Prescriptions and radiation, needles and saline droplets: conventional medicine is defined by understood practices, by careful science. All healing is offered modern theories (and modern reliefs). All questions are solved with proven techniques. And the practices of this century are therefore deemed traditional — with most patients assuming that the name is correct.
It isn’t.
Traditional medicine is instead an entirely different notion; and this must be understood so the correct classifications can be offered and the techniques can be recognized.
In its simplest form, traditional medicine is defined as any practice that utilizes the notions of spirituality and holistic healing, as well as relying on natural remedies: whether formed from animals, minerals or plants. And this is quite different than the expectations that govern most of the Western world — where conventional practices are thought to be the only traditions worth having, and this brand of healing is instead deemed uncommon. The truth, however, is more complex.
Alternative practices are the precursors of all current medical standards. Their origins date back to 5000 BC (when the Sumer civilization began writing of herbal remedies, were curing ills with botanicals) — and they have managed to survive throughout the centuries, allowing modern science to develop from them. The foundations of Western healing were all formed from the mineral studies of the past.
And alternative medicine therefore must be offered its proper name. It’s earned it, allowing current methods to form their own distinctive techniques while retaining its own. It must no longer be deemed different therefore. It must instead be called traditional — as it truly is.
Science is defined by specificities, standards. It is important then to adhere to those standards and offer the correct meanings to medicine. Traditional is not synonymous with new. It’s instead far more established and just as vital.