Alternative therapies are lucrative business, irrespective of their effectiveness. A sign of this is with the growth in Internet searches for such remedies.
New research has revealed the top ten most popular forms of alternative medicines and therapies used across the U.S. In all, 31 million searches made between May 2021 – April 2022. These data suggest the therapies that are most heavily favoured by U.S. citizens.
Health experts at NiceRx have carried out research to reveal the most popular forms of alternative medicines and therapies, as well as the states using these forms the most and least.
The top ten most popular forms of alternative medicines and therapies are:
| Rank | Alternative Medicines and Therapies | Number of Google Searches (USA) |
| 1 | Chiropractic | 9,400,000 |
| 2 | Acupuncture | 3,884,000 |
| 3 | Gua sha | 3,352,000 |
| 4 | Fasting | 3,239,000 |
| 5 | Chakra | 3,017,000 |
| 6 | Reflexology | 2,045,000 |
| 7 | Reiki | 1,950,000 |
| 8 | Feng Shui | 1,650,000 |
| 9 | Massage therapy | 1,630,000 |
| 10 | Thai massage | 1,591,000 |
The research revealed that across the U.S. chiropractic takes top spot with over 9 million searches between May 2021 – April 2022. This is notwithstanding there being little evidence that this therapy can help people with more serious conditions or problems not affecting the muscles or joints, such as asthma, allergies and mental health problems. Because of the uncertainty over the effectiveness of the approach for muscles and joints, chiropractic is not widely available from many state supported healthcare systems.
Second on the list is acupuncture, which is a treatment derived from ancient Chinese medicine. Fine needles are inserted at certain sites in the body for therapeutic or preventative purposes. In third place is gua sha, which is an alternative therapy that involves scraping your skin with a massage tool to improve your circulation. It can lead to bruising or discoloration and the evidence for its effectiveness is limited.
Within the data sets there are some interesting patterns. For example, people living in Hawaii are using alternative medicines and therapies the most. Between May 2021 – April 2022 there were 1,925 searches carried out per 10,000 people, which is more than any other state.
In contrast, those residing in Georgia are using alternative medicines and therapies the least, if Internet search data is reflective of usage rates. Between the same time period, people in Georgia carried out 103 searches per 100,000 people, which is over 1,800 less than Hawaii.
