Protection and Medicine

Inca doctors used a range of treatments which included blood letting, purging, dieting and bathing. Most medicines were made from pure plants such as the dried leaves of a coca plant.
Unlike how we have proper equipment for surgeries in the modern day, the Incas were not as fortunate in the 1400s. The anaesthetic most used in those days was cocaine that was obtained from coca. The most frequently performed operation in that time was believed to be the trepanning where they would create a hole in the skull to relieve pressure from the brain. There is a theory where it states that the Incas could have done it to release a demon from the head. This was a common operation as many Incas who went into war used clubs and other weapons to defend and attack.

The other type of healing that the Incas practised was "good magic". This involved prayers, fasting, sacrifice and confessions of sin. This was mainly used when the psychological health of a person was damaged. From this type of healing came the September ceremony of Sitowa where all the sick people had to leave the city for a day. While they were out the healthy ones had to fast. They would create a special paste made up of maize  and llama blood and smear it on their bodies and the doorsteps of their homes. When the moon rises everyone will gather in the main square and shout out "Ills and Unhappiness be gone from the country". Afterwards there would be a celebration and dancing with the thought of bad health being banished for the next year in all of the Inca's minds.