Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) includes four principal methods of treatment: acupuncture, herbology, manipulative therapy and food cures. It also includes remedial exercise such as qigong and taichi.
Dr. Hong Zhen Zhu, in his book Building a Jade Screen tells us that the oldest of these methods is acupuncture, which goes back to the Neolithic Age, 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Bian stones, the ancestors of acupuncture needles, were placed on certain points of the body and then pounded to relieve headaches, stomach ache or muscle pain...and it worked! Over the last 2500 years, metal needles—copper, bronze, iron, then silver or gold—began to be used instead of stones, animal bones or bamboo needles. We now of course use sterile, disposable stainless-steel needles.
Organized and recorded Chinese herbology started to appear about 3600 years ago. Records of diseases and their herbal cures, which were developed by trial and error, were initially etched on animal bones and pieces of bamboo, long before paper was invented. There are now more than 20,000 herbal formulas; however, only about 2,000 are in use today. But fortunately only about 150 that are in common use!
As well as these classic formulas, your practitioner can construct a formula...just for you. Each client is assessed and treated as separate and unique. TCM is not a "one size fits all" body of medicine.
Besides acupuncture and herbs, TCM evolved to include diet therapy or food cures, massage (tui na) and moxibustion (deep heat produced by burning compressed herbs) and cupping. (Actress Gwyneth Paltrow made cupping history by attending a gala in a back-less dress that showed off her temporary cupping bruises or petechiae.)
TCM also includes gua sha, which used to be part of basic first aid in many Chinese households, for headaches, colds, coughs, chronic muscle pain and fainting. A gua sha tool can be as simple as the edge of a coin or a china soup spoon or a flat piece of jade. This technique includes running the edge of the tool in long, smooth strokes along several meridians of the back to open or move blocked Qi.
Other modalities included in TCM are electro-acupuncture, ear acupuncture, and something that has more lately arrived on the TCM scene, laser acupuncture, for the elderly, delicate or needle-shy.
But all of these methods and techniques have as their main aim to harmonize the flow of Qi in the body and psyche, in order to return the client to a happy, relaxed, pain-free balanced state.
Ted J. Kaptchuk, in his book, The Web That Has No Weaver, writes: "Chinese Medicine is a coherent and independent system of thought and practice that has been developed over ... millennia. Based on ancient texts, it is the result of a continuous process of critical thinking, as well as extensive clinical observation and testing. It represents a thorough formulation and reformulation of material by respected clinicians and theoreticians." Tried, tested and true!
TCM is an alternative body of medicine that can complement Western medicine, in diagnosis and treatment, and in fact is used alongside Western medicine in many modern Chinese hospitals. It's old, but it works! It has ancient roots, but is still valuable today. It is preventative as well as therapeutic medicine. TCM can promote good health and longevity!
