The origins of Ayurveda

Ayurveda is said and nityam apurusheyam (literally, "eternal and not created by humans"). It has been preserved in spite of its great principles to foreign influences (Greek, Chinese, Persian, Tibetan). This system has fallen into disuse for several centuries after the Muslim invasions in northern India from the eighth century. Along with the revival in Europe, Ayurveda has reappeared. With the various European colonization, mainly British, this medicine has been repeatedly harassed, and was banned by the English. Only with independence in 1947, under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, that Ayurveda has again been recognized. Today, Ayurveda seems to generate more interest for its approach to holistic well-being for its medical aspect (the latter is becoming more and more medical research is ongoing).



The origin of Ayurveda dates back to the Vedas - the Atharva-Veda in particular - hymns of India. Ayurveda is a branch of the Atharva Veda. It is therefore upaveda, Veda subordinate. Originally, the healing principles outlined in the Atharva-Veda were mainly based on the sound or speech. The hymns were then ways of healing and their simple recitation had, according to the text, the ability to heal everything. Drugs, as we know them today were not yet developed. Subsequently, two medical treatises, the Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita on, came detail and shape to the Ayurveda. In Indian universities, students use the Astanga Hrdayam Vagbhata, a simplified summary of the first two compilations, especially in southern India. The Sushruta Samhita of Sushruta date in the first millennium BC. In Dwivedi & Dwivedi (2007) - On the surgeon's work - Sushruta wrote:

"The main route of transmission of knowledge during this period was the oral tradition. The language used was Sanskrit - Sanskrit Vedic period (2000-500 BC). The most authentic compilation of his teachings and his work is currently available in a treatise called Sushruta Samhita. It contains 184 chapters and the description of 1120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations of minerals and 57 preparations of animal. "

Underwood & Rhodes in 2008 argued that the first phase of traditional Indian medicine identified fever (takman), cough, consumption, diarrhea, edema, abscesses, seizures, tumors and skin diseases (including leprosy). The treatment of complex medical conditions - including angina pectoris, diabetes, hypertension and calculations - were also charged during this period, plastic surgery, surgery Cataract aspiration for evacuation of fluid in the abdomen (ascites), extraction of foreign bodies, treatment of anal fistula, treatment of fractures, amputation, caesarean section and suturing wounds were known. The use of herbs and surgical instruments became widespread.

Other ancient books on Ayurveda, Charaka Samhita is the account, attributed to Charaka. The oldest written document relating exhumed work Sushruta is the Bower Manuscript-dated the fourth century. The Bower manuscript cites directly from Sushruta and is of particular interest to historians because of the importance of Indian medicine and its concepts in Central Asia. Vagbhata - the son of a former doctor named Simhagupta - has also compiled his work on traditional medicine. In the beginning, Ayurveda included a medical school and a school of surgery. Tradition says that the text Agnivesh Tantra - written by the legendary sage Agnivesh, a student of the mythological saga Bharadwaja - has influenced the writings of Ayurveda.

The Chinese pilgrim Fa Hsien (ca. 337-422) wrote about the health care system of the Gupta Empire (320-550) and - in passing - described the process of the institutional approach of Indian medicine that appears also in the works of Caraka, which refers to a clinic and its equipment described. Madhava, Sarngadhara, and Bhavamisra (1500) have compiled works on Indian medicine. The medical works of Charaka and Sushruta have both been translated into Arabic during the Abbasid Caliphate. These works have made their way Arab in Europe through them. In Italy the Branca family of Sicily and Gaspare Bologna Tagliacozzi are familiar with the techniques of Sushruta.

British physicians traveled to India to attend a rhinoplasty performed by local methods. Articles on Indian Rhinoplasty were published in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1794. Joseph Constantine Carpue spent 20 years in India studying local plastic surgery methods. Carpue was able to achieve the first major surgery of the Western world in 1815. The instruments described in the Sushruta Samhita were later modified in the West.

Ayurvedha

Ayurveda or Ayurvedic or "Ayurvedic medicine" (in Devanagari script: आयुर्वॆद, the science of life) is a wisdom and medicine from India and practiced in other parts of the world as non-conventional medicine. In Sanskrit, the word Ayurveda is a combination of words, Ayur meaning life and veda means science. Ayurveda owes its origins to the Vedas, a set of sacred texts of ancient India, and its principles are those of what is now called the "natural medicine". In this case, it is called holistic approach of Vedic culture, which was loosely based on Hinduism.



Ayurveda is a form of traditional medicine still alive in Southeast Asia. The earliest literature on Ayurveda originated in India during the Vedic period. The Sushruta Samhita and the Charaka Samhita are important works of traditional medicine written during this period. Ayurvedic practitioners have also developed a number of medicinal preparations and surgical procedures for curing various diseases and disorders.

Ayurveda has become a form of alternative medicine in the West, although patents on its medicines have been disputed by official institutions of Western countries and India.

A public economy?

Proponents of non-conventional medicine argue an improved user comfort, reduced the use of conventional methods, and reduced health costs. Some require that non-conventional practices are reimbursed by health insurance to achieve a reduction in health spending



The experience of Switzerland between 1999 and 2005 suggests instead that the repayment of non-conventional medicine does not generate savings. However, the reimbursement of complementary medicine has not generated more of the cost. They represented only 0.16% of the expenses of compulsory insurance, but many costs are borne by patients or more by their insurance or mutual complementary. In France the granules homeopathic price is very low compared to conventional drugs. Moreover, the 'alternative medicine' claim to have an important preventive role.

The impact of reimbursement of alternative medicine is still difficult to assess. With the possible harmful effects from patients and toward therapies whose effectiveness has not been proved, can not benefit from early diagnosis by conventional medicine.

Use of unconventional medicine by physicians

The Hippocratic oath updated indicates that the physician must respect "all persons [...] without any discrimination based on their status or their beliefs. Thus, even if not agree with unconventional medicine, a doctor may very well be used to meet the patient's beliefs. The use of unconventional medicine by a doctor, possibly within a hospital, is not a form of validation of the method. From a pragmatic point of view, as the method provides well-being and comfort to the patient, the doctor can use it even if it is satisfied that the effect is just placebo (conventional medicine also uses Frequently placebos). In the same vein, the presence of places of worship and chaplaincy in a hospital does not indicate that the nursing staff is a believer, but he respects the beliefs of patients and agrees to implement everything that is not harmful and brings comfort.

Nothing prevents a physician from practicing medicine unconventional. Their practice is not reserved for doctors. Many allied health professionals use them. They may be offered by persons who are not physicians or paramedics (nurses, physiotherapists, etc.;). Faces to the diversity of these unconventional practices with practitioners very heterogeneous attempts to regulations and controls are trying to implement.

A prior conception

According to some non-conventional medicine share a priori conception of the mechanisms of the human body and disease. For example,

* Energy medicine (acupuncture, Qigong, Shiatsu ...) assumes that it has a vital influx (prana in India, Ki in Japanese or Qi in Chinese) which flows harmoniously, the sickness is a disturbance this harmony should be re-balanced.

* Homeopathy is based on the principles:
No evil comes from a problem inherent to the person, the "field", and this field must be treated;

No treatment is done according to the principle of similarity: administering a substance known to cause a symptom that treat symptoms;

No longer a product is diluted and "energized" (vigorously shaken) is more active;

* Osteopathy assumes that the disorder stems from a blockage of anatomical structures between them, a malfunction "mechanical." It is based on four principles: the structure governs function, the model structure, the unity of body, and the artery is supreme.

Conventional medicine is based on the facts. It carries out a treatment if its effectiveness is proven (superiority over the natural healing and the placebo effect). The theory used to explain the effectiveness is subject to verification that there is an effective therapy. Thus, we used aspirin and penicillin without knowing the mechanism of therapeutic action of these substances. The explanation of their action would change with new discoveries, this would not alter their effectiveness.

In general, the fact that a theory, a prior conception, either true or false is independent of the result and can explain a fact by a false theory, and the fact that the theory is false does not being true. For example, in the Middle Ages, knew how to make iron and soap, however, the theory that explained the transformations of matter, alchemy, was generally false.

So:

* If it is proved that the theory underlying a given medicine is wrong, this does not mean that the treatments associated with this medicine is ineffective;
* The fact that treatment is effective does not mean valid medical theory which justifies it.
* Evidence of effectiveness should be compared with natural healing and a placebo on a sufficient number of cases that we can have a statistically significant difference.

Semantic complexities of the name

The term alternative medicine is the term adopted by the European Commission to qualify the alternative therapies that are the subject of a growing recognition in Europe since the 1990s.



It also uses the term alternative medicine, complementary medicine, natural medicine, alternative medicine, alternative medicine or holistic medicine sometimes (as some claim to treat the body as a whole).

* Speaking of "alternative medicine" seems to imply that there are two conceptions of medicine involving two health care systems operate independently of one another, with the same degree of efficiency and scientific nature: patients would therefore choose between two therapies they may consider as alternatives or as complementary and competing one another.

* The term "alternative medicine" seems to regard the aggressive practices of conventional medicine.

* The term "alternative medicine", it is envisaged these care practices as a proxy, therefore, likely to replace conventional and conventional therapeutic approach.

* The term "holistic" criticizes conventional medicine to focus on treating an organ or a specific function and not the patient as a whole. This is probably the case for medical specialties but not always for medicine in general.

* The term "complementary medicine" rather favors the idea of combining treatments that may be "therapeutic philosophies" different but able to cooperate in the interest of the patient.

By playing this way on the vocabulary, the proponents of these treatments were able to enter the culture the idea that they presented an "alternative" treatments whose effectiveness is proven by scientific research, where Sceptics prefer to speak rather of medicine based on science (an English science-based medicine) and pseudo-medicine and pseudo-science in order to avoid this rhetorical effect.

A semantic reversal has also been made since medicine is designated by advocates of unconventional medicine by the term allopathic medicine.

Alternate Medicine

The term alternative medicine refers to the West a variety of treatment methods that are not based on the experimental method, one of the foundations of the scientific approach to the facts. They are based on centuries-old traditions sometimes or practices that emerged in the nineteenth century, but generally before the advent of evidence-based medicine (in English: Evidence-based medicine). The non-conventional medicines are therefore considered non-scientific.



Depending on the country, their traditions and their laws, they may be common (Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and England ...), tolerated (as in France and some Latin countries) or be banned. They are often preventive, and build on the relationship of trust with the patient, expressing a personal search and the search for a framework of care that is outside the frameworks of modern medicine.

Some techniques are used by doctors or paramedics, other allied health practitioners in various ("health practitioners" in Germany and Switzerland, under the control of the state), and others by practitioners whose quality of training is not subject to a state diploma and can hardly be assessed, are based on assumptions not validated experimentally. They develop as a complement or alternative to conventional medicine.

The non-conventional medicine are not recognized by much of science, particularly by those belonging to the contemporary skeptic movement.

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