ANCIENT CHINESE MEDICAL
A Brief Overview of Traditional Chinese Medicine
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A Brief Overview of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to the 2,400 year old medical practices indigenous to China. Made up of four major branches–acupuncture, herbology bodywork, and health benefiting exercises–it is a blend of medicine from India that arrived with Buddhism, the Middle East via the Silk Route and Daoism, China's own philosophy of harmony and balance. Basing its theories of illness and treatment on climactic factors, dietary habits, and lifestyle instead of the influences of gods, spirits and omens, it is one the few theory-based traditional medical systems to produce thousands of writings documenting its practices and remaining in continuous use since 500 BCE. As a result, the influence of Chinese medicine over the last two and a half millennia has been so great that every indigenous medical tradition in Asia draws its knowledge either completely or in part from China's traditional medicine. Sadly, the West's understanding of this living knowledge is from post Communist, not traditional, Chinese medicine. Teachers and curriculum are brought over from schools in China based on the post 1949 politically correct model of Chinese medicine. Unaware of the dramatic changes that have happened over the last 50 years, the West is not drawing from the last of the traditional practitioners left in China. For Chinese medicine to truly demonstrate its efficacy as it becomes accepted in the West, it is vital this aging generation is documented so their knowledge and experience helps shape integrative healthcare today and continues to educate the Chinese medical practitioners of tomorrow. The overview below provides brief descriptions of each of the four branches of traditional Chinese medicine and is to be used as a reference guide for understanding the Association for Traditional Studies' work in China. The most widely known of the four major branches of Chinese medicine in the West is acupuncture. Originally practiced by pressing objects into sensitive spots on the body, it quickly developed into the insertion of needles on what are today known as acupuncture points. Observing both the psychological and physiological responses to this stimulation, Chinese medicine developed an incredibly detailed map of these points of influence on the landscape of the body and their effects on a person's physical and mental well being. Blending this empirical knowledge with the theoretical base of returning the body to homeostasis as the ideal state of balance and health, acupuncture became one of the most important tools of the traditional Chinese medical practitioner. Today, acupuncture is the most widely used alternative treatment method in the growing field of complimentary health care in the West. In the United States alone, there are 46 nationally accredited schools of Chinese medicine, granting a Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine. Within China itself, however, herbal knowledge has long been the most dominant branch of Chinese medicine. Using both indigenous herbs and those brought by traders and merchants from all over the Asian continent, its theories and uses comprise the greatest portion of Chinese medical publications throughout the ages. One of the earliest books, known in English as The Yellow Emperor's Classic on Internal Medicine, advises the practitioner to use herbs as a general would use soldiers in battle. One must employ strategies and tactics that make use of individual herbs and their synergistic effects when combined together to dislodge the illness and return the body to balance. The focus of each treatment is holistic: it takes into account the strength and nature of the pathogen; the age and sex of the patient; and the constitutional fragility or robustness of the patient. Of the four branches of Chinese medicine, bodywork is the oldest and arguably the most influential. Beginning with the instinctive actions of a mother rubbing a child's belly because of a stomach ache or a concerned son patting an aging father's back to calm a coughing spasm, the use of hands to help the sick has been the first tool of every medical system on the planet. Enriched by Chinese medical theory, bodywork reached its highest point in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE). At that time it was taught within the Imperial Medical School, and practitioners were granted degrees and titles ranging from a simple body-worker to what today would be the equivalent of a Ph.D. in medically focused massotherapy. It spread east to Japan and Korea; south to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia; north to Mongolia; and west to Europe via Russia. The massage techniques made famous in Northern Europe and Russia all originated in China, traveling first with the traders and caravans and then later with conquering armies of Genghis Khan and the Hun empire. This technique is to use a certain cup to absorb the patient's skin. Same way, doctor will choose certain points of patient according different disease. This method is used more frequently in the treatment of pain According to the theory of TCM, pain is caused by the block of Qi and Blood, so, for some patients who suffer from pain, doctor may use bleeding method to let the pain point bleeding to reduce the serious problem of the block of Qi and blood. This method is also used in pain treatment mostly. 7. Health Benefiting Exercises ► Top Often seen more as folk practices rather than medicine, China's health benefiting exercises also share an incredibly long and influential history. While poorly understood today as a branch of Chinese medicine, all of Chinese medicine's most influential writers spoke of the importance of the patient him or herself maintaining health through daily exercise. These were not exercises such as jogging or aerobics as understood by Westerners today, but practices built upon the Chinese medical theory of balance: of harmonizing what was called the Blood, or cardiovascular system; the Qi, or respiratory system; and the Spirit, or nervous system. Placing equal emphasis on the importance of exercising the Blood, Qi and Spirit within the context of the Chinese medical view of the body-mind connection, China's health benefiting exercises were used to both prevent illnesses when healthy, and recover more quickly when ill.
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Acupuncture is one of the modalities of Oriental medicine. Although what is called acupuncture in the West comprises several different therapies (such as moxibustion and cupping), mostly is consists of the insertion of fine needles into the body at specific points shown to be effective in the treatment of specific health problems. The Chinese has mapped these points over a period of tow thousand years, and there are 361 regular used acupoints. In the past three decades, electromagnetic research has confirmed the existence and location of these points.
Modern Western medicine explain it works in such ways: acupuncture raises levels of hormone, white blood cells counts, and antibody to help increase immune function; Acupuncture stimulates the secretion of endorphin in the body which blocks the transmission of pain signal; Acupuncture dilates blood vessel, and helps circulation; Finally, acupuncture stimulates certain type of motor neurons which help muscle stretch.
Traditional Chinese acupuncture is based on ancient Chinese theories of the flow of qi (a fine, essential substance which nourishes and constructs the body) Through distinct channels that cover the body somewhat like the nerves and blood vessels. According to this theory acupuncture adjusts the flow of qi in the body, leading it to areas where it is insufficient and draining it from areas where it is stuck and/or super-abundant. In this way, acupuncture restores the harmonious balance of the body and its parts. In Chinese, there is a saying, “ if there is pain, there is no free flow; if there is free flow, there is no pain.” Acupuncture promotes and reestablishes the free flow of qi.
When performed by a competently trained, licensed professional, acupuncture is extremely safe. All licensed acupuncturists today use individually package, sterile, disposable needles. So there is virtually no chance of infection or contagion.
Acupuncture needles are typically not much thicker than a hair, and their insertion is practically painless. It is nothing like receiving an ordinary injection. In some cases, you will not even know the needles are in place. Then, you will feel some tingling, warmth, heaviness, or a feeling of the energy moving up and down the channel. Most people find acupuncture extremely relaxing and many fall asleep during treatment.
Of course. The best practice among acupuncturists in USA today is to use sterilized, individually package, disposable needles. Needles should not be saved and reused for later treatments. This eliminates the possibility of transmitting some kind of communicable diseases by contaminated needles.
That depends on the duration, severity, and nature of your complaint. You may need only a single treatment for an acute condition. A series of 5~10 treatment may resolve many chronic problems. Some degenerative conditions may require many treatments over time. To help reduce the number of treatments, your practitioner may suggest dietary modification, specific exercise regimes, self-massage, and/or Chinese herbal medicines, all of which may help to increase the efficacy of acupuncture.
Prospective patients should ask about where the practitioner trained and for how long he or she has been in practice, and mostly important, what experience the practitioner has had in treating your specific ailment. Acupuncture is a licensed and regulated health care profession in over 40 states in the U.S. In addition, the National commission for the Certification of Acupuncture &Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) certifies both acupuncturists and Chinese herbal practitioners. Acupuncturists who have at least 3~4 years’ training and passed the NCCAOM exam are entitled to add Dipl.Ac. (Diplomat of Acupuncture) after their names.
Your practitioner will explain the nature of your problem in Chinese medical terms and what treatment he or she is recommending. Your practitioner will tell you what benefits there are to the proposed treatment and what other treatment options are available to you through this practitioner or by referral to another practitioner or physician.
Avoid treatment when excessively fatigued, hungry, full, or shortly after exercise will help you get the maximum benefits from your treatment.
Relax. There is no need to be frightened. Ask your practitioner any questions you have along the way so that your can get the most benefit possible from the treatment. Do not change your position or move suddenly. If you are uncomfortable, tell your practitioner.
Patients often experience dramatic results in the first treatment. Some patients experience an immediate total or partial relief of their pain or other symptoms. This relief may last or some pain may return. In a few cases, there may be no immediate relief only to notice the pain diminish over the next couple of hours. Generally, you should expect to feel better.
