User:OsteWiki/Medicine in the medieval Islamic world

Approach to Medicine

Medicine in the Medieval Islamic World was often directly related to horticulture. Fruits and vegetables were related to health and well being, although they were seen as having different properties than what modern medicine says now. The use of the humoral theory is also a large part of medicine in this period, shaping the diagnosis and treatments for patients.This kind of medicine was largely holistic, focused on on schedule, environment, and diet. As a result, medicine was very individualistic as every person who sought medical help would receive different advice dependent not only on their ailment, but also according to their lifestyle. There was still some connection between treatments however, as medicine was largely based on humoral theory which meant that each person needed to be treated according to whether or not their humors were hot, cold, melancholic, or choleric.

Horticulture

The use of plants in medicine was quite common in this era with most plants being used in medicine being associated with both some benefits and consequences for use as well as certain situations in which they should be used. This was due to the association between certain plants with hot or cold properties, i.e "cool as a cucumber" or a hot pepper. Thus, hot ailments such as a fever should be addressed by consuming a cucumber and a cool ailment such as a significant amount of phlegm should be treated with the pepper. Horticulture could be used to treat issues ranging from flatulence, incontinence, and kidney stones.