- Key People:
- Bian Qiao
- Wang Shuhe
- Zhang Zhongjing
- Li Shizhen
- Related Topics:
- China
- acupuncture
- yangsheng
- Qi
- medicinal plant
traditional Chinese medicine
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What is traditional Chinese medicine?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an ancient medical system, practiced for over 23 centuries, that aims to prevent and heal disease by maintaining or restoring yinyang balance. TCM is based on the concept of qi (life force) that flows through invisible meridians (channels) connecting organs, tissues, and the whole body.
To restore harmony, practitioners use treatments like acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, and herbal remedies. Diagnosis involves assessing smell, hearing, voice, touch, and pulse to identify imbalances. TCM's extensive materia medica includes vegetable, animal, and mineral remedies.
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What are some common practices in traditional Chinese medicine?
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an ancient medical system that aims to heal and prevent disease by maintaining the balance of yin and yang within the body. TCM practices include herbal remedies, acupuncture, massage, and dietary adjustments.
Herbal therapy uses formulas to strengthen organ function and overall health. Acupuncture involves inserting thin needles into specific points along the body's meridians to stimulate the flow of qi, or vital energy. Moxibustion, the burning of herbs at acupuncture points, often accompanies acupuncture. TCM practitioners use diagnostic methods such as pulse diagnosis, voice analysis, and examination of the tongue and face to determine the source of health imbalances.
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How does acupuncture work in traditional Chinese medicine?
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture is an ancient technique used to relieve pain, cure disease, and improve overall health. It involves inserting fine needles into specific points along the body's meridians, or energy pathways, to stimulate and readjust the flow of qi (life force) and re-establish the balance of yin and yang.
When yin and yang are balanced, a person is considered healthy; disharmony between these forces results in obstruction of qi, which leads to illness. Acupuncture aims to affect the distribution of yin and yang, unblocking the flow of qi through the meridians, each of which connects to a major organ.
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What role do herbs play in traditional Chinese medicine?
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), herbs play a vital role in restoring harmony and promoting health. TCM practitioners use herbs and herbal formulas to strengthen organ function, create healing effects, and stimulate or adjust the body's energy vibration.
Classical TCM herbal formulas combine ingredients, each with a different purpose, to help the body achieve balance. TCM recognizes that different foods carry different energies that can directly heal specific organs. Nearly 200 modern medicines have been developed from plants used as medicines in China.
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How does traditional Chinese medicine view the cause of illness?
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) views illness as a result of disharmony or imbalance in the body's qi (life force) that flows through invisible meridians (channels) of the body. TCM practitioners use methods such as observing the patient's smell, hearing, voice vibration, touch, and pulse to discover the source of the imbalance, which organ it is related to, and which meridians are affected. TCM aims to prevent and heal disease by restoring yinyang balance. To restore harmony, Chinese healers use treatments such as acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, and herbal therapy.
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How is traditional Chinese medicine used today alongside modern medicine?
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an ancient medical system that aims to restore health by maintaining the balance of yin and yang within the body. TCM practices include herbal remedies, acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, and cupping.
Today, China uses an integrated system where TCM practitioners and Western-trained physicians often work together. Western scientists are also studying TCM to understand how it works and to develop new therapeutic agents. For example, the drug ephedrine used for treating asthma was derived from the Chinese herb mahuang. Also, mind and body practices such as Tai chi and Qigong, integral features of traditional Chinese healing, have been incorporated into health and fitness programs to complement modern medicine.
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News •
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), system of medicine at least 23 centuries old that aims to prevent or heal disease by maintaining or restoring yinyang balance. China has one of the world’s oldest medical systems. Acupuncture and Chinese herbal remedies date back at least 2,200 years, although the earliest known written record of Chinese medicine is the Huangdi neijing (The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic) from the 3rd century bce. That opus provided the theoretical concepts for TCM that remain the basis of its practice today. In essence, traditional Chinese healers seek to restore a dynamic balance between two complementary forces, yin (passive) and yang (active), which pervade the human body as they do the universe as a whole. According to TCM, a person is healthy when harmony exists between these two forces; illness, on the other hand, results from a breakdown in the equilibrium of yin and yang.
A visit to a traditional Chinese pharmacy is like a visit to a small natural history museum. The hundreds of cabinet drawers, glass cases, and jars in a typical pharmacy hold an enormous variety of desiccated plant and animal material. In 1578 Li Shizhen published his famous Bencao gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), which lists 1,892 drugs and some 11,000 formal prescriptions for specific ailments.
The practice of traditional medicine
To restore harmony, the Chinese healer may use any of a staggeringly large array of traditional remedies. The patient may be treated with acupuncture or acupressure, moxibustion (moxa treatment), or cupping (in which hot glass cups are placed on the patient to draw blood to the skin). The Chinese healer may prescribe a brew prepared with one (or some combination) of thousands of medicinal plants or dried animal parts (e.g., snakes, scorpions, insects, deer antlers) in the Chinese pharmaceutical armamentarium.
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The role of qi and meridians
An essential aspect of TCM is an understanding of the body’s qi (life force; literally, “vital breath”), which flows through invisible meridians (channels) of the body. This energy network connects organs, tissues, veins, nerves, cells, atoms, and consciousness itself. Generally speaking, there are 12 major meridians, each of which connects to one of the 12 major organs in TCM theory. Meridians are also related to a variety of phenomena, including circadian rhythms, seasons, and planetary movements, to create additional invisible networks.
In acupuncture thin needles are inserted into specific points along the meridians. The needles stimulate the meridians and readjust the flow of qi to balance the body’s yin and yang. In place of needles, massage (acupressure) can also be used to stimulate the acupuncture points. Acupuncture is sometimes accompanied by moxibustion, the burning of small cones of an herb (typically Artemisia moxa) at acupuncture points. Not only can the meridian network be used to alleviate symptoms; it can also endow TCM with the ability to change consciousness in those who receive treatment.
A TCM practitioner uses smell, hearing, voice vibration, touch, and pulse diagnosis to discover the source of an unbalanced health condition, which organ it is related to, and which meridians are affected. In addition, the practitioner typically makes use of what is known as the five agents, or five phases (wuxing). By observing natural law in action, ancient healers recognized five basic elements in the world—wood (mu), fire (huo), earth (tu), metal (jin), and water (shui)—and found that these elements have myriad correspondences, both visible and invisible. This framework helps skilled TCM practitioners to identify unbalanced relationships. For instance, one key correspondence relates to time of day. If an individual always gets a headache at 4 pm, this signals that Bladder qi is unbalanced, since the Bladder (of the TCM Kidney/Bladder organ pair) is in charge of maintaining the body’s functions at that time. Using the five-element theory, the practitioner can create a healing plan that might contain such components as acupuncture, herbs, lifestyle changes, and foods for healing. It might also include Chinese psychology, which shows how the energy of unbalanced emotions can affect proper organ function.