Brief History

Cleansing the bowel is not a new idea, in fact, it can be traced back to the days of the ancient Egyptians. The first written description of this type of therapy dates back to 1500BC in the Ebers Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medical document. Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus, who recognized as the founding fathers of Western medicine, detailed, practiced and prescribed the regular use of colon cleansing.

 

In the United States, the popularity of colon cleansing was remarkable in the early 20^th century. During the early 1900’s, enemas were commonly used as a standard practice among physicians and implemented as common treatment protocol in the majority of hospitals. Enema therapy greatly diminished in the 1950’s due to a decrease in use and access. Surgery and pharmaceutical drugs became more popular options as the medical community embraced the idea that “such treatments were no longer useful.” Colon cleansing became popular again at the end of the 20^th century, and presently, the ancient ideas of cleansing the bowel are expanding and flourishing around the globe.

“In times past, knowledge of the bowel was more widespread and people were taught how to care for the bowel. Somehow, bowel wisdom got lost and it became something that no one wanted to talk about anymore.” – Bernard Jensen, D.C