Abstract In early Greek medicine, Hippocrates; the most important figure in medicine during this period, adopted a holistic approach to medicine which presented that all disease results from natural causes and must be treated using natural methods. This research report examines the identification of the present application in two separate cultural settings and compares the applications in order to analyze the potential future trends for the theoretical idea. The Healing Power of Nature Hippocrates “The Father of medicine”.
Introduction Medicine was second to mathematics during the ancient Greek civilization. Sick people during this time period reported to temples that were specifically dedicated to the “Greek God of Healing” known as Asclepius for their cures. During this time, a man named Hippocrates known to this civilization as the great ancient Greek physician began teaching that every disease had only natural causes. Hippocrates; born on the island of Kos, Greece, travelled widely before settling to practice and teach medicine.
Although little was known about his life he most certainly wrote a large selection of the approximately 60 texts that consist of the well known Hippocratic Collection. The Hippocratic collection was composed between c. 420 and 350BC which assisted in defining the beginning of Western medical traditions and practices. The Hippocratic works, although written by many hands and included several of theoretical ideas, it dealt with many aspects of health and disease to include diagnosis, surgery, hygiene, and therapeutics.
Amongst these treatises were some of his very best to include: The Sacred Disease which dealt with epilepsy and his conclusion that the cause was a blockage in the brain, Airs, Waters and Places which examined the roles of environmental conditions in the cause of disease, Epidemics which presented carefully observed case histories, Aphorisms which were a composition of carefully observed bedside generalizations and the Nature of Man which elaborated on the doctrine of humors and offered a powerful framework that remained the capstone of practical medicine well into the 19th century. Definition.
The Bodies “Power of natural Healing” to many may have seemed a myth during the Greek medicine era; however, an underlying explanation exists for this natural vital force. The strategy of natural healing is the holistic treatment of disease and illness. Within the body, a connection of bodily cells are arranged by a complex network of communications and supply system that work inter-relatedly to maintain harmony and balance within the blood, lymph, nervous, hormonal and immune systems which are depicted in health. Weakness and dysfunction within the body’s links must be traced, identified and addressed in order to solve the problems.
Nutrients are used by genes in order to affect repairs and allow the body to heal naturally, however, in order for this system to deliver its intent, ingestion, digestion, absorption, circulation, cellular acceptance, and excretion must be working correctly. When these essential functions of our bodies are degenerative in nature, the body’s natural ability can be reversed due to nutrient deficiencies causing illnesses. For this explanation Hippocrates often prescribed rest, exercise, improved diet, music, and the association of friends to restore the body’s natural state of harmony.
These prescribed anecdotes support the influence of the body’s natural harmony and balance. Along with this, Hippocrates believed that drugs should not harm the patient, that surgery is absolutely necessary when the introduction of drugs was to be considered ineffective. In order for Doctors to make such wise decisions when caring for health, he/she must know the patient and have the patients wellness in the best of his/her interest. Hippocrates belief was that the body when treated should be considered as a whole and not a series of parts.
He noted that individual differences existed in the severity of disease symptoms and that some patients were better than others in coping with their diseases and/or illnesses and for that reason was why the Doctor should know the patient as an individual when considering treatments and not the generalizations of treatments. Historical Analysis Hippocrates accurately defined symptoms of disease and was also the first physician that held the belief that thoughts, ideas and feelings come from the brain and not the heart as others during his time presented.
Hippocrates was the first physician known to consider medicine as a science and that it was separate to religion as was believed in the ancient Greek. For his contributions to medicine he was considered and referred to as “The Father of Medicine”, and the most outstanding figure in medicine. Medicine in the early Greeks was a mixture of religion, necromancy, and mysticism. The use of temples for the “Gods of medicine” was typical for sick people to attend and make offerings in return for healing.
The patients when cured would then construct tablets with an explanation of their disease and the “cure of the gods” along with offerings of gold and silver value, traditionally depicting the part of the body that was healed. For an example; a person who had athletes foot after being “healed by the gods” would return an offering of a gold foot. Through the course of time, Greeks became skeptical about their own ideas of the supernatural influence in regards to their healing methods and beliefs. During this period the interest in more natural phenomena and the understanding of human nature greatly increased.
The desire to learn about life and disease within grounds of rationale was more prevalent and began to develop as the study of natural philosophy. Around this time, Hippocrates rejection of the supernatural alone marked the greatness of his “genius”. He then began to introduce more detailed observation of disease and related the importance of a diagnosis for the rendering of natural treatment. He travelled widely as a practitioner for several years under different climates and amongst many different patients which truly sharpened his skills for observational methods.
Hippocrates skills and knowledge in anatomy were not great but he possessed an accurate arrangement of the structure of the bones and skeletal system. Hippocrates became well knowledgeable with the principle organs of the body’s cavities and became aware that the heart was divided in four cavities in which he determined that two of these cavities contained blood and the other two contained air. Hippocrates largest accomplishment during this time period was the separation and wide distinction between the supernatural and natural along with establishing that disease was due to nature and should be treated through natural approaches.
Hippocrates established this theory through the introduction of writing his observations down which produced a series of clinical history which later were used to teach students. The oldest tree in Europe was Hippocrates selected to teach his students. His school presented an art far in advance to any other preceding it of modern natural health theories. Few traces of superstition reside in his writings and his methods were governed by natural laws. Hippocrates considered health to be a normal state in which disease was an abnormal condition which meant that nature would assert itself in order for the health to be regained.
His natural regimen was that the physician was to assist nature’s course in the healing process, relieve pain whenever possible and to strengthen the spirit and body of the patient. The greatest known of his writings is the Hippocratic Oath; The Hippocratic Oath is perhaps the most widely known of Greek medical texts. It requires a new physician to swear upon a number of healing gods that he will uphold a number of professional ethical standards. One of the best known prohibitions is, “to do no harm”. “The Hippocratic Oath”.
I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:
To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art—if they desire to learn it—without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.
I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.
Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves. What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.
If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot (Crystalinks, 2009) .
Hippocrates insisted his students study astrology, saying, “He who does not understand astrology is not a doctor but a fool. Hippocrates purposed that each of the astrological signs were associated with different parts of the human body. The associations of the signs with the parts of the body are as follows: • Aries – head, face, brain, eyes • Taurus – throat, neck, thyroid gland, vocal tract • Gemini – arms, lungs, shoulders, hands, nervous system • Cancer – chest, breasts, stomach, alimentary canal • Leo – heart, chest, spine, spinal column, upper back • Virgo – digestive system, intestines, spleen, nervous system • Libra – kidneys, skin, lumbar region, buttocks.
• Scorpio – reproductive system, sexual organs, bowels, excretory system • Sagittarius – hips, thighs, liver, sciatic nerve • Capricorn – knees, joints, skeletal system • Aquarius – ankles, calves, circulatory system • Pisces – feet, toes, lymphatic system, adipose tissue(Crystalinks, 2009). Hippocratics employ therapies that reverse a diseased condition in accordance with the same mechanical principles of: “Opposites cure opposites” which is a deliberate intellectual stance in opposition to the “like cures like” of sympathetic magic. Hippocratics are certainly the first in the Western tradition to write medical science in a form that has survived to our time.
Identify two cultural settings of application 1st Cultural Setting: Traditional Chinese Medicine (Acupuncture) The philosophy of acupuncture goes back 8,000 years ago and is considered an ancient Chinese form of healing. During this period, physicians would use an observational approach of the flow of energy within the body and a patient’s relation to nature and the universe. A figure in this theory is the most legendary Fu Hsi who lived in the Yellow River area of China. Fu Hsi formulated two symbols, a broken line and an unbroken line which represented the two separate forces of the universe (creation and reception) and how they both interact with each other to form life.
These symbols created by Fu became to be known as the Yin-Yang and are the capstone in Traditional Chinese medicine.
The NEI CHING SU WEN (The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine); the first book ever written on acupuncture around 200 B. C. consisted of the two parts (Yin-Yang) that were geared towards the restoration of disturbed balances and harmonies of the body. This treatise covered the relationship between man and nature, the cause and cures for diseases, the importance of balance, acupuncture, and moxibustion. Acupuncture truly developed itself in China up to 1932 when western medicine was introduced. Later in 1945 acupuncture practice was restored again as the primary means of natural healing.
Again in 1972 it was demonstrated that acupuncture could be used as an anesthetic and a method for brain surgery which gained another vast interest in this treatment. Acupuncture then at this time proved to bring the body back into balance and alleviated many conditions such as fatigue, insomnia, injuries, pains, fever, arthritis, bronchitis, digestive problems, depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc… 2nd Cultural Setting: Western Medicine (Naturotherapy) Early methods of Naturotherapy consisted of Hydrotherapy and Hygenics based on the use of roots, barks and herbs. In the 1820’s, followers of Naturotherapy established stores which provided these natural medicines which disembarked the concept of allopathic drugs.
A figure to the Naturotherapy treatment in the US was Benedict Lust who introduced the term in 1902 referring to the doctrines of natural healing which included nutritional therapy, natural diet, herbal medicine, homeopathy, spinal manipulation, exercise, hydrotherapy, stress reduction and the cure of nature. These prescribed enablers were to regulate the various forces of the body in order to eliminate the poisonous illnesses and raise its own vitality.
After this introduction of Naturotherapy, medical profession ceased the use of older treatments such as blood-letting and mercury dosing due to their high rate of toxics. The basic principles of Naturotherapy include: • First Do No Harm. Treatment should be gentle and support the body, restoring optimum health. • The Healing Power of Nature.
Naturopathy uses natural methods to restore and maintain health. • Find the Cause. Symptoms are indicators, not the cause, of disease. Treatment looks at the cause of the disease rather than the suppression of its symptoms. Recovery from illness requires the removal of the underlying causes of disease. • Treat the Whole Person. General health reflects a multitude of different factors including work, genetics, social, physical, spiritual, mental, emotional and environmental.
All of these are taken into consideration when formulating a treatment plan. • Doctor as Teacher. Naturopaths aim to educate their patients to take responsibility for their own health and healing; they empower and motivate the patient.
Ultimately it is the patient who heals him/her self (Naturotherapy, 2006). Compare the two settings Both approaches to the natural approach to medicine were not so popular in their introduction phases. It took a good substantial amount of evidence through actual treatment results and the observational approach to the methodology of these natural practices.
The key common factor to both methodologies is the concern of keeping the body at a harmonious state of balance during treatment and understanding the natural cause of the disease at hand. Both methodologies were also similar in the fact that the treatment was to facilitate the body in its predetermined natural fight against the illness/disease.
Both settings show a continuous rate of progress from early stages until now the present day along with a bright future for further integration into higher western medicinal practices to include support from legislative laws, integration in our medical schools, medical insurance coverage’s and acceptance of complementary prescriptions.
Some of the differences between the two settings described in this report were that acupuncture suffered a state of non-existence and had to re-instate itself through evidence of its theory while Naturotherapy fought itself into western therapy only once before it was finally integrated into our medical practices. Other differences noted were the techniques used for research and proof of reliability along with the cultural settings and historical introductions.
Analysis of future trends Traditional Chinese medicine plays a lead role in places like China and Taiwan today with over 200,000 doctors and over 50 institutes. Japan has developed junior colleges for the treatment and has instituted the methods to compliment western medicinal practices in acupuncture.
In America, we have had a growth in acupuncturists to approximately 8,000 coming from 16 acupuncture schools with 2 medical schools with the teaching of acupuncture to physicians. Acupuncture has also grown heavily in places like Europe, Spain, Germany, Austria and Italy who have developed acupuncture centers and associations that support the treatment.
Thus, it has been indicated that acupuncture has made its way into society worldwide. New skills through research and practice has been gained along with a higher interest in this methodology of natural treatment. Most of the advancements have occurred through the integration of modalities abroad a cross-cultural setting by adapting each other’s techniques and the utilization of modern technology which has produced itself to become the American Acupuncture today.
In America the treatment has undergone several disputes but has definitely gained its reputation and trust from medical schools and centers that have provided the support to retain this to be an authorized medical treatment.
Associations have been organized to conduct research, establish insurance coverage’s, and gain the rights for Medicare payments for the alternative health care department. Acupuncture has developed since its ancient times in China and gained its worth all through the world and in America.
The holistic approach to alternative medicine and its natural methods of balancing the body’s humor has made an impression in our current society. The development of more advanced means definitely shows the interest in keeping this harmonious approach to medical treatment alive within our medical practices, it is from these gatherings that I must believe that the acupuncture of yesterday to today has a bright stance in society for a long term existence within our medicinal practices.
Naturotherapy has also gained its place in western medicine practices through the Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) and has gained reliability through its effective methods of cure. As prescription medicine has created an increased awareness to society due to its side effect concerns, strains of bacteria and resistance to antibiotics, more and more patients are depending on natural means of treatment such as naturotherapy. Although western medicine is reliable for more serious injuries, other methods of naturotherapy have been largely used today for day to day use which has proven to be even a more effective way of living longer and healthier.
The combination of a natural healthy lifestyle is ideal when combined with diet and exercise. Unlike prescription medicine which focuses on the suppression of symptoms, naturotherapy focuses on the cause of the disease in a natural methodology. Naturotherapy’s methods focus on assisting the body in its fight against illnesses and disease through its present and observational approach. For an example; If someone has a fever their body temperature raises; this being the natural body’s course to fight off pathogens. Naturotherapy would in this case assist the body in raising its temperature in order to fight the pathogens at a faster rate and with a more powerful attempt within the body’s initial course.
In conclusion, because Naturotherapy has proven to be effective in its use and because it is a treatment that has also proven its effectiveness to not replace western medicine but to work at greater capacities when combined with it, it should be considered a complementary medicine rather than alternative.
The use of naturotherapy means has been spread widely across the globe and has been growing through the market industry as far as specific stores that provide Naturotherapy products which include everything ranging from Vitamins for a healthier lifestyle, Herbs for anti-diseases to the Teas than maintain a clean bodily function. These methods are being also introduced into the physical fitness health arena and have been providing natural fitness supplements that are largely being used today.
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