Alternative medicine believes that natural health is a consequence of a variety of different sources coming together. Thus it chooses the best from various options available, in order to provide good health. It does so by building the strong points, preventing the weak ones, and generally dictating a lifestyle that is naturally healthy.
Alternative medicine branches that promote natural good health include herbalism, natural hygiene, naturotherapy, and nutripathy. Nowadays it has become common to provide these, as complementary therapies to conventional methods of treatment. Terms like alternative medicine and natural health always seem to get associated with the Far East. It should be noted that most of the core concepts behind natural health are of European origin. In the old age the only health care that was available to the common man was self care. While medical science existed in a very rudimentary state, it was by no means as prolific as it is today. Most of the “doctors” in that era were referred to as “folk healers” (people who heal other people) and their medical qualification was nothing more than a short apprenticeship under some sort of superior.
At the time of the Revolutionary War, practicing the art of medicinal healing was looked upon as a diversion, something to dabble in when you had time to spare. It was supposed to be something that an individual did when not doing a regular job. Folk remedies were handed down from one generation to the next. Men and women who had learned these remedies simply applied them to everyday life like their predecessors. In this way, matters like childbirth, injuries, and illness were taken care of. Geographical distance and biological diversity naturally made these folk remedies different in different places. So, while the roots of such healing can be traced to Europe, once they had been adapted to the Americas, they were not so readily recognizable.
In 1830, Frances Wright and other reformers and activists started the Popular Health Movement. This was a period when advances in medical science were forcing contemporary doctors to think in terms that would have been sacrilegious to their elders. Frustrated by these new developments, proponents of the Popular Health Movement sought to enforce the usage of older methods into the practice of modern medical professionals. While some good has resulted (in the long run and with the help of understanding provided by modern research), it has to be admitted that the Popular Health Movement also caused some medical blunders.
Some natural health concepts that arose as a result of the Popular Health Movement are: Hydrotherapy, Herbalism, Eclectic Medicine, and Natural Hygiene. Thomsonianism is one of the earliest approaches to modern western herbalism and it was founded by Samuel Thompson around the year 1820. The Association of Eclectic Physicians, an organization of herbals doctors, was found in Wooster Beech. At its very height, eclecticism was practiced by over twenty thousand qualified doctors in the United States. By 1939, medical schools were being largely influenced by philanthropists, and when these schools failed to support eclecticism, it slowly died out.
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