Leech Therapy

Leech therapy"Leech therapy is an old procedure that has received increasing attention in clinical settings in recent years.It is particularly successful e.g. used for the therapy of painful knee joint arthrosis, tennis elbow or rheumatic inflammation.This book shows the basics, methodology and applications of leech therapy. The focus is on areas of indication already proven by scientific studies.Therapists benefit from specific instructions for leech therapy and learn about the range of possibilities, but also the limits of the procedure. The evaluation of the procedure for the individual indications helps to assess the choice of therapy more reliably. " (Michalsen & Roth:...

Leech therapy is an old and modern method at the same timeMany citizens feel disgusted at the thought of leeches.However, these small, slippery and worm-shaped bloodsuckers are an “old treasure of naturopathy” that has been preserved until today.200 years BC The leeches were successfully used by the healers at that time. Many older people have had very good experiences with these “animals” or are familiar with “leech therapy” at least from their childhood.Only a few naturopathic practices still use leeches for therapeutic purposes today.In many cases, leeches are not mastered, or the patientfundamentally reject such therapy. The scope of this...

Guinea pigs:Bite healthy from the leechLeeches take some getting used to - but healthy, especially their saliva, which they release into the body when they are sucked. It contains over 30 substances that are said to help with joint pain, boils or tendonitis. The leech has a healing effect because of its saliva, which it injects into the patient's body while biting: This contains more than 30 different substances that have a healing effect. Some of them have been researched, such as hirudin, which can also be produced synthetically and prevents blood clotting, or histamine, which dilates the vessels. Other...

The General Hospital (AKH) in Vienna not only focuses on the latest medical treatment options. Leeches, like those from antiquity, are used for healing purposes - about 50 times a year.The medical leech is not only the best-known representative of the leeches, but also a medical device and is used as such at the AKH. It is kept in a separate chamber in the AKH institutional pharmacy. There, Alexander Gregor, the senior pharmaceutical assistant, takes care of the animals that need a lot of care: “The leeches are happy about bathing. Then you become mobile. " The saliva of the...

Blood covered the hotel room where Tsetsi Stoyanova had checked in for the night. It stained the sheets and the towels and trailed over the bed. The mess dribbled out from a wound on Stoyanova's back. It smelled. Not like sweat or iron but something else — something strong. "The bleeding wouldn't stop. It just kept on going and going and going," Stoyanova says. "I made everything red and bloody." But Stoyanova, then in her 30s, wasn't nervous about losing blood. She was excited. It was why she'd journeyed across her home country of Bulgaria. Earlier that day, she and...