Medicina Gymnastica or, A treatise concerning the power of exercise, with respect to the animal oeconomy; and the great necessity of it in the cure of several distempers

"Medicina Gymnastica" by Francis Fuller advocates for a revolutionary shift in early 18th-century medicine, challenging the reliance on internal remedies by illuminating the power of exercise in healing and maintaining health. Fuller pushes against the common thought that medicine only concerns itself with pills and potions; he argues for a balanced approach, highlighting how physical activity can massively improve the body's processes and fight different sicknesses. He starts by pointing out common misunderstandings about health, introducing exercise as a critical and often overlooked part of treatment based on his own experiences, and by citing traditional practices, setting the stage for a complete review of how exercise helps diseases, mainly those that affect the lungs, inviting us to reimagine medicine as a partnership between internal treatments and physical activity.