Abstract
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as: “the health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral-based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being. Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous or folk medicine) comprises medical knowledge systems that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine. Practices known as traditional medicines include herbal, Ayurveda, Siddha medicine, Unani, ancient Iranian medicine, Islamic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, traditional African medicine, and other medical knowledge and practices all over the globe. Integrative Medicine (IM) incorporates elements of complementary and conventional medicine into diagnosis and treatment of diseases. It focuses on health and healing by supporting the body’s innate healing abilities. The complementary arm of IM can resort to specific therapeutic techniques like acupuncture, or broadly adopt particular medical paradigms such as Homeopathy or Tibb. IM has a role to play in the treatment of acute disorders, mainly via the conventional arm of treatment, and chronic disorders, mainly via the complementary aspect. It should be considered for the increasingly prevalent diseases of lifestyle, and is an attractive healthcare paradigm for developing countries.
History of Unani Medicine
Though the threads which comprise Unani healing can be traced all the way back to Claudius Galenus of Pergamum, who lived in the second century of the Christian Era and also to Ancient Iranian Medicine, the basic knowledge of Unani medicine as a healing system was developed by Hakim Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in the west) in his medical encyclopedia The Canon of Medicine. The time of origin is thus dated at circa 1025 AD, when Avicenna wrote The Canon of Medicine in Persia. While he was primarily influenced by Greek and Islamic medicine, he was also influenced by the Indian medical teachings of Sushruta and Charaka.
Unani medicine first arrived in India around 12-13 century CE with establishment of Delhi Sultanate (1206-1527 CE) and Muslim rule over North India and subsequently flourished under Mughal Empire. Alauddin Khilji (r. 1296-1316) had several eminent Unani physicians (Hakims) in his royal courts. In the coming year this royal patronage meant development of Unani practice in India, but also of Unani literature with the aid of Indian Ayurvedic physicians
Unani Medicine
Unani medicine is ancient Greek medicine that has evolved within the Muslim world for the past 13 centuries (Unani is an Arabic spelling of Ionian, meaning Greek). Greek medicine, greatly simplified for presentation here, was based on the concept of balancing body humors. They either fell out of balance, which might yield diseases (depending on circumstances), or were restored to balance to heal diseases. The system involved four elements, thus differing from the Ayurvedic system of three doshas and the Chinese system of five elements. The original Greek and the resulting Unani systems involve these four elements: earth, air, water, and fire; along with four natures: cold, hot, wet, and dry; and four humors: blood (which is hot/wet), phlegm (cold/wet), yellow bile (hot/dry), and black bile (cold/dry).
Conventional and Alternative Approaches
The Duke Center for Integrative Medicine is a classic model of integrative care. It combines conventional Western medicine with alternative or complementary treatments, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage, biofeedback, yoga, and stress reduction techniques — all in the effort to treat the whole person. Proponents prefer the term “complementary” to emphasize that such treatments are used with mainstream medicine, not as replacements or alternatives. Integrative medicine got a boost of greater public awareness — and funding — after a landmark 1993 study. That study showed that one in three Americans had used an alternative therapy, often under the medical radar. In the past decade, integrative medicine centers have opened across the country. According to the American Hospital Association, the percentage of U.S. hospitals that offer complementary therapies has more than doubled in less than a decade, from 8.6% in 1998 to almost 20% in 2004. Another 24% of hospitals said they planned to add complementary therapies in the future. Patients usually pay out of pocket, although some services — such as nutritional counseling, chiropractic treatments, and biofeedback — are more likely to be reimbursed by insurance.
Modern Medicine
Medicine is an area of human knowledge concerned with restoring health. It is, in the broadest sense of the term, the science and practice of the prevention and curing of human diseases, and other ailments of the human body or mind. However, it is often used only to refer to those matters dealt with by academically trained physicians and surgeons.
Integration
Integrated Medicine couples the latest scientific advances with the most profound insights of ancient healing systems, giving you the best ways to preserve health, increase longevity and speed recovery from illness. Integrated Medicine embraces the best of conventional and alternative approaches, but is more than just a mixture of therapeutic techniques. To integrate is to make whole, and the distinctive feature of Integrated Medicine is its application of science to prevent or treat disease by healing the person who is sick, rather than just treating the disease. Integrated Medicine perceives illness biographically and at the same time uses the powerful data-base of modern biological and behavioral science to help describe the varied disharmonies which undermine the health of each individual. These disturbances originate, almost entirely, with dietary, environmental or social conditions. Integrated Medicine exists to empower people to improve their health by improving their four pillars of healing: interpersonal relationships, diet and lifestyle, environment, and the innate system of detoxification and repair.
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