Orthopathy

Orthopathy (from the Greek ortho- right- + pathos suffering,) or Natural Hygiene (NH) is a set of alternative medical beliefs and practices originating from the Nature Cure movement. Proponents claim that fasting, dieting, and other lifestyle measures are all that is necessary to prevent and treat disease.

Orthopathy is against most mainstream and alternative medical treatment, with the exception of surgery in certain situations, such as for broken bones and to remove a deadly secondary cause. Orthopathy has its roots in naturopathy and first emerged in the early nineteenth century.

Orthopathy is described by Natural Hygiene inventor Herbert M. Shelton as follows:

Disease action no less than health action, is right action; yet it occasions suffering because of adverse conditions that have been imposed upon the body. So, by the term Orthopathy we mean right suffering.

The orthopathy movement originated with Isaac Jennings, who, after practicing traditional medicine for 20 years in Derby, Connecticut, began formulating his ideas about it in 1822. Several other mostly later thinkers, including Sylvester Graham, likewise from Connecticut, influenced the movement or are considered important to it. Also, during the 1880s, Thomas Allinson developed his theory of medicine, which he called 'Hygienic Medicine.'

Shelton wrote much on the topic, beginning with The Hygienic System: Orthopathy in 1939, which renamed orthopathy as "Natural Hygiene".

Shelton distinguished the method of Nature Cure from other medical schools of thought of its time, including naturopathy, heliopathy (sun cure,) homeopathy, 'bio-chemic', and what Shelton called allopathy (mainstream medicine.)

Consumption of 'incompatible' foods in one meal is said to lead to ill health, and consumption of 'compatible' foods is said to maintain it: Shelton defined food combining and seven groups of food, sorted by function as: supplying energy (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) needed to build the body (proteins, salts, and water) and regulating bodily processes (minerals, vitamins, and water.)

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