How many US adults use alternative therapies such as meditation, yoga, massage, chiropractic care or acupuncture, which are most common, how much has use grown since 2002, and how many users turn to them for pain? NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) answered all four with National Health Interview Survey data in a 2024 JAMA analysis. NIH calls these “complementary health approaches”; the old version of this page called them alternative therapies.
The 2022 answer
In 2022, 36.7% of US adults used at least one of seven complementary health approaches, more than 1 in 3 (our arithmetic). In 2002, 19.2% of US adults did. The seven are meditation, yoga, chiropractic care, massage therapy, guided imagery or progressive muscle relaxation, acupuncture and naturopathy. One person can use several, so the figures below do not add up to the total.
Which approaches are most common?
Shares of all US adults who used each approach in 2022:
- Meditation: 17.3% of US adults, the most used of the seven.
- Yoga: 15.8% of US adults.
- Chiropractic care: 11.0% of US adults.
- Massage therapy: 10.9% of US adults.
- Guided imagery or progressive muscle relaxation: 6.4% of US adults.
- Acupuncture: 2.2% of US adults.
- Naturopathy: 1.3% of US adults.
Chiropractic care and massage therapy are 0.1 percentage point apart (our arithmetic), so neither clearly leads (our inference). The two most common in 2022 involve sitting still or stretching, a quieter list than the old version of this page suggested.
How use has changed since 2002
Yoga had the largest increase of the seven in percentage points: 5.0% of US adults used it in 2002 and 15.8% in 2022. Meditation went from 7.5% of US adults in 2002 to 17.3% in 2022. Massage therapy went from 4.8% of US adults to 10.9% over the same years.
The survey also asked in 2012, but its chiropractic and meditation questions that year were worded too differently to compare, so this page uses 2002 and 2022.
How many use them for pain?
These figures have a different base: people who used an approach, not all adults. Among US adults who used any of the seven, 49.2% used them for pain management in 2022, up from 42.3% in 2002.
- Among people who used chiropractic care in 2022, 85.7% used it for pain management, the highest of the seven.
- Among people who used acupuncture, 72.8% used it for pain.
- Among people who used massage therapy, 53.4% used it for pain.
- Among people who practiced yoga, 28.8% used it for pain management.
- Among people who used meditation, 18.3% used it for pain.
How the numbers were gathered
The National Health Interview Survey is a nationally representative household survey, done in person and by phone. The researchers age standardized every estimate to the 2010 US population, so the survey years can be compared. The survey’s response rate fell from 74.3% in 2002 to 49.6% in 2022. The authors list that drop, possible recall bias, the cross-sectional design and changes in question wording as limits of the study.
The short version
In 2022, 36.7% of US adults used at least one of seven complementary health approaches, up from 19.2% in 2002, with meditation (17.3%) and yoga (15.8%) the most common. Among adults who used any of the seven, 49.2% used them for pain management in 2022.
Last checked: 2026-10-20, against NCCIH’s National Health Interview Survey 2022 pages and the 2024 JAMA research letter they draw on. This article was machine-checked against the sources above and has not been expert-reviewed. Spotted an error or a newer public figure? Please tell us on our contact page with the article link and we will review it.
Sources
- S1 National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH), “National Health Interview Survey 2022” and its graph pages on the use of complementary health approaches, overall and for pain, 2002 and 2022. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/research/national-health-interview-survey-2022 . Saved copy accessed Oct 20, 2026.
- S2 Nahin RL, Rhee A, Stussman B. “Use of Complementary Health Approaches Overall and for Pain Management by US Adults.” JAMA, 2024;331(7):613 to 615. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.26775 . PubMed Central copy (PMC10811586), saved copy accessed Oct 20, 2026.