Ever wondered how ancient people used to treat their wounds? There weren’t any antibiotics manufactured, there weren’t any fancy laboratories who tested their products first on the rats, then monkeys and then on humans themselves and then said, oops, it was bad one, lemme refine it!
So what did they have which helped them heal their wounds? They did survive! They had few, if any, resistant and dangeroud strains emerging in their environment as we have them today because of overuse, misuse and incorrect use of antibiotics!
Were ancient methods as effective as modern ones?
Well that’s a debatable topic. The methods were effective no doubt, but were they as effective as the modern day ones were, that can’t be said for sure.
Some might claim that the mortality rate was higher in those days, well which stats are you referring to? Please give me a link too!
One issue could be of authority of a doctor or physician. These days only a qualified physician can treat a person, at least in the modern and literate society, however in those times, everyone who knew something could try to do it on himself or the people around him, which could lead to a higher failure rate too!
Science have been there with humans for long, long before the crusaders burnt the libraries of the past.
Methods used in ancient medicine for wound healing
There are several methods used in past for wound healing. This included using herbs, mushrooms, honey and other sweet stuff, sugar for example.
Not sure if ancient or not, British doctors have experimented treating the wounds with “maggots” . . too in last century.
Wound healing with Sugar and Honey
Sugar and honey were effectively used in treating “specific” types of wounds in the past. Now it’s important to understand that they’re not helpful in treating every wound so don’t start pouring them on your wounds right now, stop, just keep them aside, don’t be the quake and go discuss with your doctor!
How does honey and sugar work in wound healing?
When they work, they’re considered to work through applying the osmotic pressure, making the wound bed dry and thus sort of disabling the bacterial life cycle. This also enhances the wound healing by pulling the nutrients out of the blood stream probably due to osmotic pressure, and by providing carbohydrates and energy directly at the wound site, obviously (last two are my own proposed phenomenon, let me know if you have anything against them).
Which type of wounds sugar and honey can heal?
Well we need to study more about them, as the authentic books and libraries were burnt by our fellow crusaders long ago, there’s no exact science known to us anymore. So until I’m sure enough, I won’t be commenting here about them though.
But why are European / British surgeons are using them again?
Because British and European surgeons originated from barbers (yes you read it right) so they don’t have that sense of responsibility and science as such. It’s good to avoid the ones who’re not able to explain what they’re doing scientifically and through source, specially the ones who prefer calling themselves Mister, and not doctors (not all though, some might just be doing so for a custom only, that barbers in Europe were called Mr., not Dr.)