Traditional Chinese Medicine in Brief
by mipmup
This guide is the part of a series exploring "alternative" therapies.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM, also referred to as Chinese Medicine or Oriental Medicine) is a 3,000-year-old system of medicine with origins in Taoist philosophy. According to the American Association of Oriental Medicine, TCM treats the whole person and "...integrates many therapies...to treat illness and diseases. Of these therapies, Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology are the most popular in the United States. Some additional therapies include: diet, nutrition and lifestyle counseling, as well as Tai Qi and Qi Gong (physical exercise), and Tui'na (manual therapies)." Like other systems explored in this series, TCM takes a holistic approach and focuses on the body's ability to heal itself.
Chinese Wisdom posts an informative article about the specifics of how a TCM doctor will diagnose a patient through observation, smell and hearing, question and answer and physical examination.
The author of MelissaBaker.com is trained in acupuncture and offers some information on Yin-yang (balancing the body), part of TCM's philosophical foundation.
Aphrodite Women's Health posts about research from the Mayo Clinic showing acupuncture helps those suffering from fibromyalgia, a syndrome of unknown origin that causes pain in the muscles and soft tissues of the body.
Androgiennei posts an article about "Big Pharma" drug discovery for age-related diseases via TCM. The article goes into some detail about the "deep philosophical divide" between Western medicine and TCM.
babyfruit miscarriage & pregnancy blog brings us an article on fertility and acupuncture. The article features the story of a woman who had nine "unsuccessful efforts to have a baby" and after going the "Western way," tried acupuncture. After two months of treatment, she was pregnant.
A TCM doctor be found here.
Related guides:
- The ABCs of Homeopathy
- All About Naturopathic Medicine
- Ayurveda 101
- Exploring Herbalism
- Intro to Traditional Tibetan Medicine
Suggested reading:
- History of Acupuncture. American Association of Oriental Medicine. 1 March 2006 http://www.aaom.org/default.asp?pagenumber=48100#how.
- What is Complementary and Alternative Medicine? May 2002. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 21 February 2006 http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/.
photo credit: Tao of Wellness
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mipmup.
Contributing Editor, Health & Wellness
For more by mipmup, read:
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Comments
Fibromyalgia Relief
http://newfreshcreatedjustforyou.blogspot.com/
After having firomyalgia for many years without relief , even having gone the traditional chinese medicine route, naturopath, herbs etc., I found I had to take drastic steps. I am talking total revamp of my environment. The difference was like night from day. I felt like I lived in a very dark pit with just a circle of light way high out of reach. Now I can actually make plans to go out without the fear of getting deathly ill. I can live again happily, energized as I reach out to others to follow me out.