Mainstream medicine in Madison has embraced alternative medicine — to a point.

Most of the alternative remedies offered are acupuncture, massage and other body work backed by solid evidence or carrying low risks. Doctors try to make sure herbs and supplements patients may be taking don’t interfere with drugs, surgery or other conventional treatments.

“We’re not having patients walk on hot coals,” said Dr. Nancy Selfridge, chief of complementary medicine at Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin.

Controversial treatments such as chelation therapy, a technique to rid the body of toxins, are not offered because they are risky and not supported by evidence, Selfridge said.

Group Health, an HMO that opened a Complementary Medicine and Wellness Center in 2005, pays for half of the center’s services, up to $750 a year, for its members.

UW Health started an Integrative Medicine program in 2001. The university’s Research Park Clinic started offering remedies such as acupuncture, massage, healing touch and Feldenkreis, a movement therapy, said Dr. David Rakel, the program director.

The program has expanded to the university’s cancer center. Acupuncture and ginger are offered to reduce chemotherapy-related nausea, and massage therapy can help lymph node drainage after breast cancer surgery, Rakel said.

Similar services are now also available at UW Health’s Odana Atrium Clinic, he said.

UW-Madison has received millions of dollars from the National Institutes of Health to study alternative treatments, Rakel said.

A $1.4 million grant paid for a study of whether echinacea, an herb from the coneflower plant, or an enhanced doctor visit can reduce the severity of the common cold. Preliminary results suggest both can help, Rakel said.

A $6 million grant awarded last year created the Wisconsin Center on the Neuroscience and Psychophysiology of Meditation at the university to expand research on meditation and the brain by scientist Richard Davidson.

Rakel said some alternative treatments are backed by rigorous research and others aren’t, but that’s no different than with conventional therapies.

“There are plenty of medications we use that have a lot of potential harm with very little chance of gain,” he said. “But we make money off drugs. We don’t make money off healing touch.”

Dr. Paul Reber, vice president for clinical excellence at Dean Health System, said Dean offers several classes in the Madison area on yoga, massage and other forms of body work.

Chiropractic services have recently started at the Dean-St. Mary’s clinic on St. Mary’s Hospital campus, a first for a Dean clinic, Reber said.

Many alternative therapies, including neurofeedback, hypotherapy and aromatherapy, are available through Dean’s clinic in Lake Delton, he said.

Dean is looking at expanding its alternative medicine offerings in Madison, Reber said.

“Our goal is to help our patients get better,” he said. “Sometimes that’s medications. Sometimes that’s surgery. Sometimes that complementary therapies.”