| Long before orthodox medicine took center | | | | developed through observation and |
| stage in the health care practices around the | | | | experimentation. |
| world people who were sick used to visit | | | | |
| different kind of doctors. These doctors were | | | | Illnesses ranging from the common cold and |
| not the steth-wielding, tech-savvy, | | | | sore throat to warts, cancer, malaria, |
| white-coated medical geniuses of today. | | | | impotence and arthritis are said to be |
| Mostly, they were bearded, wizened and | | | | treated through folk medicine. |
| gnarled humans looking less like physicians | | | | |
| and more like witches or wizards. But they | | | | Folk medicine largely depended on the use of |
| were revered, loved and even feared because | | | | natural materials such as herbs, plant roots, |
| of one particular skill they possessed the | | | | trees, barks, fruits, insects and food items. |
| healing touch. | | | | Therefore, these practitioners paid a lot of |
| | | | attention to botany. |
| In the early days of civilization, a vast | | | | |
| majority of people were cut off from formal | | | | But the advent of modern medicine saw a |
| medical care. Competent physicians were a | | | | decline in folk medicine as these rustic |
| luxury, to be enjoyed only by the super-rich | | | | practices were put under the microscope, |
| and royalty. For everyone else, there was the | | | | dissected and then discarded as worthless. |
| local witch-doctor who was respected for his | | | | One more reason contributed to the decline of |
| or her in-depth knowledge of folk medicine. | | | | folk medicine. |
| This was the man or woman who treated | | | | |
| everything from boils to gangrene, from | | | | Folk medicine started its downward slide with |
| cesarean to malaria and even small pox. | | | | the advent of magical healing powers. Seedy |
| | | | people on the lookout for a few fast bucks |
| What is astonishing is that many of these | | | | were successful in capitalizing on the trust |
| so-called doctors effectively cured their | | | | and faith of large sections of the society. |
| patients. What is even more interesting is | | | | Once their ruse came to light, people began |
| that these medicines have lost none of their | | | | to lose faith in folk medicine. Soon folk |
| charms with the passage of time and more and | | | | medicine was relegated to a gray area between |
| more of them are finding their rightful place | | | | orthodox medicine and quackery. |
| in mainstream medicines. | | | | |
| | | | However, as more and more people have started |
| Remember how your grandma used to give you | | | | to realize, there is a wealth of knowledge in |
| wild cherry bark for cough, or boil the twigs | | | | traditional folk medicine. As people have |
| and leaves of red cedar to cure your cold? | | | | started adopting the holistic way of life, |
| Well, thats folk medicine! If you were to ask | | | | there is a struggle to re-invent the precious |
| your grandma how she learnt those techniques, | | | | folk medicine of yore. In recent years, the |
| shed draw a blank! These unofficial | | | | folk medicine of indigenous people is |
| health-related practices were passed on | | | | becoming more popular. |
| informally by word of mouth and were | | | | |