A Brief History Of Naturopathy: Ancient Practices And Modern Applications

The history of the naturopathy is one of the most common ancient practices used for the treatment process and it mainly refers to the practice of the natural therapies used for the treatment, prevention and the promotion of the optimum health by using the therapeutic modalities that can mainly promote the self-healing procedure of the human body. While considering the historical emergence of the naturopathy treatment, the following names and era (times) can be mentioned (Gerontakos, 2021).

• In 2700 BC, the Shen Nong discovers the Chinese herbalism.
• In the era of 1700 BC, the code of Hamurabi lays down the laws of doctors (Cayleff, 2016).

Fig.1- Hippocrates

• Hippocartes is known as the father of Medicine (486-377 BC). During the era of emergence of the Alexander the Great was aligned with the emergence of the Hippocrates and he developed the ideas of the medical science by studying the symptoms and findings of the diseases. Hippocrates had the view that aligned with the natural restoration of the body by improving the innate healing process of the body (Cayleff, 2016).

Fig.2- IBN Sina

IBN SINA (980-1037)- He is known as Avicena for his overall contribution to the world of the natural medicine that left a legacy that should be followed for a hundred of years after his death and he had a strong stand for advocating the sociohumanitarian ideas throughout Persia and Central Asia. He mainly put focus on the prevention of the disease instead of the treatment of the disease (Cayleff, 2016).

Fig.3- Hildegard Von Bingen

(1098-1179)- He was a German saint renowned for her spirituality and creative healing process. She was also known for the herbalist and scientist and he was specialist in the herbal medicine and she was mainly responsible for the creating practice associated with the nutrition, detoxification and natural remedies (Cayleff, 2016).

Fig.4- Samuel Thomson

Samuel Thomson

(1769-1843)- He was the premiere American botanic who showed his hatred towards the allopathic treatment prevalent in the 19^thcentury and as a part of the treatment process he reported about the treatment by using the remedies, enemas, herbs and steam baths to reinstate an individual’s vital force (Cayleff, 2016).

Fig.5- Benedict Lust

• Benedict Lust: (1872-1945)- He was considered as the individual who had popularize the naturopathy treatment and he was associated with a diverse range of practitioners and the practices related to the natural healing arts as well.
• In the 19^thCentury, the discipline was formalized in Australia along with the other countries of Europe by the nature cure movement and the hydrotherapy. In Australia, naturopathy is now considered as one of the widespread methods of complementary medicine or CM (Cody, 2019).
• The presence of the European immigrants and the Chinese community people in the country are mainly responsible for the popularity of the CM in the country. The emergence of the CM in the country is considered the period of 1910 to 1940 (Cayleff, 2016).
• Among the pioneers of the popularity of CM in the Australia, the name of the Frederick Roberts and Maurice Blackmore can be mentioned. Frederick Roberts was responsible for establishing many clinics in the different regions of the country and on the other hand, Blackmore was associated with the opening first health shop in 1934 in Brisbane.
• During the boom period during the start of 1970, a revitalization in naturopathy overlapped with the holistic wellbeing program that highlighted positive wellbeing, environment related issues, self-accountability and exercises like nourishment, vitality, meditation, fitness and spirituality (Wardle et al., 2019).
• Naturopathy along with its therapeutic diversity was well-positioned in the social and cultural change in the country. On the contrary to this, the popularity was also associated with the disbelief from the health authority cataloguing naturopathy as a “minor cult system” as per the initial government report. Along with this, it was also reported that the particular period also saw the dissociating of chiropractic and osteopathy from naturopathy after getting constitutional rule position in most of the states since the 1980’s.
• In recent time, Australia has one of the recent uppermost rates of CM consumption among the developed countries around the world. It was reported that approximately 50 per cent of the Australian population used the CM at least once during the last 12 months period which was much higher than the rate of CM use in USA that is 38 per cent followed by UK (28 per cent), Canada (17 per cent) (Ooi, McLean & Pak, 2018).  
• Another important factor that needs to be mentioned in the recent development of the CM in the country, it can be reported that the over the last two decades, the use of CM has enhanced a lot and it was reported that Naturopaths were the largest group in the country which was almost 55.9 per cent of total practitioners engaged in the naturopathy in 2006. It was estimated that by the end of 2017 the number would be more than 4000 and by the end of 2022 this will be 4600 (Ooi, McLean & Pak, 2018).
• The integration of the western medicines along with the naturopaths was also reported in recent time as it was reported that almost a quarter of naturopaths and the western herbalists responded in a common survey in Australia and in a clinic established in 2006 in Sydney the general practitioners and the naturopaths worked together (Steel et al., 2019).

References

Cayleff, S. E. (2016). Nature's path: a history of naturopathic healing in America. JHU Press.

Cody, G. W. (2019). Naturopathic Medicine. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journal, 18(4), 34.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7219462/ 

Gerontakos, S. (2021). Moving beyond the solo private practice model: Insights from a global naturopathic survey study and innovations in delivery to address issues of access and integration of naturopathy in Australia. Australian Journal of Herbal & Naturopathic Medicine, 33(1).

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=22003886&AN=150722039&h=fqEPZLq1Amef2wUWJxwpt8BuBzxs303XnjKBMxxz%2BLJgG40zSmQy2Re3ZnP45EZZRUVB5s6vOSNCfYDKhdFHMQ%3D%3D&crl=c 

Ooi, S. L., McLean, L., & Pak, S. C. (2018). Naturopathy in Australia: Where are we now? Where are we heading?. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 33, 27-35.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1744388118304389 

Steel, A., Breakspear, I., Carter, J., Pinder, T. A., & Smith, C. (2019). Formation of the Australian Naturopathic Council (ANC): Formalising a new era of unity for Australian naturopathy. Australian Journal of Herbal and Naturopathic Medicine, 31(4), 142-144.

https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.844135201261160 

Wardle, J., Steel, A., Casteleijn, D., & Bowman, D. (2019). An evidence-based overview of naturopathic practice in Australia. Australian Journal of Herbal and Naturopathic Medicine, 31(1), 9-13.

https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.279723869344685