History of Hippocratic Medicine

     Physiology and pathology theory within Hippocratic medicine was based on the Four Humors.  A united harmony between all four humors working in tandem was necessary for good health.  

The Four Humors are:

Pneuma - the Breath or Vital Force, and the Innate Heat, which were suffused into the blood from the lungs via the heart, gave the blood the power to sustain life.  
   

  Hippocrates saw pepsis, or an orderly, balanced, harmonious digestion and metabolism of the Four Humors as being essential to all good health.  In disorders of pepsis Hippocrates saw the origin of most disease.  I must add that we are driven home this point time and time again in Naturopathic College.  Being an original thinker, I did not accept the tenets and wisdom of this truth until practicing for about three years.  Now, daily I see the truth that if something is awry with digestion, fix that first because EVERYTHING else will improve as well.

  I have gleaned both personally and from thousands of patients that digestion IS the cornerstone of good health, and by this I mean good health in every respect, bodily, emotionally, spiritually and mentally.  Daily, I am fortunate enough to see people transformed completely by healing their digestion and restoring harmony to their bodies. This is why I chose to specialize in naturopathic treatment of digestive disorders.

   While  Hippocrates' anatomical knowledge was basic his profound insights into human physiology and the soundness of his reasoning still stand.  His surgical techniques for dislocations of the hip and jaw were actually unsurpassed until the nineteenth century.

     In therapeutics, Hippocrates saw the physician as the servant and facilitator of Nature.  This is also true in Naturopathic Medicine.  All medical treatment is aimed at enabling the natural resistance of the organism to prevail and overcome illness, to bring about recovery.
     In treatments he prescribed, Hippocrates was very sensible, pragmatic and flexible in his approach, favoring conservatism and moderation over radical or extreme measures.  Bloodletting, which was much abused at other times in much of medical history, was used only rarely by Hippocrates, and even then, only applied conservatively.
     Hippocrates placed great emphasis on strengthening and building up the body's inherent resistance to disease.  For this, he prescribed diet, gymnastics, exercise, massage, hydrotherapy and sea bathing.  
     Hippocrates was a great believer in dietary measures in the treatment of disease.  He prescribed a basic, light diet during the crisis stage of an acute illness, and a liquid diet during the treatment of fevers and wounds.  
     Hippocratic medicine was constitutionally based, so its approach to diagnosis and treatment was quite flexible.  As a holistic healing system, Hippocratic medicine treated the patient, and not disease.
     Hippocrates was the first physician to systematically classify disease based on points of similarity and contrast between them.  He originated the disciplines of etiology and pathology.  By systematically classifying diseases, Hippocrates placed their diagnosis and treatment on a sounder footing.

Unfortunately, the current status has moved very far from ancient knowledge and wisdom of nature, those relationships and the body as a whole.  Instead, people have more and more "information" provided by more and more "experts"  and less and less wisdom regarding how things REALLY work in the natural world.  It is truly an obstacle in helping  so many of them.

If you glean just one thing from this article understand that there is NO health without proper digestion and assimilation.  A great diet, exercise and all the rest will not take you far with a digestive system that is not working optimally.  While it is not a simple process to remedy this, it is by far the most important health adventure you will ever undertake.