Alternative Medicine - a History of Alternative Medicine

Alternative medicine is actually one of the oldest forms of health care, dating back centuries and in some cases millennia. Health care has traditionally focused on the health of the mind and the body, and the interaction of the two elements. As the nineteenth century waned, however, many traditional approaches to disease prevention and cures were discarded in favor of new theories of disease and treatment.

The turning point came in with the introduction of germ theory, and the discovery that microbes called germs were responsible for disease. There were two competing theories of how germs like bacteria, viruses and fungi caused disease. The first theory was that these microbes were universally infectious, and it was this theory that eventually won out and become the basis of modern western medicine.

The other theory, rooted in a long history of alternative medicine, held that while bacteria, viruses and fungi were infectious, they could only cause illness if the body were in a weakened state. Adherents to this theory felt that by keeping the body in top condition, disease could be avoided even in the presence of infectious agents.

The adoption of the germ theory, and the birth of modern medicine, has led to some amazing advances, and some cures for devastating diseases. However, it has also led to a marginalizing of the importance of alternative and naturalistic approaches to health care.