Chinese Medicine (CM) has had a long and sustained development over the past 2000 or more years. It developed in stages, influenced by insights gained from periods of warfare, epidemics, population movements, and not least by some periods of support for its intellectual development through imperial (government) sponsorship. It is often now called East Asian Medicine as there has been cross fertilisation with Japan, Korea and other Asian countries which have also developed their own theories. In the 18th and 19th centuries CM was significantly affected by the introduction of Western medicine. Political influence at that time led to prominence being given to aspects of theoretical and analytical approaches within CM that aligned more readily with Western pathology. In the 1950s, the communist regime rationalised approaches, re-branded it as TCM, and integrated it into its National Health.
From the 1970s onwards, the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) actively promoted TCM to the West through intensive hospital-based courses. Anyone with prior medical training (including Western-trained acupuncturist) could apply. The founders of the LSATCM and this Trust were amongst those who experienced these courses. They found that working with TCM hospital doctors and seeing hundreds of patients and conditions each week led to a step-change in their practice.
Chinese medicine, particularly TCM, is now practiced in most countries in the world, and is the basis of the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board syllabus. In some countries, such as Australia and Portugal CM acupuncture has statutory regulation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has for many years been working on how to describe TCM disease patterns, culminating in the recent listing of TCM patterns within the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).
Chinese Medicine is a complete medical system that interprets how the body works in health and disease through a Daoist world view. A CM understanding of the body and how it functions is rooted in the concept of Qi and the related concept of YinYang, which explains the Qi's production, flow and transformation. Nothing is seen in isolation, and so the organs are seen in a very different way from biomedicine. In CM organs are seen in systems (Zangfu). For example, the Liver (gan) includes the physical organ and the flow of blood through it, but also includes the smooth flow of Qi, tendons, eyes and vision, the emotion of anger, the drive for justice, and relates to the colour green. So CM organ systems conceptualise the physical body as an integrated whole including your emotional and psycho-social responses.
From this perspective, illness equates with disruption to the flow of Qi. Symptoms are read in terms of frameworks for analysing where and how the Qi is affected in these organ systems. The richness of CM lies in the analytical approaches and diagnostic methods that this way of seeing the body has led to.
A CM practitioner will ask for details of how you feel beyond the particular symptoms that have brought you in for treatment. They will also assess the strength, depth and rhythm of your pulse at points on each wrist, and the shape and colouration of your tongue (both of which indicate the state of the Qi in different parts of the body). They will also ask about your response to hot and cold, damp and wind and your emotional state, to refine their treatment plan..
The most common form of CM treatment in the UK is acupuncture. This involves treatment through stimulating points on the Qi channels of the body. The choice of points and how they are stimulated is governed by the CM diagnosis and treatment plan, and the direction and links of channels. When needled, you may feel a temporary sensation at the point or along the channel path. This is called DeQi (attaining Qi)..
A CM acupuncturist may also use cupping (glass cups used to apply suction to the skin) or moxibustion (burning of a herb that gives deep heat-penetration), or use electrical stimulation to the needles to strengthen the effect on the Qi.
There are other treatment approaches within Chinese Medicine: Chinese herbal medicine, Tuina (massage), dietary therapy, and Qigong or Taichi (exercise practices).
Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) uses the properties of herbs as seen through the concepts of Qi/YinYang and flavour. Herbs are used in combinations to target the primary problem, but also to stabilise the system as a whole against what might be side effects of the main ingredients.
Tuina is like massage in that it is a 'hands on' therapy, but again, where and how the body is massaged is informed by the CM diagnosis, and the concept of the flow of QI through the channels. It is also informed by Qigong.
Chinese dietary therapy, like CHM, uses the energetics of foods, as understood through the concepts of QI/YinYang and flavour. Part of this concept concerns balance, as appropriate for your particular constitution and metabolism. Although some foods are best avoided for some conditions, CM dietary advice does not condemn any one food group, except perhaps the habit of drinking really cold fluids.
Qigong and Taichi are similar forms of exercise (recommended for daily practice) and again, the form of the exercise is intended to strengthen and maintain the flow of Qi. Stiffness and bloating in CM are the results of stagnation ('stuckness') in the Qi. They are very different, but both involve a lack of movement (one physical; one metabolic) and so regular movement can help prevent these problems arising in a healthy body.
A CM practitioner should discuss the number of treatments you are likely to need, depending on your illness. They may also suggest lifestyle and dietary changes in keeping with strengthening and maintaining your Qi.
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