The Roots Of Alternative Medicine
Alternative medicine and modern medicine have may differences
and whose to say which is best? Today, we expect doctors and
medicines to fix whatever ails us instantly and doctors only
look at the current physical problem when diagnosing our needs.
Alternative or holistic medicine, on the other hand, takes many
different factors into consideration before prescribing a cure.
This type of healing has been in use for thousands of years and
can be very effective. It concerns itself not only with the
physical problem, but with the problems of the "whole" self.
Alternative medicine includes massage, therapy, herbal tea,
herbal medicine and millions of people today still use these
types of treatments instead of or in addition to modern
medicine.
Different cultures have had their own specific types of
alternative medicine and many different types of treatments.
Many of these treatments have survived and are still effective
today. In fact, massage, which many people swear by in the
modern world is actually one of the oldest forms of alternative
medicine and records of massage therapy date back to ancient
Egypt.
In ancient Europe there were two types of healers, the
professional physicians and the folk healers. The folk healers
lived in the lower class and healed the people of each village
who could not afford the expensive physicians. These people
believed in the folk treatment and it worked for them. This type
of situation also occurred in many other cultures.
In Western culture, philosophy was frequently used to assist the
folk healers in their quest for a holistic treatment. Philosophy
was important because it told the stories of their lives. With a
twist of philosophy and religion as well as belief, they easily
found the best treatment available for whatever it was that was
ailing the villagers of this time.
We now have a more advanced or instantaneous form of medical
treatment, but alternative medicine can still be very effective.
Massage, aromatherapy, acupuncture, herbal, humor therapy,
meditation, and many other forms of holistic healing are used
every day. In fact some of these treatments have become so
popular that they are no longer considered alternative medicine
and they are now supported by modern physicians.
Although the theory of alternative medicine has been ridiculed
throughout the centuries , it has survived for one reason - It
works. Alternative treatments may not work as fast as the
treatments that we have today, but these natural types of
treatments can be better for you overall, if you just give them
a chance.