The term “TCM” describes the modern practice of Chinese medicine as a result of sweeping reforms that took place after 1950 in the People’s Republic of China. The term “Classical Chinese medicine” (CCM) often refers to medical practices that rely on theories and methods dating from before the fall of the Qing Dynasty (1911). Advocates of CCM portray it as less influenced by Western and political agendas than TCM.
During the Han Dynasty around 202, Zhang Zhongjing, the Hippocrates of China, who was mayor of Chang-sha toward the end of the 2nd century, wrote a Treatise on Cold Damage, which contains the earliest known reference to Neijing Suwen. Another prominent Eastern Han physician was Hua Tuo around 140, who anesthetized patients during surgery with a formula of wine and powdered marijuana.
Hua’s physical, surgical, and herbal treatments were also used to cure headaches, dizziness, internal worms, fevers, coughing, blocked throat, and even a diagnosis for one lady that she had a dead fetus within her that needed to be taken out.
The Jin dynasty practitioner and advocate of acupuncture and moxibustion, Huang-fu Mi, also quoted the Yellow Emperor in his Jia Yi Jing, around 265 AD. During the Tang dynasty, Wang Bing claimed to have located a copy of the originals of the Neijing Suwen, which he expanded and edited substantially. This work was revisited by an imperial commission during the 11th century AD.
The foundation principles of Chinese medicine are not necessarily uniform, and are based on several schools of thought. Received TCM can be shown to be influenced by Taoism, Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism.
Since 1200 BC, Chinese academics of various schools have focused on the observable natural laws of the universe and their implications for the practical characterisation of humanity’s place in the universe. In the I Ching and other Chinese literary and philosophical classics, Chinese writers described general principles and their applications to health and healing.
Porkert, a Western medical doctor, placed Chinese medical theory in context as: The Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic, a 2000-year old medicinal Chinese book considered today as the oldest book on oriental herbal medicine, classifies 365 species of roots, grass, woods, furs, animals and stones into three categories of herbal medicine:
*The first category, called “superior”, includes herbs effective for multiple diseases and is mostly responsible for maintaining and restoring the body balance. They have almost no unfavorable side-effects.
*The second category comprises tonics and boosters, for which their consumption must not be prolonged.
*The third category must be taken, usually in small doses, and for the treatment of specific ailments only.
Lingzhi ranked number one of the superior medicines, and was therefore the most exalted medicine in ancient times. The ancient Chinese use of mushrooms for medicine, has inspired modern day research into medicinal mushrooms like shiitake, Agaricus blazei, Trametes versicolor, the table mushroom and of course lingzhi. Although a 2008 Review, by UC Davis, concluded that there is not enough evidence yet to promote the use of mushrooms or mushroom extracts in the treatment of disease, it stressed the urgency of further research and future clinical trials due to large numbers of promising in vivo and in vitro experiments.
Following a macro philosophy of disease, traditional Chinese diagnostics are based on overall observation of human symptoms rather than “micro” level laboratory tests. There are four types of TCM diagnostic methods: observe, hear and smell, ask about background and touching. The pulse-reading component of the touching examination is so important that Chinese patients may refer to going to the doctor as “Going to have my pulse felt.”
Traditional Chinese medicine is considered to require considerable diagnostic skill. A training period of years or decades is said to be necessary for TCM practitioners to understand the full complexity of symptoms and dynamic balances. According to one Chinese saying, A good (TCM) doctor is also qualified to be a good prime minister in a country. Modern practitioners in China often use a traditional system in combination with Western methods.
The following methods are considered to be part of Chinese medicine:
Acupuncture comes from the Latin word acus, ‘needle’, and pungere, meaning ‘prick’ is a technique in which the practitioner inserts fine needles into specific points on the patient’s body. Usually about a dozen acupoints are needled in one session, although the number of needles used may range anywhere from just one or two to 20 or more. The intended effect is to increase circulation and balance energy (Qi) within the body.
The second Auriculotherapy, which comes under the heading of Acupuncture and Moxibustion.
The third way of treatment is Chinese food therapy: Dietary recommendations are usually made according to the patient’s individual condition in relation to TCM theory. The “five flavors” (an important aspect of Chinese herbalism as well) indicate what function various types of food play in the body. A balanced diet, which leads to health, is when the five functional flavors are in balance. When one is diseased (and therefore unbalanced), certain foods and herbs are prescribed to restore balance to the body. Chinese herbal medicine is the fourth way of treating patients in China. Herbal medicine is considered as the primary therapeutic modality of internal medicine. Of the approximately 500 Chinese herbs that are in use today, 250 or so are very commonly used.[citation needed] Rather than being prescribed individually, single herbs are combined into formulas that are designed to adapt to the specific needs of individual patients. A herbal formula can contain anywhere from 3 to 25 herbs. As with diet therapy, each herb has one or more of the five flavors/functions and one of five “temperatures” (“Qi”) (hot, warm, neutral, cool, cold). After the herbalist determines the energetic temperature and functional state of the patient’s body, he or she prescribes a mixture of herbs tailored to balance disharmony. One classic example of Chinese herbal medicine is the use of various mushrooms, like reishi and shiitake, which are currently under intense study by ethnobotanists and medical researchers for immune system enhancement.
Cupping ia another method. A type of Chinese massage, cupping consists of placing several glass “cups” (open spheres) on the body. A match is lit and placed inside the cup and then removed before placing the cup against the skin. As the air in the cup is heated, it expands, and after placing in the skin, cools down, creating a lower pressure inside the cup that allows the cup to stick to the skin via suction. When combined with massage oil, the cups can be slid around the back, offering what some practitioners think of as a reverse-pressure massage.
Die-da or Tieh Ta is usually practiced by martial artists who know aspects of Chinese medicine that apply to the treatment of trauma and injuries such as bone fractures, sprains, and bruises. Some of these specialists may also use or recommend other disciplines of Chinese medical therapies (or Western medicine in modern times) if serious injury is involved. Such practice of bone-setting (??) is not common in the West.
Moxibustion: “Moxa,” often used in conjunction with acupuncture, consists in burning of dried Chinese mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) on acupoints. “Direct Moxa” involves the pinching of clumps of the herb into cones that are placed on acupoints and lit until warm. Typically the burning cone is removed before burning the skin and is thought, after repeated use, to warm the body and increase circulation. Moxa can also be rolled into a cigar-shaped tube, lit, and held over an acupuncture point, or rolled into a ball and stuck onto the back end of an inserted needle for warming effect.
Physical Qigong exercises such as Tai chi chuan Taijiquan, Standing Meditation, Yoga, Brocade BaDuanJin exercises and other Chinese martial arts.
Qigong and related breathing and meditation exercise. Tui na massage: a form of massage akin to acupressure from which shiatsu evolved. Oriental massage is typically administered with the patient fully clothed, without the application of grease or oils. Choreography often involves thumb presses, rubbing, percussion, and stretches.
Some TCM doctors may also utilize esoteric methods that incorporate or reflect personal beliefs or specializations such as Fengshui or Bazi.
ZiJiu Method A from of physical practice which uses a specialized form of breathing and physical positions in order to “gather qi”. The full physical and mental form is known as the Life-Saving ZiJiu Method. Traditional Chinese medicine has many branches, the most prominent of which are the Jingfang and Wenbing schools. The Jingfang School relies on the principles contained in the Chinese medicine classics of the Han and Tang dynasty, such as Huangdi Neijing and Shennong Bencaojing. The more recent Wenbing School’s practise is largely based on more recent books including Compendium of Materia Medica from Ming and Qing Dynasty, although in theory the school follows the teachings of the earlier classics as well. Intense debates between these two schools lasted until the Cultural Revolution in mainland China, when Wenbing School used political power to suppress the opposing school.
Researchers using the protocols of evidence-based medicine have found good evidence that acupuncture is moderately effective in preventing nausea. A 2008 study suggest that combining acupuncture with conventional infertility treatments such as IVF greatly improves the success rates of such medical interventions. There is conflicting evidence that it can treat chronic low back pain, and moderate evidence of efficacy for neck pain and headache.[28] For most other conditions reviewers have found either a lack of efficacy e.g., help in quitting smoking or have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to determine if acupuncture is effective e.g., treating shoulder pain. While little is known about the mechanisms by which acupuncture may act, a review of neuroimaging research suggests that specific acupuncture points have distinct effects on cerebral activity in specific areas that are not otherwise predictable anatomically.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the American Medical Association (AMA) have also commented on acupuncture. Though these groups disagree on the standards and interpretation of the evidence for acupuncture, there is general agreement that it is relatively safe, and that further investigation is warranted. The 1997 NIH Consensus Development Conference Statement on acupuncture concluded: ‘…promising results have emerged, for example, showing efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma, in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful.’
By Austin Thomas