Editing Hippocrates (section)

===Crisis===
[[Image:Kos Asklepeion.jpg|thumb|[[Asklepieion]] on [[Kos]]]]
An important concept in Hippocratic medicine was that of a ''crisis'', a point in the progression of disease at which either the illness would begin to triumph and the patient would succumb to death, or the opposite would occur and natural processes would make the patient recover. After a crisis, a relapse might follow, and then another deciding crisis. According to this doctrine, crises tend to occur on ''critical days'', which were supposed to be a fixed time after the contraction of a disease. If a crisis occurred on a day far from a ''critical day'', a relapse might be expected. Galen believed that this idea originated with Hippocrates, though it is possible that it predated him.<ref name="jones464859">{{Harvnb|Jones|1868|pp=46,48,59}}</ref>

[[Image:HippocraticBench.png|thumb|Illustration of a [[Hippocratic bench]], date unknown]]

Hippocratic medicine was humble and passive. The therapeutic approach was based on "the healing power of nature" ({{langx|la|[[vis medicatrix naturae]]}}). According to this doctrine, the body contains within itself the power to re-balance the [[four humours]] and heal itself ({{lang|grc-Latn|physis}}).<ref name="garrison99">{{Harvnb|Garrison|1966|p=99}}</ref> Hippocratic therapy focused on simply easing this natural process. To this end, Hippocrates believed "rest and immobilization [were] of capital importance".<ref name="margotta73">{{Harvnb|Margotta|1968|p=73}}</ref> In general, the Hippocratic medicine was very kind to the patient; treatment was gentle, and emphasized keeping the patient clean and sterile. For example, only clean water or wine were ever used on wounds, though "dry" treatment was preferable. Soothing [[Liniment|balms]] were sometimes employed.<ref name="garrison98">{{Harvnb|Garrison|1966|p=98}}</ref>

Hippocrates was reluctant to administer drugs and engage in specialized treatment that might prove to be wrongly chosen; generalized therapy followed a generalized diagnosis.<ref name="garrison98"/><ref name="sing35">{{Harvnb|Singer|Underwood|1962|p=35}}</ref> Some of the generalized treatments he prescribed are fasting and the consumption of a mix of honey and vinegar. Hippocrates once said that "to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness". However, potent drugs were used on certain occasions.<ref name="britannica">{{Harvnb|Tuke|1911}}</ref> This passive approach was very successful in treating relatively simple ailments such as broken bones, which required [[Traction (orthopedics)|traction]] to stretch the skeletal system and relieve pressure on the injured area. The [[Hippocratic bench]] and other devices were used to this end.<ref>{{cite book
| last1 = Kazantzidis
| first1 = George
| last2 = Gerolemou
| first2 = Maria
| editor-last = Kazantzidis
| editor-first = George
| editor2-last = Gerolemou
| editor2-first = Maria
| title = Body and Machine in Classical Antiquity
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| year = 2023
| isbn = 9781316514665
| page = 120
| format = hardcover|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KvnAEAAAQBAJ&dq=hippocratic+bench&pg=PA120}}</ref>

In Hippocrates's time it was thought that [[fever]] was a disease in and of itself.<ref name="LaFrance">{{cite magazine |last1=LaFrance |first1=Adrienne |title=A Cultural History of the Fever |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/09/running-hot-a-cultural-history-of-the-fever/405643/ |access-date=2 March 2023 |magazine=The Atlantic |date=16 September 2015}}</ref> Hippocrates treated patients with fever by [[Starvation|starving]] them out,<ref name="Currie">{{cite book |last1=Currie |first1=Margaret |title=Fever hospitals and fever nurses: a British social history of fever nursing: a national service |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1134265268 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkbgnoSEexsC&q=starve%20a%20fever |access-date=2 March 2023}}</ref> believing that 'starving' the fever was a way to neutralize the disease.<ref name="Paulian">{{cite book |last1=Paulian |first1=Gunther B. |title=Divine Prescription: and science of health and healing |date=2017 |publisher=Teach Services |location=<!-- not identified --> |isbn=978-1479608294 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hj0yDwAAQBAJ&dq=hippocrates+starve+a+disease&pg=PT166 |access-date=2 March 2023}}</ref> He may therefore have been the originator of the idea "[[Feed a cold, starve a fever]]".<ref name="Horne">{{cite book |last1=Horne |first1=Steven |title=Strategies For Health A Comprehensive Guide to Healing Yourself Naturally |date=2022 |publisher=Fulton Books |location=La Vergne |isbn=978-1637102541 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xypaEAAAQBAJ&dq=hippocrates+starve+a+fever&pg=PT184 |access-date=2 March 2023}}</ref>

One of the strengths of Hippocratic medicine was its emphasis on [[prognosis]]. At Hippocrates's time, medicinal therapy was quite immature, and often the best thing that physicians could do was to evaluate an illness and predict its likely progression based upon data collected in detailed case histories.<ref name="garrison9394"/><ref name="garrison97">{{Harvnb|Garrison|1966|p=97}}</ref>