Traditional Knowledge-based Medicine: A Review of History, Principles, and Relevance in the Present Context of P4 Systems Medicine

Wellness and healing are the challenges traditionally addressed by medicine, empirically shaped along with the evolution of civilizations. Western medicine (WM) originates from Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean medicine (during the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman empires) and has established itself as the reference in most countries with undisputable benefits on health and life expectancy. Traditional medicines (TMs) are millennia old and offer empirical practices including medication with natural elements and focus on overall wellness. Although the purpose of relief is similar in WM and TM approaches, the philosophies and methodologies differ. TM emphasizes the consideration of the patient body and mind as a whole for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment; WM focuses on the suppression of symptoms on targeted parts of the body. The acceptance of TM by the scientific community is limited by the lack of ground-breaking scientific evidence of its benefits and efficiency, coupled to the ignorance of its inherent medical basis. We review the origins and concepts of TM from Southern and Eastern Asia, as compared with WM, and believe it can help to create a modern systems biology-based approach to health and healing, in the sense of predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory (P4) medicine.