Certainly, these types of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) won't be the central basis of your practice or clinical decision making for the reasons the previous posters have mentioned. However, being what we call an evidenced-based practitioners, we take into account not only what the research says, but also the expertise of the therapist and the values and perspectives of the patient. If you're patient is benefitting from some of these CAM therapies, then why not integrate meditation or relaxation techniques into your plan of care for a patient. Many CAM therapies have been found to be beneficial for a variety of patient populations, e.g. oncology, in terms of improving quality of life. This goes without saying that you need to be careful as what you term "physical therapy" and what constitutes as your scope of practice. CAM therapies are just that--they are complementary to physical therapy.
As a practicing clinician, I have integrated elements CAM into my practice. Not too long ago, we categorized spinal manipulation (part of "chiropractic medicine"), biofeedback, visual/guided imagery, etc. as CAMs, but are now elements of physical therapy practice. I'm not quick to disregard CAMs, as they can have a part to play in the recovery process of many of our patients.
