Bioelectromagnetic therapy is the study of the human biologic effects of electromagnetic fields. This would include the study of strong ionizing fields, but also weak fields. Examples of this type of treatment would include the use of electric or magnetic fields to help heal nonunion bone fractures, pain reduction by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), and treatment of anxiety by transcranial electrical stimulation. The effects of acupuncture, homeopathy, and "laying on of hands", may be related to bioelectric field interactions.

According to William Teller, PhD, professor emeritus, Stanford University Department of Material Sciences, "For most of this century, science and medicine have seen health as being dependent upon the balance of body chemistry and the functioning of physical structures. However, attempts to treat illness and imbalances chemically often lead to unwanted side effects or the body becoming insensitive to the chemicals." Because of this, many physicians in the complementary health field have looked beyond drug-based therapies towards energy medicine.

Many of the diagnostic tools used today incorporate principles of energy medicine including the EKG, EEG, EMG and MRI. Energy medicine or bioenergetic medicine refers to therapies that use an energy field, whether it is electrical, magnetic, sonic, acoustic, microwave, infrared, or other, to screen for or treat health conditions by detecting imbalances in the body's energy field and then attempting to correct them. It is felt by practitioners of energy medicine that imbalances in the body occur first in the bioenergetic fields and secondarily in the chemical and structural areas of the body. Bioenergetic practitioners believe that the earliest preventative therapies will be bioenergetic in nature.