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From nature cure to contemporary naturopathic medicine

Nature cure was one of the original foundations of naturopathic medicine. This article discusses the core foundations of naturopathic medicine.
The long road naturopathic medicine has taken has had alot of influences and impacts from different aspects in its development.
© Courtesy of Pixabay 2023.

“Nature cure is a system of building the entire being in harmony with the constructive principles in Nature on the physical, mental, moral and spiritual planes of being” – Henry Lindlahr.

While contemporary naturopathic medicine has been historically linked to the work of Sebastian Kneipp and Benedict Lust, other pioneers within naturopathic medicine have also contributed to what we know about the origins of naturopathic medicine, such as the Nature cure movement.

Benedict Lust incorporated elements of Nature cure into naturopathic medicine during his time of influence, much of which aligned with drugless healing before the establishment of naturopathic medicine. Drugless healing was the primary approach within Nature cure that involved treating disease and illness without any ingestive therapeutics and often involved fresh air, sunshine, nature exposure, and manipulative body treatments such as massage therapy and osteopathy.

Similar to water cure, Nature cure has its roots in Germany. Vincenz Priessnitz, a simple farmer, had the art of healing that resulted in students from all over the world coming to him for health advice. These students came from the Western world and included medically trained practitioners such as Henry Lindlahr, Walter Cannon, William Schulze, and John Kellogg. After completing their training with Vincenz Priessnitz, many of these practitioners became Nature cure practitioners. One such prominent student was Henry Lindlahr. Again, like others who discovered natural health to support their struggles, Henry was diagnosed with diabetes during the 19th century, well before insulin had been medically discovered and manufactured. In search of a medical treatment in the USA, where he was the Mayor of a town in Montana, Lindlahr found no such cure. His search led him to Germany to Sebastian Kneipp. His response to this failing health at the age of 35 was believed to be caused by his foolishness of over consuming unhealthy food, using stimulants, and overworking.

Shortly after returning to the USA after health guidance from Kneipp, he enrolled in an Eclectic Medicine College and established himself as a Nature cure practitioner. He practised in clinic but also opened the Lindlahr Sanitarium in Chicago and the Lindlahr College of Natural Therapeutics. The contributions to naturopathic medicine did not end in his establishment of these institutions. Henry also published magazines on Nature cure and books about the Nature cure philosophy. This may be considered his most significant contribution to naturopathic medicine through exploring Nature cure philosophies through his published work on Nature cure and Philosophy of Natural Therapeutics.

As detailed, Henry Lindlahr made significant contributions to naturopathic medicine through his philosophical thoughts. This video provides a short overview of his contributions through the Lindlahr Sanitarium.

This is an additional video, hosted on YouTube.

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Fundamentals of Naturopathic Medicine

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