Folk Medicine to Traditional Medicine: An Essay for Action

Folk medicine, also known as traditional medicine or indigenous medicine, represents a treasure trove of healing practices that have been passed down through generations across the globe. Rooted in local knowledge, cultural beliefs, and the experiences of communities, folk medicine encompasses an expansive range of remedies, rituals, and therapeutic techniques aimed at preventing and promoting health as well as alleviating illness. While modern medicine has made significant advancements, particularly in diagnostics over the last century, folk medicine continues to thrive as an important facet of healthcare in many parts of the world.

Folk medicine has its origins in the earliest human societies, where individuals relied on rudimentary tools, limited scientific knowledge and their observations of the natural world to develop methods of healing. Over time, these practices became more sophisticated and were passed down orally and through practical experience and mentorship relationships. Each culture has a tailored approach to folk medicine, that is largely shaped by the local natural environment – the plants, the animals, and the people. Also, available resources, spiritual beliefs, and community traditions are seen as crucial components to maintaining optimum health and healing disease.

And over the 60,000 years of recorded history of folk medicine practices, there is a synchronicity of approach to medicine

1. Holism and Balance: Historically, medicine has viewed health through the lens of balance between the body, mind, and spirit. Imbalances or disruptions in these elements are believed to lead to illness, and the goal is to restore the equilibrium.

2. Nature's Wisdom: Natural resources, such as plants, minerals, and animal products, in as unadulterated form as possible, serve as the basis of treatment. Indigenous communities have developed an intricate understanding of their local flora and fauna, identifying plants with medicinal properties, and the benefits of certain animal and insect species, and utilising them in various preparations.

3. Energetic Healing: The “vital force” or energetic element of life is essential. The concept of energy flow within the body is evident in ancient practices such as acupuncture, Reiki, and pranic healing. The aim being to manipulate this energy for therapeutic effects.

4.Spiritual Significance: There are very strong connections to cultural and spiritual beliefs - rituals, ceremonies, and incantations are employed to invoke healing forces or healing deities. This can be seen also as an extension of energetic healing by ensuring community participation in the healing process of individuals.

5. Individualised Care: There is a focus on the way of life and habits of people afflicted with disease. Practitioners consider an individual's disposition, the way in which their symptoms manifest individually, their specific triggers, and overall wellbeing when allocating treatment plans.

While the advent of conventional medicine has brought remarkable advancements in healthcare, such as genetic testing or the mucolytics used in Cystic Fibrosis, folk medicine principles are still exceedingly relevant. While prevention, natural solutions, and individualised treatment has been the focus of folk medicine practices for thousands of years, this is an emerging area of evidence-based medicine that hasn’t had the same attention as deeply scientific based advances in care. And unfortunately, the disease centred approach of conventional medicine has led to a rise in patients complaining and sometimes suffering from the iatrogenic impacts of their treatment, especially with the use of synthetic pharmaceuticals as the primary treatment option.

Holistic medicine has not been afforded the same attention as other medical practices. And this has led to a lack of standardisation, paucity of scientific validation, and inconsistent regulatory oversight which has led to some safety concerns. Misuse of traditional remedies, by untrained or poorly trained practitioners, has led to adverse effects when combined with conventional treatment. Also with globalisation and urbanisation threatening the natural habitat of plants and animals, in addition to the erosion of cultural traditions, there is a risk the knowledge and remedies will become extinct.

Urgent action is needed to preserve folk medicine practices and elevate them to active traditional practice. There are accepted factors that contribute to the recognition, acceptance, and integration of folk practice within a broader holistic framework.

While the distinction between folk medicine, traditional medicine, holistic medicine, and integrative medicine can vary based on cultural perspectives, several key features contribute to the elevation of a folk medical practice to the status of accepted medical practice:

Broadening the Research Base around Healing Traditions: Some folk medical practices have been studied more than others. There has been continued interest in Eastern traditions, yet, African and Indigenous practices have had limited evaluation by medical anthropologists. Given very particular climate, animal life and plant life of those regions, key medical insights could be lost by focusing on certain traditional approaches.

Formalized Knowledge Transmission: Respect must be given to these practices as more than anecdotal remedies. This is best achieved through formalised knowledge transmission through detailed documentation, mentorship, and establishing creative and bespoke training approaches.

Research: Though some holistic practices may seem difficult to measure (such as energy medicine) there hasn’t been the same investment in money, time or effort with regard to proving the efficacy of holistic treatments. Research assists in the standardisation of approaches and ensures that knowledge is not lost across generations. This also allows people in other cultures, where the original practice is not known, to replicate approaches and utilise them for their own health.

The dissemination and application of folk medicine across the world has been impacted both positively and negatively by cultural, historical, political, and geographical factors. Some practices may remain folk remedies within local communities, while others achieve recognition on a broader scale. Given the rise in global disease burden, particularly chronic illness, it is important that as many people as possible work to preserve these medical traditions, and where they can, assist in them becoming integral components of our current healthcare toolkit.