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Naturopathic medicine originated in the early 20th Century by a
group of therapists who believed in the healing power of nature. Based
on the belief of the body’s inherent ability to heal itself,
naturopathic medicine tries to stimulate health by facilitating the
body’s healing process through various measures. What makes
naturopathic medicine so distinctive is its integrative approach;
borrowing from many alternative medical practices, naturopathic
physicians are usually trained in conventional medicine and utilize
modern diagnostic equipment and level of care. In addition to treatment
of disease, naturopathic medicine also practices preventative care such
as nutrition modification and vitamin supplements.

There are
six underlying principles to naturopathic medicine which are said to
distinguish it from other disciplines and practices. The first concept
is that of the healing power of nature which is the belief in the
body’s capacity to heal itself and maintains that the role of the
naturopathic physician is to remove obstacles to healing and create a
healthy environment in which healing can occur. Secondly, naturopathic
medicine looks to identify and eliminate the cause of illness rather
than merely treating the symptoms. Symptoms are said to be indicators
of the body’s attempt to heal itself and should not be suppressed by
treatment, only by curing the cause. The next concept of “first do no
harm” is part of the Hippocratic oath taken upon receiving a medical
license, but in the case of naturopathic medicine, also applies to
suppressing symptoms in a sick patient which is thought to counter
effective treatment.

Next, naturopathic medicine
takes a holistic approach and examines all factors of an individual’s
environment, genetic makeup and emotional state. In order for the body
to heal itself effectively, an optimal state of mental and physical
comfort is important for the mind body connection. The fifth element of
naturopathic medicine is that the doctor acts as an educator; informing
and empowering patients to live the most healthy, well balanced life
possible. In this case, the doctor/patient relationship becomes more of
an effective mentorship, enabling a person to make better choices on a
daily basis. Lastly, prevention is the best cure according to the
principles of naturopathic medicine and a healthy lifestyle with the
elimination of serious risk factors is the first step to a long healthy
life.

Naturopathic medicine offers a discipline which
combines conventional medicine with alternative healing practices such
as homeopathy, acupuncture and nutrition therapy to provide a
multi-faceted approach to healthcare.

The medieval period or Middle Ages is generally used to refer to the
period of European history from 350 AD to 1450 characterized by the
growth of cities and towns mainly under the feudal system. The middle
ages were preceded by the fall of the Roman Empire as it spilt up into
many separate kingdoms and ended with the renaissance period’s many
contributions to the arts and humanities. This exponential growth in
the population of small areas, coupled with rudimentary sanitation
practices led to the spread of disease and an increasing need for
medical care among the citizens.

Medieval medicine
was largely based on religious principles and superstition and would
lead many people to prayers, pilgrimage or other signs of devotion for
the prevention and cure of injury or disease. The underlying concept of
the human form according to medieval medicine was derived from the
Romans’ view of the body as a component of the universe, much like the
earth itself, with specific elements to be balanced. The body fluids,
or “humors” according to medieval medicine, must be balanced in order
to maintain health as an imbalance could cause illness or even death.
Medieval medicine practitioners believed that an imbalance in a body’s
humor good be caused by anything from a wrathful god to being exposed
to a foul odor.

A common treatment in medieval
medicine to restore balance of the body fluids was “bloodletting” or
bleeding, thought to allow disease or illness to leave the blood. The
individual who generally performed such procedures was known as a
“barber” and traveled to different towns performing minor surgeries,
such as teeth pulling and the practice of bloodletting. The red and
white striped pole which is a familiar sight in front of barber shops
today originated with this practice of barbers as medieval medicine
practitioners.

Perhaps the most common event known
about medieval medicine was the Black Plague which swept throughout
Europe and Asia from 1347-51 claiming millions of lives. Thought to be
a punishment from God for a sinful existence, Black Plague had no cure
or effective treatment and claimed the lives of 1 in 3 Europeans.

Internal medicine is the practice of treating the whole person,
rather than only symptoms and is a comprehensive treatment often
dealing with disease of the internal organs and an attempt to cure
non-surgically. Internal medicine looks at the overall lifestyle,
nutrition habits, family history and possible risk factors of an
individual and may use nutrition and exercise modifications, coupled
with medical treatment, as a way of preventing and combating serious
illness.

Those who practice internal medicine are
often referred to as “internists” and have completed three years of
internal medicine training in addition to acquiring their medical
degree. General internists treat patients for ongoing wellness, minor
illness and serious disease. Many adults use an internist as their
primary care physician due to the overall holistic and integrative
health care provided. However, some doctors specialize in a sub-field
of internal medicine, which often deals solely with one of the major
organs or body functions. For instance, cardiologists are internists
who treat the heart while endocrinologists are specially trained in the
body’s glands and hormones and treat diseases related to their
malfunction. Internists are often consulted by other doctors for help
with particularly puzzling cases as this is where their specialized
talents lie.

Internal medicine originated as a
discipline in the late 19th Century. Its name is of German origins and
means putting lab research to practice in caring for individual
patients. With the advent of advanced medical technology, internists
now have an array of research and diagnostic tools at their disposal
which are less invasive and may therefore be performed by the internist
rather than requiring a surgeon. For instance, the use of tiny cameras
allows for various procedures such as a colonoscopy to inspect the
colon or an endoscopy which views the lining of the digestive tract and
can help with the diagnosis of various gastrointestinal disorders.
Having less evasive procedures to work with, many treatments done by an
internist can be done non-surgically and with relative ease by the
patient. Additionally, given the very nature of internal medicine, some
better nutrition and exercise habits may need to be incorporated into
the overall treatment plan.

Internal medicine offers a holistic and integrative approach to the treatment and prevention of serious illness.

Homeopathic medicine emerged as an alternative to conventional
medicine when founded in 1796 by a German doctor and chemist, Samuel
Hahnemann, who became discouraged with the practice of routine health
care. Hahnemann believed that homeopathic medicine provided a new kind
of treatment which focused on the cause of illness, not simply at
eliminating its symptoms and believed overall health could be
maintained through a healthy diet, regular exercise, fresh air and
taking small quantities of naturally occurring substances such as
vitamins or root extracts.

Homeopathic medicine is
based on the three underlying principles of; the law of similars,
single medicine and the law of infinitesimals. The law of similars
states that a disease can be cured by giving an affected person small
quantities of a substance which causes the onset of symptoms in an
otherwise healthy person; in another words, small quantities of the
disease will help to rid the body of the illness. Single medicine is
the belief that one remedy should treat the entire person rather that
treating each symptom individually. The law of infinitesimals is the
general rule of giving an individual the smallest possible effective
dose of a treatment to minimize the potential for harmful side effects.
Overall, homeopathic medicine takes an integrative, holistic approach
and utilizes small amounts of herbal and medicinal substances which are
thought to produce some of the symptoms the patient is already
suffering from which, according to the law of similars, is thought to
shorten the lifespan of the disease.

The resurgence
in popularity that homeopathic medicine has experienced since the
1980’s is largely due to people who undergo routine conventional care
but also supplement their nutrition and lifestyle with homeopathic
remedies thought to maintain wellness. This multi disciplined approach
utilizes medical technology to aid in diagnosis and treatment of a
disease or injury while borrowing from the principles of homeopathic
medicine for prevention, wellness and overall health.

The history of alternative medicine can be traced back to some 5000
years, when the Chinese and Indians discovered traditional and
Ayurvedic therapies to heal the body and the mind. The real objective
was to identify the deterrents in the body system, which caused the
ailments and strengthen the body’s immunity. The therapies mainly
incorporated self-care, lifestyle changes and various preventative
measures.

The normal practices that were followed at the
early stages of the history of alternative medicine include the
extractions of the bark of willow trees. Many kitchen ingredients were
also used for treating the patients. The treatments were considered as
the blessings of God, as it brought immense relief to the writhing
bodies and prayer was considered as one of the strongest weapons in
waging war against ailments.

History of Alternative Medicine – The 19th Century

By
the turn of the 19th century, many malpractices had permeated the
sphere of alternative medicine. It was a rather bad phase for the
history of alternative medicine as the practitioners had started
recommending flawed treatments like bleeding, use of laxatives and
leeches treatments side-by-side helpful treatments as ‘a change of air’.

History Of Alternative Medicine – 20th Century Onwards

Alternative
medicine, however, witnessed the bleakest prospects in the 20th
century. It was in this period that alternative medicine was dismissed
as mere quackery, blind faith and was replaced by mainstream medical
treatment. Mainstream medical treatment proved effective and many
started visiting doctors to seek instant relief to their ailments.
Extensive researches were conducted to find relief to the critical
diseases and the great number of pills or tablets really worked wonders
for the ailing patients.

The later half of the 20th
century saw the resurgence of alternative forms of treatment. Extensive
researches in the field once again proved the efficacy of alternative
medicine. The benefits of alternative forms of treatment soon began to
be recognized by commoners and alternative medicines were deemed at par
with mainstream treatments. Since, this treatment hardly causes any
side effects, therefore many took to this treatment without the least
doubt. However, now people started considering the logical factors
before considering this treatment.

Therefore,
the mainstream medical treatments and the alternative treatments are
now equally ruling the market. Both are now considered as very
effective and many are resorting to them depending upon the kinds of
ailments he/she is suffering from.

Hence, the history of
alternative medicine has witnessed the rise and fall of the alternative
medical treatments. Now, however, no one can really question its
effectiveness.

The history of medicine in America is a patchwork of traditions and
methods ranging from those practiced by the Native Americans to English
medical practices brought over by the early pilgrims. Even barbers
played a role in early American medicine, with surgery often relegated
to them, considered a bit messy and beneath the dignity of the trained
physician.

Early
American doctors were often quite scarce, especially in rural areas,
leaving many average colonists with no choice but to meet the medical
needs of their families on their own, with medical literature and
family healing traditions as their only guide. Many physicians in
colonial America practiced without formal medical training, getting
their knowledge directly from other physicians.

When the
pilgrims came from England, they arrived with two physicians, one the
commander of the Mayflower, Miles Standish. Like many physicians
prominent in the history of medicine in America, Miles Standish had no
formal medical education. He was rather a jack-of-all-trades, a
military man, explorer, engineer, interpreter, and merchant as well as
a physician. His medical knowledge was collected by observing and
studying with other physicians.

Dr. Samuel Fuller, the other
physician who sailed in with the Mayflower pilgrims, was an unusual
doctor for this era, practicing as both a physician and surgeon.
Doctors trained in English medicine used techniques based primarily
upon the ancient Greek concepts of balance in the body, maintained with
diet, herbs, and medicines. Therapies used by these conventional
physicians commonly included bleeding, purging, blistering, and
prescriptions of Calomel, a form of mercury. Few physicians performed
surgery in those days, most leaving this duty to the barbers. Surgeons
did not gain a respectable status in the medical profession until 1745,
officially separating from the barbershop as full-fledged doctors in
their own right.

The history of medicine in America is not
one just of the prominent physicians of the day, but also of the
practices of families and communities. Treatment by physicians was most
often reserved for the wealthiest colonists, or those in the cities.
Few average colonists had access to conventional physicians, their
expense and scarcity making it rare for many to ever be seen by a
doctor. The community met most medical needs, with midwives and
neighbor women attending childbirth, caring for the aged and infirm,
and treating common illnesses. This community involvement in the home
was the beginning of the practice of nursing.

Interwoven
into the fabric of everyday existence, the history of American medicine
is a complex tale, with many of its most effective treatments in those
early days concocted in the kitchens or church halls of the community
rather than in the domain of the conventional physician. From this rich
history of innovation born of necessity, the marvels of modern American
medicine arose.

Life in the colonial United States was one filled with hardship and
trial in which life spans were relatively short and the threat of an
incurable disease or food shortage weighed heavily on many minds.
Colonial medicine was rudimentary in the scarcity of resources and the
very few numbers of trained physicians which had come to the new land.
In fact, a colony’s women usually took over the community caregiver
position and helped with everything from child birth to herbal
treatments and natural remedies in a time of illness. Herbal
supplements and natural substances were the prevailing means of
treating illness in colonial medicine and have evolved into many of the
old wives tales we still hear. However, some of the very products we
use today contain the same active natural ingredient as used then, such
as calamine for burns or bites. Because of this utter lack of access to
medical care and the limited technology of the time, many diseases
which are quite curable today caused many deaths and as a result, life
spans were generally rather short.

Colonial medicine
faced an extra challenge in that the overall health of many of the
colonists tended to suffer from some of the extreme climate conditions,
poor sanitation and regular food shortages. Given the run down state
many colonists often found themselves in, the susceptibility for
contracting a certain disease could threaten the village as a whole.
Because of this, the introduction of a communicable disease such as
smallpox could cause an outbreak amongst the entire colony very
quickly. Such outbreaks were not uncommon and would claim many lives in
a short time due to the fact that antibiotics had not yet been
discovered at the time of colonial medicine.

Likewise,
at the time of the revolutionary war, many of the field medics
responsible for treating wounded soldiers were also untrained and used
non-sterile medical equipment, sometimes causing an infection, blood
poisoning, or death. Colonial medicine retained the same basic
understanding of the human body and disease as in Europe, but had to
utilize the naturally occurring substances around them to compensate
for lack of resources and access to medication.

Ancient Greek medicine is widely considered the foundation of the
medical knowledge used in today’s modern societies. The first culture
known to have applied scientific thinking to the art of healing,
ancient Greece produced doctors whose methods were comparable to those
of modern physicians. As classical Greek physicians parted with
mystical ideas in favor of logic and reasoning, these ideas spread
throughout the ancient world, gradually taking root in countries as far
east as India and eventually blossoming in nations to the west. The
influence of early Greek physicians is still seen in the medical
profession today. Perhaps the most easily recognizable hallmark of this
influence is the Hippocratic Oath, taken by each physician before
embarking upon a medical career.

Hippocrates
is perhaps the best-known figure in ancient Greek medicine, widely
credited as the father of modern medicine and the author of the
Hippocratic Oath. The theories and practices taught by Hippocrates and
his followers were largely responsible for the change from spiritually
based medicine to a system based on logic and observation. Central to
these theories was the belief in keeping the body in balance with
nutrition and beneficial herbs and drugs. Doctors trained in the
methods of Hippocrates used scientific observation to evaluate their
patients, applied herbs, performed surgery and even specialized in such
fields as gynecology.

As Hippocratic medicine became the
accepted practice in the Mediterranean, the theories and methods of
ancient Greek medicine began to gain ground against religious and
mystical medical treatments in other parts of the world. Through their
interaction with Greek culture, the Romans gradually adopted many of
the ideas of ancient Greek medicine. Eventually, as the Romans
conquered Greece, Hippocratic medicine became accepted throughout the
Roman Empire and supported officially by the Roman Catholic Church.
This official backing helped to establish the theories of ancient Greek
medicine as the basis of further medical advancements throughout the
world.

The theories and principles of ancient Greek medicine
have endured through the ages, influencing the most modern methods of
disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Many of the research
techniques used to produce the incredible advancements that happen
every day in modern medicine have their roots in the scientific methods
first introduced by early Greek medical pioneers.

The practitioners of Ancient Egyptian medicine were very advanced
for their time. One of the few cultures that had an extensive and
reasonably accurate concept of the human anatomy, Egyptians of this era
had a working knowledge of the functions of most major organs. This
basic knowledge of anatomy led to the development of more advanced and
effective treatments for disease and injury. The theories and
techniques of Ancient Egyptian medicine were highly regarded by other
cultures and studied by many of the masters of early Greek medicine,
forming the basis of many of their own medical advancements.

The
mastery of human anatomy evidenced in the writings of Ancient Egyptian
medicine was largely due to the mummification ceremonies that were
practiced by the Egyptians during these times. Mummification involved
the removal of most of the body’s organs, including the intestine,
pancreas, liver, spleen, heart, lungs, and brain. Dissection of the
human body was a forbidden practice in many ancient civilizations,
giving Egyptian practitioners a distinct advantage over their
colleagues in other nations in the study of anatomy. Many scholars from
ancient Greece studied Egyptian writings on human anatomy to supplement
their limited knowledge on the subject.

Ancient Egyptian
medicine encompassed a wide variety of practices that included faith
healing, embalming, surgery, and autopsy. Autopsy was another practice
that evolved from the mummification ceremonies. Embalmers, while
preparing the deceased for mummification, often examined the body to
determine the cause of the fatal illness. The development of autopsy
studies gave Egyptian physicians a greater knowledge of the effects of
disease and injury on the body, enabling great advancements in surgical
procedures and healing practices.

The advanced knowledge of
human anatomy provided to early medical practitioners by the
accomplishments of Ancient Egyptian medicine laid the groundwork for
many historic medical discoveries. While Ancient Greek medical science
is often cited as the basis upon which modern medicine was built, the
knowledge of ancient Egyptians must share the credit for the early
advancement of medical science

To find the roots of ancient Chinese medicine, one must reach back
through several thousand years of history. As early as the Stone Age,
Chinese practitioners were developing primitive medical skills to treat
disease. Generation after generation of medical practitioners made
steady advancements in the arts and science of medicine from this early
point, gradually forming the comprehensive system of health management
techniques that were used and written about by the prominent
practitioners of ancient Chinese medicine.

Acupuncture
was among the earliest techniques developed by ancient Chinese
medicine, its origins traced back to the primitive efforts of Stone Age
practitioners. These early medical pioneers learned to treat a variety
of illness and disease with stone tools, methods that eventually grew
into the advanced practice of Chinese acupuncture, still in common use
today.

Ancient Chinese medicine developed through the ages
from a basis of both theoretical studies and practical knowledge,
giving it a unique balance of intellectual exploration and basic common
sense. The concept of balance, or as the ancient Chinese practitioners
termed it, Ying and Yang, was central to the fundamental principles of
all medical treatments and traditions.

In one of the
classic writings of early Chinese medicine, Internal Classic of the
Yellow Emperor, compiled in the fifth century BC, the basic principles
of Yin-Yang and the five phases were explained. These principles were
already widely accepted, part of the philosophical thinking of ancient
Chinese civilization. The five principles provided an explanation,
unique to ancient Chinese culture, of physiology, pathology, and
etiology that provided a guide for the treatment and prevention of
disease and the application of drugs.

From these humble
beginnings, ancient Chinese medicine developed into an advanced and
comprehensive medical system. Many of the practices and theories of
ancient Chinese medicine are evident in the modern medical system,
particularly that of china, where the practice of traditional medicine,
steeped in rich history and culture, still continues today, right
alongside the marvels of modern technology.