Traditional Chinese Medicine is a comprehensive medical system that has been practiced for over 2,000 years and includes the use of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. As a holistic system, it looks at the body as a whole, inter-connected entity and diagnoses based on patterns rather than individual causes. A constellation of symptoms that may seem unrelated often derive from the same root cause. By focusing on the root pattern, Traditional Chinese Medicine is able to address problems even if their exact biomedical cause is unknown.
The body is mapped by acupuncture channels, which carry the energy that binds the emotional, mental, structural, and spiritual cohesiveness of the body. These channels pertain to different anatomical processes and organ systems, and depend on each other to remain healthy. Each channel is composed of acupuncture points, all of which have specific functions and actions. When a patient is treated, needles are inserted at particular points to stimulate these functions, thereby restoring health.
Acupuncture has been endorsed by the NIH (National Institute of Health), WHO (World Health Organization), and Mayo Clinic as an effective and safe form of medicine.
Chinese Herbs are the medicine associated with acupuncutre. Over 300 herbs are commonly used today, and their historical use dates back 2,000+ years. Over 2 millennia, a vast amount of knowledge on these herbs has been accumulated in a search to perfect their clinical applications. According to a host of Chinese scientific studies, herbal medicine can greatly increase the effectiveness of Western drug treatments, reduce pharmaceutical side-effects, and treat illness.
Many people are not aware that many modern drugs have been developed from herbs, such as treatments for asthma and hay fever from Chinese ephedra, hepatitis medications from schizandra fruits and licorice, and a large span of anticancer agents from trees and shrubs.
In practice, a practitioner of Chinese medicine constructs a specific formula for each individual patient. This formula may or may not be changed frequently over a course of treatment. The outcome is monitored, and the determination of whether to continue the current formula, to change to another, or discontinue use is made on the basis of desired outcomes and effects of using the herbs. This individualized formulas target the root of illness as opposed to the symptomatic branch. In this way they are used to create permanent change in the body.