The Role Of Medicine In Medieval History
Medicine makes a huge impact in medieval history. People had to deal with deadly illnesses and the medicine and treatment in that era were basic and they didn’t work to treat those diseases. Physicians had no idea what caused the disease for sure so they guessed and came up with some theories. The tools that they used were painful and basic, but helped with the creation of more advanced tools today. Most of the ideas about medicine were based on the works of Greek physicians, Galen and Hippocrates.
The treatments for disease didn’t really work, but doctors in that time thought they worked. A type of treatment was bloodletting; it was a very popular treatment for illness and it consisted of cutting a vein to extract a large amount of blood
from your body, or use leeches if a small amount of blood is needed to extract. Doctors used bloodletting in their patients when they went in a mild headache, or sore throat. Treppanning was also a treatment for sickness. It consisted of drilling a hole in the skull. Doctors used this to treat migraines and other mental disorders. Another treatment was simply praying to God.
There were no Antibiotics in the middle ages, and they couldn’t cure illness without them. They didn’t even know about germs and bacteria that caused those diseases. What they used were spices, herbs and resins. They would treat headaches with sweet-smelling herbs, such as rose and lavender. Wormwood and mint were used to treat stomach pains. The medicine was applied in drinks, pills, washes, baths, and ointments. Wounds were cleaned and people applied vinegar on them, because it was believed that vinegar could cure disease.
Medicine has advanced greatly from the middle ages to today. In the middle ages doctors didn’t have the knowledge to treat people correctly, and they did not know what caused disease, so they came up with multiple theories. For example, for the Roman Catholic Church diseases were a punishment from God for disgraceful behavior. Physicians believed that an unbalance of humors in the body got a person ill. Some Greek and Muslim phyisicians believed that the moon and the planets made an important role in a person’s health status.
The treatments for disease didn’t really work, but doctors in that time thought they worked. A type of treatment was bloodletting; it was a very popular treatment for illness and it consisted of cutting a vein to extract a large amount of blood
from your body, or use leeches if a small amount of blood is needed to extract. Doctors used bloodletting in their patients when they went in a mild headache, or sore throat. Treppanning was also a treatment for sickness. It consisted of drilling a hole in the skull. Doctors used this to treat migraines and other mental disorders. Another treatment was simply praying to God.
There were no Antibiotics in the middle ages, and they couldn’t cure illness without them. They didn’t even know about germs and bacteria that caused those diseases. What they used were spices, herbs and resins. They would treat headaches with sweet-smelling herbs, such as rose and lavender. Wormwood and mint were used to treat stomach pains. The medicine was applied in drinks, pills, washes, baths, and ointments. Wounds were cleaned and people applied vinegar on them, because it was believed that vinegar could cure disease.
Medicine has advanced greatly from the middle ages to today. In the middle ages doctors didn’t have the knowledge to treat people correctly, and they did not know what caused disease, so they came up with multiple theories. For example, for the Roman Catholic Church diseases were a punishment from God for disgraceful behavior. Physicians believed that an unbalance of humors in the body got a person ill. Some Greek and Muslim phyisicians believed that the moon and the planets made an important role in a person’s health status.