What does Mark 5:26 mean?

Jesus is about to encounter a woman who has spent twelve years plagued by a debilitating form of bleeding. Most likely, hers is a prolonged or perpetual menstrual bleeding, possibly due to cysts or other issues.

These "physicians" may have been religious leaders who had very little knowledge of biology. While the Old Testament itself does not suggest a treatment for hemorrhaging, the Talmud does. The Talmud is an extra-biblical compilation of commentaries on Jewish history, the Mosaic Law, and the application of the law. The Babylonian Talmud, in the Tractrate Shabbath (treatise on the laws regarding the Sabbath), Folio 110a-b, lists eleven treatments for excessive menstrual bleeding.

Most of these treatments involve boiling various things in wine, such as Persian onions, cumin, saffron, fenugreek, or a fern, having the woman hold it and declaring to her, "Cease your discharge." She may be told to sit at a cross-roads, holding a cup of wine, while a man comes from behind and frightens her, shouting, "Cease your discharge!" One "cure" calls her to rub flour on the lower half of her body. She may be told to burn thistles or an ostrich egg and wrap it in cloth. The strangest is the last: to fetch barley grain found in the dung of a white mule and hold it in her hand. If she holds it for one day, her bleeding will cease for one day. If she holds it for three days, the bleeding will cease forever.

It's unknown where these cures came from and why anyone thought they would work. They do serve to prove that pseudo-science, particularly that which promises healing for a hefty price, has been with us for a long time.