Learn about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
Traditional Chinese Medicine Western and Chinese medicine
differ in the way an illness or disease is viewed. While Western
medicine tends to treat the effects of the illness or disease,
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) emphazizes on uncovering and
treating the root or roots of each problem.
TCM treatment is more holistic. It is about balancing the body's
system (Ying/Yang) and increasing it's immunity to fight against
diseases.
Main aspects of TCM
Unlike Western medicine which relies on a host of equipments and
machineries to help the doctor in diagnosis and treatment, TCM
relies simply mostly on the practitioners' skills, experience
and power of observation to detect and treat health problems.
Observation
The first aspect of TCM is observation. By looking at a
patient's complexion, posture, appearance and movement, the TCM
practioner is able to guage from first impression if a person is
healthy or make initial diagnosis of his problem.
Smell and hearing
A TCM practitioner can diagnose also from the smell of a sick
person's breath or by listening to the sound of his cough.
Internal problems are often manifested through external symptoms.
Question and Answer
The TCM physician will also ask the patient a series of
questions including their area of discomfort, diet, sleep and
physical conditions.
Through a series of questions and answers, he will be able to
further narrow down the patients problem.
Physical examination
Lastly, the patient's pulse is read, his tougue, throat and eyes
are examined to arrive at a full diagnosis.
Treatment
Once a diagnosis has been arrived at, the patient is treated
with one or more of treatments including accupuncture, TuiNa
(Massage) or herbal prescriptions.These are the more common
treatment methods and they are natural, holistic and non
invasive.
In Chinese medicine, many discomfort are believed to be due to
energy channels or meridian points in the body being blocked or
misaligned. Accupuncture will unblock or re-direct these clogged
or misaligned channel by stimulating energy flow within the
appropriate meridians of the body.
Herbal remedies are more suited for internal problems such as
kidney, diabetes or liver problems. In olden days, herbal
prescriptions are brewed for many hours to get a liquid herbal
drink. Today, similar effects is achieved through pills or
syrup.