Traditional medicine practice approaches: past history, Today's challenge

All Iranian traditional medical scholars from past to today have agreed that the purpose of medicine is to keep the healthiness and to bring it back when it has gone. But they were disagreed in method of gaining and training needed knowledge that it remains today. Observing those historical differences would provide lessons for the best use of traditional medicine today. the current study is a survey that evaluates Iranian traditional medicine practice methods which have been discussed in Iranian traditional medicine books such as "Hidayat-al-Motaallimin fi l-ttib" of AbuBakr Rabi ibn Ahmad Ahkhawayini Bukhari, "Miftah al- Tibb va Minhajal-Tullab" of Ibn-i Hindu, "Zakhireh Kharazmshahi" of seyed Ismail Jorjani, "Fi Feragh al-tibb lel-moteallemin" of Galen, "Uyun al-Anba fi Ṭabaqhat al-Aṭibba" of Ibn abi usaybia and some other manuscripts. Former traditional physicians used either logical or experimental methods to reach medical knowledge and to practice it. Their different methods of diagnosis, knowledge acquisition and treatment was based on their diverse beliefs about the importance of aprecise method which by, they were categorized into 3groups: the Empiricists, the Rationalists and the Methodists. A pure Empiricist only stresses on the use of past experience which narrows the rout towards innovation and deduction, therefore weakens understanding and performing in new diseases or clinical conditions. On the other hand, induction without the use of previous experience also makes diagnosis and treatment difficult. Finally approaching the disease and not the patient as the pure Methodists do, opens the way towards many mistakes specially towards overuse of interventions and potent medication.Discussion & It seems that achieving to acute facts in medicine needs a combination of experience, experimentation, deduction and reasoning in causes of diseases and conditions of the patients. Since medicine has been historically developed by experience and deduction, nowadays those healers who apply these methods efficiently in each patient or new disease are able to diagnose and treat more effectively.