Traditional Chinese Medicine - TCM

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TCM is a concept based practice. Its fundamental concepts are that of chi and yin and yang. Chi is energy, all that exists, it takes an infinity of forms from that in inanimate objects such as a stone or the air to organic structures such as plant life or animal cells.

Chi in the body exists in different densities and qualities to form tissues and organs which interact with each other and the external environment. One form of chi known as nutritive chi is said to flow in channels through the body nourishing each organ system and promoting and regulating its associated functions. This is the chi most accessible and that which acupuncture seeks to regulate. 

TCM holds analogies beliefs that at the begining yin yang bang etc.

The five main organ systems of the body as recognised by TCM, each encompass more than their physical functions as understood by western medicine. Each also has an associated emotion and psychological aspect and manifestations in the senses, tissues and orifices of the body. The organ energies interact by supporting and regulating each other according to five element theory a Chinese theory developed from that of Chi and yin and yang and based on observation in the natural world. The five elements are often presented in table form as below. Their interactions are governed by cycles of creation and control see below.

It is by understanding these interactions along with the detailed functions of the organ energies known as the Zang Fu that a practitioner can read signs and symptoms and identify patterns of disharmony. Once these are identified treatment is designed to regulate organ energies through the nutrititive chi of each organ system. These energies run in channels through the body and into the limbs where they are nearer the surface and most accessible. This is why often the points chosen to treat are on the lower arms and legs. Those chosen are done so due to their understood effect on the organ system and whole body as has been clinically observed and recorded in China for hundreds of years.

Though TCM is a very old medical system it is constantly evolving and still developing today. Perhaps it’s most exciting development is its use in Chinese and other progressive national health services alongside western medicine, where it’s being recognised for its efficacy, low cost and negligible side effects.

 Acupuncture is recognised by the WHO as being effective for a wide range of conditions and is available in the national health services of the following countries.

                               

Ancient Chinese Acu point pic.

5 TABLE a more detailed understanding of 5et and TCM can explain some recognised but little understood related symptoms, such as lung and skin problems, worry and digestion, anxiety and insomnia, and can lead a practitioner to ask a question that surprises you in its significance.  Even limited knowledge as represented here can strike a curiosity with clients who can recognise apparent coincidences in their cases which may have been heretofore considered unimportant.



 
 This contrasts with the specialization of western medicine which seeks to treat disease through understanding how the body works on a cellular level and treating it largely with drugs and surgery  

In this sense it likens western atomic physics theory. Einstein Bohr bi location string theory, quantum physics, theorized /taken for granted for thousands of years