Medieval prayer to stop bleeding, still used in Swiss hospitals.

Any suggestions folk remedies whose inefficiency is so obvious that no one has stopped to study it. However, there could always be someone hiding behind a lack of research to protect them from mainstream medicine. For this reason, a group of scientists from Freiburg University conducted research on The Secret, a medieval prayer still used in some Swiss hospitals to stop bleeding.

In fact, this offer is quite popular in Francophone part of Switzerland. So much so that many patients ask surgeons not to forget to perform it. Therefore, it is not surprising that when these scientists chose 200 members research, 76% admitted trust in “The Secret” to avoid bleeding.

All of them were in the hospital to undergo some coronary intervention. This means that effective methods are needed to stop the bleeding, which can be very intense. Therefore, there was no group to which only prayer was performed. It would be unethical, no matter how the participants asked for it. Yes, there was a group that only had conventional treatments and another that used a mixture of them. No, as expected there were no differences.

Origin of “Secret”

“Secret” is a prayer practiced in the Middle Ages European monks. It was based on an excerpt from gospel in which Jesus miraculously heals a bleeding woman and was to be performed by consecrated men who taught each other to do so.

That is, even today it is assumed that no one can perform it on himself or a family member. Today, it is usually performed in hospitals whose surgeons usually do not even believe in it. But they do it because their patients do.

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

It’s no secret that this sentence doesn’t stop the bleeding.

Bleeding of patients after the intervention was assessed according to the classification Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC). It is given a score from 0 to 5, where 0 indicates no bleeding and 5 indicates fatal bleeding.

In this case, bleeding was found in 27.5% of patients and the rates were very similar. Among those who received only standard care, 14% had BARC1 and 13% had BARC2. As for those who also completed the Secret Prayer, 16% were classified as BARC1 and 12% as BARC2. None of them were serious.

What is clear is that prayer did not help at all. However, and despite the fact that there is now even a study proving this, it is possible that it will continue to be used in Swiss hospitals. The reason, according to its authors, is that it actually helps reduce anxiety for the operation of patients. In fact, although they did not analyze this part in this study, they believe that it may lead to some Placebo effect. In other words, patients who believe in the effectiveness of the “Secret” tolerate surgical interventions more calmly.

This will not help reduce bleeding, but it will help you feel more relaxed about your surgery, which can be very helpful during surgery. postoperative.

In short, doing unreasonable medieval practices makes no medical sense. But if there is psychological benefits, can still be considered. The main thing is not to leave aside traditional medicine, no matter how patients believe in prayers. Because no, no deity can stop the bleeding. Only science can do this.