could not be observed with the five senses. All that could not be seen was to be ignored, and only that which could be measured and experienced was suitable in the scientific search for cause and effect. Later, Sir Isaac Newton developed the theory of gravity, outlined mathematical rules of physics and described the theories upon which contemporary science is based. From this foundation the randomized controlled trial has its base as a way of insuring the experimental variable is, indeed, causing the outcome, and not chance, or ‘placebo’ (Davis, 2009).

In the early 1900s, Einstein suggested another way of viewing reality based on his understanding of the behavior of subatomic particles. Subsequently, quantum physics and systems theory (from biology) formed the basis for the theoretical foundation of holism, a concept that attempts to describe the outcomes of alternative and complementary therapies (Davis, 2009). Holism as a concept is based on current knowledge of molecules, atoms and electron behavior, and states that it is no longer useful to regard humans solely as machines that can be fully understood simply by reducing the whole and analyzing the parts. The uniqueness and challenge of the human organism lies in how it is organized and how the parts interact and exchange information. Atoms, their electrons and other subatomic particles provide the basis of wave theory, bioelectromagnetism, energy and thus the flow of chi (Oschman, 2000; Davis, 2009).

Holism focuses on balance and integration of all interacting elements of the system. Information inherent in the organization of a system gets lost in the separation of the parts (Schwartz & Russek, 1997). The whole is more than simply the sum of the parts. For example, no matter how thoroughly one studies hydrogen and oxygen, one cannot understand water from that study. When two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom come together to form water, their electrons not only share orbits, but also they share information that results in formation of the new system, the new substance. Information sharing is the key to electron flow. All systems ‘work’ by way of electrons sharing information.

A variety of complementary therapies have been found to be useful for all people, and particularly in caring for older people. Generally, each of these therapies aims to increase the flow of healthy bioelectric energy and, as a result, restore balance or homeostasis in the mind/body and restore information flow that facilitates the body’s natural state of wholeness and healing (Davis, 2009).