Frontier medicine is a type of complementary medicine that devotes its time to alternative treatments and procedures. It is stated that there is no biomedical explanation that can be understood. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) described this treatment as just that. The NCCAM is a section of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Gary Schwartz was one of the first people to get a grant from the NCCAM and set up the Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science (CFMBS). This center was designed to see how the different energies affected our bodies with a range of experiments. Studies by the NIH included bioelectromagnetic therapy which would consist of the different ways we could use therapy through electromagnetic fields, biofield which included things like energy touch, reiki, huna and Qi-Gong, homeopathy, and therapeutic prayer which had subsets of spiritual healing and distance healing.

Frontier medicine deals primarily with studies that cannot be spotted by modern medicinal techniques. This makes this type of thinking a theory that is on the borders of what is known and what is unknown, incorporating the energies that surround our body and no technology can detect.

Therapists have been commissioned by the governing bodies to research patients such as those with bone metabolism issues where therapeutic touch was used to help identify the problem and also help with the treatment of it. Many other illnesses and conditions have been addressed in a similar fashion at research centers around the world.

Because of the nature of some of the illnesses and conditions involved, it makes it fairly impossible to diagnose and sometimes, impossible for any kind of traditional medical treatment to play a role. This is where frontier thinking kicks in whereby studies are done and the energies are researched to find out an alternative way to treat patients.

Considering there has been little or no medical knowledge or evidence to show that frontier medicine is beneficial, it is considered an alternative treatment and must not be used as a replacement to tried and tested medical approaches. Patients are urged to seek advice from their doctors or physicians to undertake research and find out the best possible solution for them. Frontier medicine may work for some but may not work for others. There are also many other types of treatment available. Consult your doctor and look on the Internet for further information.