You are about to read Terran’s article on European Biological Medicine, which he researched in preparation to accompany his father Ben Greenfield on this Swiss healing retreat in the Alps!

European Biological Medicine

The essay you are about to read is on European biological medicine. Let’s start off on the right foot and talk about what biological medicine is. Biological medicine is more modern medicine used for easing the symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis ( RA ) and a lot of other pains and such. Biological medicine works by targeting the particular chemical cells in the immune system response. Drugs were used before this method though, and they would target the inflammatory cells and obliterate them. But I feel like that’s not a very good idea because your white blood cells are what fight off bad bacteria. So, if you can use both biological medicine and drugs… what’s the difference? Well, biological medicine is made through plants and animal cells and living microorganisms while the drugs are made by specific chemicals in a specific order. Now that we know little about biological medicine, let’s get on with the ways of how we can use it.

Treament #1

The first treatment on our list is Colon Hydrotherapy, ( pronounced: co-lin-hi-dro-there-a-pee ) from the word, I can tell it possibly has something to do with water. Colon hydrotherapy uses a number of medical therapies to remove nonspecific toxins from the colon and intestinal tract by removing an accumulation of feces. But Colon Cleaning or colonic irrigation, for such purposes, isn’t necessary because your digestive tract already cleans your intestines of toxins. Focusing on colon hydrotherapy again; uses a LOT of water up to 16 gallons! so my little guess was correct. The water, or herbs and coffee, are flushed through the colon wiping it clean. You would do this by inserting a small tube into the rectum. Though sometimes doctors will put a small amount of water into the colon await some time until removing the water again. Colon hydrotherapy has been said to improve your health. But it has never been proved to be beneficial.

Treament #2

While were are still talking about water therapy let’s move on to number two, drumroll, please! HYDROTHERAPY! From what I can find out Hydrotherapy use baths, saunas, steam saunas, foot baths, hot and cold showers, so all and all a lot of water. Hydrotherapy works by dousing yourself in cold water which causes the blood cells to contract and then drenching yourself in hot water causing making blood cells dilate and sweat glands to activate removing waste from the tissues. This treatment is good for relieving pain and detoxifying your tissue. Although if you have a cardiovascular disease you will not want to do this treatment because the increase in blood flow will put additional stress on the heart. But other than this precaution, and a few others, hydrotherapy has been proven very useful.

Treatment #3

Our third topic is a weird one: cupping massage. Cupping massage is a very old treatment, and it dates back to 1,550 b.c and is used in over 60 countries. There are lots of different types of cupping such as dry, wet, and needle cupping. Let’s go over these three types of cupping, starting with dry cupping. Dry cupping is the most common, it sucks the skin into the cup. The next one, wet cupping, is the same as dry cupping except you would draw blood into the cup after the suction. Our last cupping treatment is needle cupping: this where they will insert acupuncture needles into the skin and put the cups over them. The treatment of cupping is very useful if you have inflammation. This treatment is probably one of my more interesting ones.

Treatment #4

Now for number 4! Be warned, it’s hard to pronounce, so here it is: phlebotomy therapy ( pronounced fle-bot tom-ee ). Phlebotomy is a therapy used to extract serum iron by taking tiny needles and drawing blood this is called venipuncture. But be sure not to mix phlebotomy with phlebectomy they’re very similar. This method is also used to reorder disordered blood cells.

Treatment #5

You know… I think I’m beginning to see a theme here, all of these therapies are kind of hard to pronounce such as our fifth therapy: baunscheidt ( and no, I can’t help you pronounce it ). Baunscheidt is a little bit like acupuncture, they poke fine needles into your body and rub you with a special oil that will get the blood circulation going. Apparently, a guy named baunscheidt discovered this process ( no surprise ) when he got bit by a bug and it caused inflammation in his knee joints. After decongestion, he realized his pains were gone, and that’s when he discovered the therapy. Today this therapy is still around, but the oil is no longer for sale. Gladly therapists have their own recipes.

Treatment #6

Here comes our sixth: connective tissue therapy. Connective tissue is pretty much the stuff that’s under your skin. All of the veins in your arm go through the tissue, it keeps your body together. But the actual therapy uses a wide range technique that facilitates the diagnostics and treatment of pathologies. They also observe the skin subcutaneous tissue. The effects of this treatment cause higher blood flow and suppression of pain.

Treatment #7

Our third to last ( a.k.a 7 ) is foot reflexology massage. Although it’s paired with massage, it’s technically not a massage. It’s a different therapy that will apply pressure to your feet which supposedly benefits your entire body. This works by taking the pressure and placing it on a reflex spot on your foot. A reflex spot is a particular area that is connected energetically to separate organs. A few examples of a reflex spot would be: the tip of your toe which influences the head, the ball of your foot connects to your heart and chest. This therapy goes all the way back to Egypt and China. But now it is known as reflexology.

Treatment #8

Two more to go! Our eighth therapy sounds kind of dangerous: lymphatic drainage, see what I mean?! Anyway, lymphatic drainage is a type of massage based on an unproven hypothesis. It encourages that natural drainage of the lymph, which carries the waste away from the tissue back towards the heart. They brush the sides of your neck softly, which is connected to the immune system. The immune system carries some of the toxins from the lymph, and since the neck is connected to the immune system, it brushes some of the toxins out. This therapy is highly recommended if you have acne.

Treatment #9

The ninth therapy is kinda cool, matrix regeneration therapy. Matrix regeneration therapy is a treatment for those with toxic depot clogging. This therapy a little bit like cupping massage, actually it’s a modern form of cupping. Matrix regeneration loosens up the depot clogging and directs them to the lymphatic system which, ( as you know ) flushes them down the drain. This therapy has a wide variety of benefits too, such as: stimulating the immune system, activating the lymphatic system, and removing blockages. You know, it’s kind of amazing what suction can do…

Treatment #10

Finally! Our final finale! Dry cupping! I know, I know, we already did but for some reason, dad put it on the list again, so I’m just going to elaborate on it more. Dry cupping is an extension to cupping therapy ( as I mentioned ), this form of cupping is probably the most common out of the three cupping therapies. It uses suction to create blood flow and to get rid of inflammation. They will first put a flammable substance such as alcohol or paper into the cup and set it on fire. As the fire is going out they put the cup on your skin, and as the air cools it creates a vacuum, that’s science for ya. More modern versions of dry cupping will attach a rubber pump onto the cup and create suction like that. (but I personally like the fire way better).

We finished it! Good job folks! I really hope you learned some vocabulary reading this because I sure know I did! 😉 Anyway, you probably now know a lot more about therapies. Thank you!