A traditional healer in Côte d'Ivoire

Folk medicine refers collectively to procedures traditionally used for treatment of illness and injury, aid to childbirth, and maintenance of wellness. It is a body of knowledge distinct from "scientific medicine" and may coexist in the same culture. It is usually unwritten and transmitted orally until someone "collects" it. Within a given culture, elements of folk medicine knowledge may be diffusely known by many adults, or may be gathered and applied by those in a specific role of healer, shaman, midwife, witch, or dealer in herbs. Elements in a specific culture are not necessarily integrated into a coherent system, and may be contradictory. Image File history File links Traditional_healer_Cote_dIvoire_060433433791. ... Image File history File links Traditional_healer_Cote_dIvoire_060433433791. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or function of the body caused by an outside agent or force, which may be physical or chemical. ... Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy with the emergence of a newborn infant from its mothers uterus. ... Wellness is generally used to mean a healthy balance of the mind-body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Culture The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... A healer is someone who purports to aid recovery from ill health. ... The shaman is an intellectual and spiritual figure who is regarded as possessing power and influence on other peoples in the tribe and performs several functions, primarily that of a healer ( medicine man). The shaman provides medical care, and serves other community needs during crisis times, via supernatural means (means... Midwifery is a blanket term used to describe a number of different types of health practitioners, other than doctors, who provide prenatal care to expecting mothers, attend the birth of the infant and provide postnatal care to the mother and infant. ... This article is part of the Witchcraft series. ... A herb (pronounced hurb in Commonwealth English and urb in American English) is a plant grown for culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual value. ...

Folk medicine is sometimes associated with quackery when practiced as theatrics or otherwise practiced fraudulently, and sometimes with witchcraft and often with shamanism, yet it may also preserve important knowledge and cultural tradition from the past. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The term witchcraft (and witch) is a controversial one with a complicated history. ... A shaman doctor of Kyzyl. ...

Herbal medicine is an aspect of folk medicine - the use of gathered plant parts to make teas, poultices, or powders that purportedly effect cures. Many effective treatments adopted by physicians over the centuries were derived from plants (salicylate, digitalis, quinine), and botany was an important part of the materia medica of professional medical training before the 20th century. In the last century, modern medicine has continued to seek effective botanical treatments among exotic places and peoples but tended to regard herbal medicine of Western societies negatively. Recently, controlled studies of some of the herbalists' cures have suggested some are effective. By far the most commonly used seasoning for food is table salt; however, it is a mineral, not a spice. ... Tea leaves in a teacup. ... A poultice is a soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is spread on cloth over the skin to treat an aching, inflamed, or painful part of the body. ... Salicylic acid is a colorless, crystalline organic carboxylic acid. ... Species About 20 species, including: Digitalis ciliata Digitalis davisiana Digitalis dubia Digitalis ferruginea Digitalis grandiflora Digitalis laevigata Digitalis lanata Digitalis lutea Digitalis obscura Digitalis parviflora Digitalis purpurea Digitalis thapsi Digitalis viridiflora Digitalis is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous biennials, perennials and shrubs that was traditionally placed in... Molecular structure of quinine Tonic Water containing quinine. ... Botany is the scientific study of plant life. ... Materia medica is a Latin term for any material or substance used in the composition of curative agents in medicine. ...

Increasing attention is being paid to the folk medicine of indigenous peoples of remote areas of the world in hope of finding new pharmaceuticals. Of special concern is the extinction of many species by the clearing of formerly wild rainforests, that may cause the loss of species of plants that could provide these new aids to modern medicine. Attitudes toward this type of knowledge gathering and plant preservation vary and political conflicts have increasingly arisen over "ownership" of the plants, land, and knowledge in several parts of the world. Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmacon is drug, and logos is science) is the study of how chemical substances interfere with living systems. ... In biology and ecology, extinction is the ceasing of existence of a species or group of taxa. ... The Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, Australia. ...

One problem in getting the attention of modern medicine is that most research is funded by those who hope to eventually make a profit from such research. For example, honey has been a part of many folk cures, but it is common and cheap (compared to pharmaceuticals), and cannot be patented, therefore it is difficult to fund any research of its effectiveness. Medicine is the branch of health science concerned with maintaining human health or restoring it through the treatment of disease and injury. ... Honey Honey (born May 26, 1990 in New York City, America) is an international supermodel. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and...

In the USA, an old folk medicine field called apitherapy, in which bee stings or venom is used to aid victims of autoimmune disorders like arthritis or multiple sclerosis, is receiving renewed interest in recent years. Apitherapy is the medical use of honeybee products. ... Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. ... Arthritis (from Greek arthro-, joint + -itis, inflammation) is a group of conditions that affect the health of the bone joints in the body. ...

See also

• Complementary and alternative medicine

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a diverse set of medical and health care systems, practices, and products encompassing both complementary medicine and alternative medicine. ...

Reference

• Folk Medicine by D.C. Jarvis (ISBN 044920880X)

External link

• The American Apitherapy Society
• Natural Products Discussion Group Internet discussion group on the science and folklore of herbal medicines and natural products