The variety of such therapies now on offer is bewilderingly large, ranging from practices such as shoujing, which have a long popular tradition behind them, to current fads like urine therapy, navel therapy or colonics, to methods such as acupuncture that are seen in the West as alternative therapies, but in fact are staples of traditional Chinese medicine.
但是，時序邁入二十一世紀後，不論在民間具有長期傳統的收驚，或時下風行的尿療、燻臍、大腸水療，又或者在歐美被視為另類、其實是傳統中醫外治法的針灸、推拿、按摩指壓等等，從單純減肥到治療絕症，另類療法已多如過江之鯽，讓人眼花撩亂，更釀成許多意外事件。