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Ancient Medical Practices

The medical field has had a lot of research and developed a lot since the very first humans, but there were some very intriguing treatments along the way. If you have any questions, make sure to put them in the forum!


Bloodletting:


This ancient practice began with the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians, but it didn’t become common until the Greeks and Romans. Influential physicians like Hippocrates and Galen maintained that the human body was filled with four basic substances and these needed to be kept in balance to maintain proper health. So, “theoretically”, patients with a fever or another ailment must have some sort of imbalance in their blood. To restore the balance, doctors would open a vein, and drain some of their blood. While it could result in accidental death, this practice was maintained until the 19th century, when it finally stopped due to new research showing that it was doing more harm than good.


Trepanation:

Trepanation is humanity’s oldest form of surgery, and it was quite gruesome. It was the practice of boring holes in the skull, hoping to cure illness. A common theory holds that it may have been some form of tribal ritual or even a method for releasing evil spirits believed to possess the sick and mentally ill. Still others argue that it was a more conventional surgery used to treat epilepsy, headaches, abscesses and blood clots. Either way, evidence shows that many patients  surprisingly survived this procedure.


Wandering Womb:

Ancient Greek doctors believed that a woman’s womb was a separate creature with a mind of its own. According to the writings of Plato and Hippocrates, the uterus could dislodge and glide freely about her body causing suffocation, seizures and hysteria. For example, a headache could mean that the womb had made its way to the head. This curious diagnosis was common until the time of the Romans and Byzantines—well after doctors had learned that the womb was held in place by ligaments. To prevent their wombs from supposedly moving around, ancient women were told to marry young and bear as many children as possible. For a womb that had already broken free, doctors prescribed therapeutic baths and infusions to try to force it back in position. They might even “fumigate” the patient’s head with sulfur hoping that the womb would flee from the bad smells and move back into its rightful place.



Babylonian Skull Cure:


For the ancient Babylonians, most illnesses were thought to be the result of demonic forces or punishment by the gods for past mistakes. Doctors often had more in common with priests and exorcists than modern physicians, and their cures usually involved some spiritual component. According to ancient texts, the doctor would recommend sleeping by a human skull for a week as a way of exorcising the spirit 


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