A survey released today by the National Institutes of Health found that 42.8 percent of American women use some form of complementary or alternative medicine, compared to 33.5 percent of men. In other words about four in 10 U.S. adults and one in nine children are turning to unconventional medical approaches for chronic pain and other health problems.

Kids are five times as likely to try unconventional therapies if their parents also use them, according to the survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NIH, which included 23,393 adults and 9,417 children. About 38% of adults have used complementary and alternative medicine in the past year, the study shows.

"It's clear that millions of American every year are turning to complementary and alternative medicine," said Richard L. Nahin of the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which released the survey. "The use of complementary and alternative medicine seems to have stabilized in the United States."

Vitamin and mineral supplements were not counted as alternative medicine, nor were folk medicine practices or religious healing. The government's report focused on 36 diverse products and practices, such as herbal and other nonvitamin supplements, meditation, chiropractic and acupuncture that are not generally considered to be part of conventional medicine.

The most common supplements used by adults are fish oil/omega 3/DHA, glucosamine, echinacea, flaxseed oil or pills, and ginseng. The most popular alternative techniques are deep breathing exercises, meditation, chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation, massage and yoga, the survey found. Moreover adults use complementary and alternative medicine most often to treat pain, including back pain, neck pain or problems, joint pain, arthritis, and other musculoskeletal conditions.