What is Traditional Chinese Medicine?
   By Dr. Xia Cheng, owner of BodyMind Synergy Health Centre

  Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a medical system developed in China between 3000 - 5000 years ago. It has played a important role in promoting and maintaining health for Chinese people and people around the world. TCM is getting more popular because of its effectiveness in treating a broad range of illness; it is free of chemicals, and has no or very minimal side effects.

    There are two distinct characteristics in TCM. First, it holds a holistic concept. This holistic concept refers to emphasizing the holism of our body to the environment, nature and universe, and emphasizing the holism of body, mind, and spirit as well as the systems, organs, tissues, and functions of our body. Second, it has a fundamental treatment concept as treatment is based on differentiation of syndromes. A syndrome is a TCM diagnosis, which comes from an assessment of all information gathered from five diagnostic techniques: inquiry, inspection, listening, smelling and palpation. In this diagnosis process, factors of age, gender, constitution, season, weather, geographical area, as well as emotions, stress, diet, lifestyle and all aspects of symptoms and signs (tongue picture and pulse) of the body are taken into consideration to form a syndrome for a patient. This syndrome is the reflection of the root course of the illness. The treatment strategy is given according to what syndrome it is. Take the common cold as an example. According to TCM, a common cold is due to exogenous pathogenic factors attacking the body surface. It is differentiated as seven syndromes. There are three excessive syndromes that happen more often in people who are healthy with a strong constitution. The other four deficiency syndromes often happen in elderly people, people with chronic illnesses, weak constitution or post-partum. The treatment in each case is very different. This syndrome-based treatment, or treating the root concept, is one of the major differences from conventional medicine, which is a mostly disease or symptom-based treatment.

    TCM has a broad range of applications; it is commonly used for internal, gynaecological, paediatric, dermatological and infectious diseases. Although treatments of particular diseases and for each individual are different, in TCM practice the following are the general principles:

    1) Preventative. For healthy people or people with early signs of illness, TCM practitioners guide people to have a healthy lifestyle, good diet, proper exercise, and good emotions to maintain health and prevent illnesses. For people who are ill, the treatment is not only to restore health, but also to prevent further development of the illness (i.e., to prevent bronchitis when a patient has a cold or flu; to prevent further development of MS, rheumatoid arthritis, bone loss and so on).

    2) Strengthen the body’s vital energy to dispel pathogens. TCM believes if the body has a strong vital energy, pathogens will not be successful in attack. Therefore, strengthening the vital energy to prevent and treat illness is always a principle for promoting and maintaining good health.

    3) Open meridians and stop pain. According to TCM, meridians are the channels in which energy and blood flow smoothly to nourish the body. It’s believed that when pain occurs, there is an obstruction. In other words, the obstruction of energy and blood flow causes pain. Therefore, to remove stasis and unblock the meridians, thus promoting the normal flow of body energy, is a principle for pain syndromes.

    4) Balance Yin and Yang. From the TCM perspective, the balance of Yin and Yang is the reflection of health. Illness happens when there is the loss of the Yin-Yang balance in the body (i.e., hot flushes in menopause are often due to Yin deficiency, which comes from declining levels of estrogens. Intolerance to cold or cold hands and feet, which happens in hypothyroidism, is a Yang deficiency of the body).

    There are two major treatment components in TCM; one is acupuncture and the other is Chinese herbal medicine. Acupuncture regulates the body functions towards a normal (healthy) point. For example, acupuncture promotes the peristalsis of the intestines to relieve constipation, as well it inhibits the peristalsis to stop diarrhoea. For a patient who has hypertension, acupuncture decreases blood pressure. However, for a patient with low blood pressure, acupuncture increases it. It is believed that there is a natural healing ability in our bodies, and acupuncture stimulates this process to help the body to recover. With that in mind, acupuncture is beneficial for almost everyone and is used to treat a wide variety of health conditions.

    Chinese herbal medicine includes thousands of herbs. There are about 800 commonly used ones. These herbs are divided into 20 categories, and their functions are described in TCM terminology. Research has showed there are herbs having the following functions: anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antivirus, anti-clotting, and antibacterial. There are also herbs that boost immunity, promote digestion, and so on. The clinical use of Chinese herbs is mostly as combinations or so-call formulas. In a formula, herbs are combined together to strengthen/ broaden an effect or overcome a side effect. A formula is a group of strategically balanced herbs used to achieve the best results with the least amount of side effects. Again, the application of the formula is syndrome-based or addresses the root of the illness.

    Since the application of herbal formulas are syndrome based and the determination of a syndrome has to be done by a person well trained in TCM, if you are considering using Chinese herbal medicine it is recommended to consult with a formally trained TCM practitioner. Although most Chinese herbs do not have same side effects as drugs, self-medication or improper use may cause serious problems.

    TCM is a very unique medical system. In comparing western and Chinese medicine for health care, it’s said, “Western medicine is a fire fighter; Chinese medicine is a housekeeper.” Obviously, Chinese medicine has an important role in the field of health.