When a pain killer or dose of peneciline doesn’t work there is always the route of alternative medicine. Alternative medicine includes a huge range of treatments from simple acupuncture used in the West until very unusual methods of healing, such as eating raw fish and frogs, which are practiced in the eastern countries of our planet. Nothing is crazy enough if it works! The fun stops, however, when parts of endangered species such as rhinos and tigers, get used because it is believed they can cure anything from baldness to erection problems to aids.
Consumers enjoy mud therapy at a nursing home in Anshan, east China’s Liaoning province August 21, 2006. The mineral mud is believed to be able to alleviate pain from rheumatoid arthritis, sequela of traumatisms and peripheral nervous system diseases.
A Chinese man receives treatment with bee venom for rhinitis, an inflammation of the nasal membranes, at a clinic in the Duqu Town of Xi’an, West China’s Shaanxi province. The doctor of the clinic Li Qixing uses bee venom released into the patient’s body when the bee stings, to cure diseases such as rheumatism, arthritis and rhinitis.
A man holds a terrapin, whose touch believed to cure rheumatism and other bodily ailments, as he prepares to treat the face of a villager in Kandal province, 20km (12 miles) west of Phnom Penh, May 24, 2006. Belief in the supernatural healing powers of animals such as turtles, cows and snakes is a relatively common phenomenon in Cambodia.
A woman receives traditional Chinese medical treatment with dead scorpions on her face at a hospital in Jinan, capital of eastern China’s Shandong province.
A woman receives traditional Chinese medical treatment with a walnut on her eye and ignited dry moxa leaves in her ear at a hospital in Jinan.
Visitors cover their bodies with black mud at a tourist resort in Daying County of Suning, south-western China’s Sichuan province. The mineral-rich black mud is believed to be good for the skin, local media reported.
Haj Mohamed el-Minyawi allows one of his bees to sting a patient suffering from ear problems in Cairo. Minyawi believes that the bee stings have special properties, that when used on different parts of the body can cure ailments like kidney problems, appendicitis and even cancer. Minyami has opened his home to public and treats people from all over Cairo.
A patient undergoes cupping treatment at Huangzhiguo Traditional Chinese Massage and Acupuncture Clinic in Shanghai. Cupping is a treatment that claims to take the heat out of the body, by using cups that are heated before being placed on the body of the patient. Huangzhiguo Traditional Chinese Massage and Acupuncture Clinic is the largest private clinic on Chinese traditional massage and acupuncture in Shanghai.
A man covered with mud sits in a medicinal mud pond at the Lagoon of Miracles in Chilca. The ‘Lagoon of Miracles,’ with its distinct greenish colour along with the mud ponds that surround it, is said to cure everything from acne to rheumatism.
A man prepares to swallow a live fish that has been dipped in homemade medicine during a camp in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. Every year in June, the Bathini Goud brothers from Hyderabad draw thousands to their camp to take part in the administering of the fish medicine, which they believe cures them of asthma and respiratory problems.
A patient receives a traditional Chinese medical treatment with needles and ignited dry moxa leaves on her face to cure facial paralysis, at a hospital in Jinan.
A doctor ignites dry moxa leaves in a patient’s ear during a traditional Chinese medical treatment for curing brain atrophy, at a hospital in Jinan.
Mohmmed Emad, 41, lies buried neck-deep in the sand in the El Dakrror mountain area at Siwa Oasis, 700 km northwest of Cairo and 55 km to the Libyan border. The people in Siwa believe that being buried in the sand during the hottest time of the day is a therapeutic treatment which can cure rheumatism, joint pain and sexual impotency.
Parapsychologist Fernando Nogueira communicates with spirits with one of his patients in Fafe, northern Portugal. Surrounded by clean hospital beds in his new Occult Sciences Centre in northern Portugal, Fernando Nogueira makes exorcism sound almost mundane.
A hearing impaired Palestinian boy receives treatment with bee venom at a clinic in Gaza City.
Garra rufa obtusas, also known as doctor fish, swim around the face of a man as he relaxes in a hot spa pool in Kangal, 105 kilometers (65 miles) south of the central Anatolian city of Sivas. The treatment is believed to heal Psoriasis, a chronic skin disease which affects the joints and skins. Garra rufa obtusa, also known as doctor fish which live in mineral-rich hot spa pools, is used in the treatment as they nibble away the diseased skin. The mineral-rich water is then believed to aid in the healing process of the lesions. People suffering from psoriasis travel to Kangal to stay at the spa for 21 days and visit the fish pools twice daily for four-hour treatment sessions.
Peruvian Ety Napadenschi, who is eight month pregnant, is touched by a dolphin named Wayra during a therapy session for pregnant women at a hotel in Lima. The therapy is supposed to stimulate the brains of the baby inside the belly, with the dolphins high-frequency sounds, to develop neuron abilities.
A villager pours water over the carcass of a dead calf, which villagers believe to be a magic cow born with crocodile skin, during its funeral at Trang Per village in Pusat province, 190km (120 km) northwest of Phnom Penh. The villagers believe that drinking water poured over the calf can cure rheumatism and other bodily ailments. Belief in the supernatural healing powers of animals such as cows, snakes and turtles is a relatively common phenomenon in Cambodia, where over a third of the population lives on under $1 a day and few can afford modern medicines.
An apprentice of the traditional Bosson religion uses her healing powers to cure a young child during the Ahouwe ritual purification dance in Aniassue on the eastern Ivory Coast. Ahouwe is a ritual dance in Ivory Coast’s eastern Akan area and in Ghana, during which followers become possessed by genies who instruct them on the preparation of natural cures. The women who practice the Bosson religion are known as Komians, spiritual mediums who claim to possess healing powers.
Cambodia villagers collect the urine of a cow believed to have healing powers in Kompot province, about 100 km (62 miles) south of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Belief in the supernatural healing powers of animals such as cows, snakes and turtles is relatively common in Cambodia, where more than third of the population lives on less than $1 a day and few can afford modern medicines.
Russian woman takes leech treatment in a laboratory in Moscow. The International Leech Centre raises leeches for use in treatments dating from ancient Egypt for a wide variety of ailments, including blood disorders and immunity problems.
Kazuhiro Aoki, puts his face in an aquarium as Garra rufa, a fish used for skin treatment, nibbles his skin at the Beautyworld Japan trade fair in Tokyo. Over 600 exhibitors took part in Japan’s largest beauty trade fair.
A resident receives horn cupping treatment on his back on a street in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Cupping is an alternative form of pain therapy that has been part of Chinese medicine for over 2,500 years, local media reported.
Nine-year-old Muhammad Ponari, a boy whom locals believe possesses healing powers, dips his magic stone into a bottle of water, during a mass healing event in Jombang, East Java province. About two months ago, Ponari caught a stone which fell from the sky, shortly after lightning struck the area he was playing in, according to Ponari’s uncle, Mulyono. Believing that this stone contained magical healing powers, thousands have sought Ponari’s help by drinking water which he dips the stone in.
Students perform Rubber Neti, an ancient yogic technique, in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. Many Indians believe that Rubber Neti controls the common cold, cough and asthma and keeps the nasal passages clean.
