Oriental Medicine

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Oriental Medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM is an ancient medical system that functions within the understanding of the laws and of nature and applies them to the human body. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on an energetic approach to healing rather than the biochemical model of western medicine.

The Chinese medical model recognized a vital energy behind all life forms and life process. We call this energy "Qi", using this energetic model to heal explains the mechanism of illness. TCM directs attention onto the complete physiological and psychology individual. All information on a patient is gathered and woven together to create a pattern of disharmony, organizing signs and symptoms to arrive at what's going on.

The Chinese method is holistic, no single part can be understood except in its relationship to the whole. A symptom or chief complaint is looked at as part of a totality. We to fit the symptom into the patient's constitutional body pattern. A patient who is well, or in balance or harmony will not have any distressing symptoms and will express mental, physical, and spiritual balance. A patient who is ill, the symptom is only one part of a complete bodily imbalance that can be seen in other aspects of their life and behavior.

TCM is concerned with the cause and effect of things but in the relationships and patterns of events. Understanding the pattern is key, patterns of disharmony tells the Chinese medicine physician how to prescribe treatment.

To Western medicine, the concern is mainly to zero in on the symptom, then search for the underlying mechanism, cause and effect for the specific disease. A Chinese medicine doctor's attempt is to organize symptoms and signs to formulate a pattern to provide a framework for treatment to restore balance and harmony to the patient.

Yin-Yang are concepts that describe how things function in relation to each other and to the universe. We talked about Qi or energy which is fundamental to Chinese medical thinking yet no one English word or phrase can capture its meaning. We talk about Blood, Jing and Shen.

In Chinese medicine, health is not a measure of chemical levels of blood and urine. Instead it's based on the Organ systems, Meridians and the Six pernicious influences such as wind, cold, fire or heat, dampness and summer heat.