In 2004-05, the latest year for which figures are available, 3.8 per cent of the population (748,000 people) had consulted one of seven selected complementary health therapists in the two weeks before the ABC surveyed them, compared with 2.8 per cent in 1995.

The most popular therapists were chiropractors (433,000 patients), naturopaths (134,000) and acupuncturists (90,600), with osteopaths, herbalists, hypnotherapists and traditional healers making up the top seven categories.

The number of alternative medicine practitioners grew by 80 per cent, to 8600 health therapists, in the decade to 2006.

The leading occupations, gauged by number of practitioners, were naturopaths (up 56 per cent to 2980) and chiropractors (up 45 per cent to 2490), while the fastest-growing group was osteopaths, who trebled their number.

Although women make up just half the population, they accounted for 62 per cent of visitors to a complementary health professional in the previous two weeks.

According to Haisong Wang, who co-founded the Capital Health Centre, a traditional Chinese medicine clinic in Woden, the number of women visiting his clinic has continued to grow.

He said, ''At the moment the most common reason people come here is for IVF treatments: they want help with health and fertility. Then there are women coming for gynaecological reasons period problems and menopause is a big area.

''Nearly 70 per cent are female. Generally women seem to have a more open mind.''

Dr Wang said many of his male clients came to the clinic at the urging of female friends.

One of them, who gave his name simply as John, said he had undergone eight sessions of acupuncture so far to help cope with arthritis after having undergone three arthroscopes.

''If I had known about this treatment before, I probably wouldn't have had the operations,'' he said.

''You can't cure the arthritis, but you can prevent it getting too serious.''

John said a female friend had urged him to try acupuncture and he had never looked back.

Dr Wang said other common reasons people visited his clinic were to get help losing weight, quitting smoking and even beating drug and alcohol addictions.

''From the year 2001 to now, we haven't had to go out and get clients. People have come to us.

''From two people my brother and I we now have about 12 employees and two clinics.''

Dr Wang said people had become more accepting of other forms of medicine over time, and shared their experience with friends which had benefited his business.

The growth in popularity of alternative therapies was not at the cost of Western medicine. Thirty-two percent of people who had visited a complementary health therapist had also visited a Western doctor in the previous two weeks.