Incan Medicines and Surgeries
Published on Feb 09, 2016
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
The Incans advanced many medical things, such as medicines, and how to do surgeries. They used many new techniques that people all around the world still use today.
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The Incas knew how to cure, among others, urinary track and respiratory disorders, such as the cough and bronchitis, and how to treat sickness in the immune system by increasing the amount of white blood cells or leukocytes. Also they were able to alleviate dysentery, ulcers, eye problems, lice and toothaches.
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To cure all these diseases the Inca had many remedies, anesthetics and anti-biotic. Many of these were medicinal plants. For example, some painkillers were chewing coca leaves. Also to reduce hunger as the Chasqui messengers did. But the Inca were not addicted to coca leaves. They also used wild tobacco, drinking chicha, maize beer. There were also natural antiseptics such as balsam and saponins (they were plants that had soap-like characteristics). The Incas also accomplished blood transfusion. The success rate was quite high since many of the Inca were from the same blood group.
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When the Incas were wrapping up open wounds, they would heat bark from a pepper tree over a fire, and while it was still hot, they put it on the wound and held it on with the jaw bone or large deceased animals. The doctors would also burn the wound to make sure no infections got into the person with the wound.
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When the Incas would perform surgeries, they often used the trepanation method, which is when you remove a part of the body to help. Often times when a person or animal had an arm injury that was really bad, they solved it by removing the arm.
Photo by Valerie Everett
Another type of surgery that the Incas performed was when they took a knife, and scraped or cut a hole into your head to reduce pressure, or to cure any other brain related injuries. Even though this seems like it would just cause more injury, the doctors were extremely talented and knew where to take the chunk of skull out, with the least amount of brain damage, or blood flowing out.
To be an Incan doctor, it required many things, that not many people had in the time period. First of all, your dad had to be a doctor, or you had to be a highly ranked priest. You also needed to attend a certain medical school that they had just for doctors back then. And even if you could graduate from the school, it took many years after to prove yourself worthy of being called a doctor. You also had to make sure you were always in peace with the gods, so they would heal your patients. And you had to be extremely smart to accomplish all of this, which means you needed some sort of schooling, which means you needed money to be a Incan doctor. Not many people were able to become a doctor, and if you were in the top best of the doctors, you would be sent off to work with the people in war, where you could easily die.
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Incan Doctors
The doctors they had were usually the priests, because they believed that they had a better chance of healing this way, because their gods were more likely to help them if it was a holy doctor. The doctors mixed practices with beliefs. Some people would receive no medicine because the priest thought that the god wanted them to die. The priests also killed people to "heal them" so they could live a better life somewhere else.
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The Incas believed that if they lied, stole, broke any law, or sinned against any god, that they would become sick. Even though the doctors would not be happy with them, they would still heal them, asking for forgiveness.
Photo by Alejandro Hernandez.
Many of the Inca's medicine techniques are still used today in many situations. The combined herbs that they used are the bases of some medicines today. Plus, many of the leaves used back then, are still used today in natural oils which can be used in many different medical situations. Also the surgery style that they used on the head was a foundation for some of the surgeries that we still perform now.
Photo by Josh Kenzer
MY REACTION
I thought that it was very cool how much they knew for being in that time period, and how they made so many advances, that turned into things that we still use now. I also thought that their techniques were interesting and unique, how they knew where to cut in a person's head to help them ,and then that person just lived with a hole in their head for the rest of their life.
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