Research & Article

 This article discusses the history of Thai traditional medicine, including principles and details of systematic disease diagnosis for treatment with medicines. In order to diagnose and treat diseases using traditional Thai medicine, practitioners must first possess knowledge about the causes of illnesses, known as the "samutthan of disease." Only then can they identify the name of the disease and determine the appropriate medicinal treatment. In the old days, Thai traditional doctors often referred to various ailments collectively as "fever." According to the principles of traditional Thai medicine, illness arises from five primary causal factors: that samutthan (the elements), utu samutthan (the season), ayu samutthan (age), kala samutthan (time), and Prathet samutthan (place).