For more than two thousand years, the Chinese have been using extremely effective traditional medical practices. Chinese medical practitioners in the 20th century started adopting some more modern styles and techniques by accepting some ideas from Western medicine – apart from that, nothing or very little has changed. TCM or traditional Chinese medicine is a holistic type of medicine. This means that the practitioner sees the entire body as a system that works together in harmony, instead of seeing it as one disjointed section of the body that Western-trained physicians are wont to do. Modern medicine, for some time, has rejected TCM seeing these methods as having no scientific basis at all. However, more and more people are finding this type of medicine to be very helpful for a lot of common and not-so-common health conditions.
TCM basically doesn’t look at the anatomy of the body. It is interested in the way the body functions and how all those functions work together in harmony and balance. For example, TCM practitioners see disease as a disharmony or an imbalance in how the body interacts with the environment and with itself.
In traditional Chinese medicine, there are five major treatments used to bring the body back to health and treat those imbalances. One such treatment is Qigong, a type of slow TCM exercise that aids in moving vital energy or qi back to its natural flow. This exercise can include yoga-like movements and breathing techniques.
Chinese herbal medicine is another type of TCM treatment and is one of its most important therapies. The legions of TCM herbs and herbal formulas are utilized to support the organs and eliminate disharmony in the body that is causing the illness. The herbal medicines are utilized to lower the systems that are too high and strengthen whatever system needs to be boosted, so that once again everything is flowing in balance and the body is in harmony.
Acupressure and acupuncture are the same basic things in traditional Chinese medicine. Both utilize the acupoints of the body to help free the flow of qi. The difference between the two is that in acupressure, specific hand movements to stimulate the acupoints are used, while in acupuncture, very fine needles are used to innervate those points. Both are meant to remove the obstructions to qi flow, which is partly the reason of a person’s illness.
To help with healing, traditional Chinese medicine also integrates food therapy into its method of healing. What foods are recommended is based on the food’s ingredients. The type of food prescribed will not depend on the nutritional value the food possesses but on the essences or energy signatures of the food. Chinese psychology is another type of therapy some TCM practitioners work with. This therapy works by understanding a person’s emotions and how they influence the person’s health and how they interact with a person’s organs.
For thousands of years and up to the present Traditional Chinese medicine has worked well for millions of people all over the world. These are the people who have experienced how this type of medicine has helped them live a healthy and pain-free life. Millions in the West have turned to TCM healing methods to help them feel better and resolve their medical issues.
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