Chinese Medicine Basics

Chinese medicine is categorized as holistic health care in the USA， not exactly in Western medicine's definition. Although both Chinese medicine and Western medicine are targeting at people's health problems， but they are very much different in the way of treating people.

Very， very long history

Nobody exactly knows what time the Chinese medicine can be traced back to. Many Chinese idioms came from Chinese medicine concepts. It is conservative to say that Chinese medicine was born before written language was developed. However， from what people can find in archaeology， the earliest time of Chinese medicine theory was formed 5，000 years ago.

There were a few Chinese Medicine books in history (they were carved on bamboo at that time) that are still acting as guidance to Chinese medicine doctors today. It is amazing that for thousands no one has been able to write a better one. Understanding these books， you will be able to treat any health problems. However， it is extremely difficult to "truly understand these books"， as they were written in ancient language format， and some parts were forever lost.

You might wonder whether the medicine should be different after 5，000 years， as everything around us is changing -- the only that didn't change is the change itself. The answer is "no". From our experiences， we are able to find solutions in those "Biber books" for all health problems. New symptoms are all related to chemical dosage.

Chinese Medicine focuses on health， not disease

If you had cancer or tumor， your basic instinct would be to remove it. This is what Western medicine does to you： surgery. To ensure all cancer cells are dead， you would be instructed to do chemo and take pills. All these methods are to kill diseases. It is significantly different in Chinese medicine.

First， Chinese medicine has a list of simple standards to check whether you are healthy. You may refer toAm I Healthyto know more about it. if all these are good， then you are healthy.

Second， Chinese medicine groups all symptoms into eight aspects to describe health issues. This is similar to disease names in western medicine. However， there are over 13，000 diseases in western medicine world.

Third， herbs formula are provided based on health check and eight aspects. Herbs are targeted at recovering health pattern， not to any specific disease name.

For example， two people come to us with the same constipation symptoms， but one was diagnosed with colon cancer and another was not. Since they have the same symptoms， herbs formula are the same， too. At the end， both of them get back on a regular bowel movement. In addition， the colon cancer disappeared， too. What herbs does is to make excretory system function the way it should fight against any accumulated substances and cancer lost ground to survive. Herbs function is to build your self-immune and defense system.

This is just a simplified example to illustrate the treating method used in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine will never tell you that you have cancer， but it can detect that you have something in the way inside of your body in the very beginning.

Chinese Medicine： Three Causes for All Health Problems

Many people are familiar with root cause analysis in business. It is the same in Chinese Medicine. There are three causes for people to get sick：

1. Outside： The environment that we are surrounded， including too cold， too hot， too dry， too damp， too windy， stuff we take in (food， pills， chemical ingredients...)
2. Inside： Your emotions and feelings， including angry， depressed， over joy， too worry， too sad
3. Accident. Surgery and gunshot belong to this category.

The extensive study has been made thousands ago to explain how the three causes get to people's health， and how they are addressed with herbs.

Acupuncture， Bone-setting， Moxibustion， Cupping therapy and Herbs

Acupuncture was formed prior to herbal medicine. It is a great treatment， especially to relieve pains. Bone-setting is mainly to fix bone's miss-positioning problems. Moxibustion is closely related to acupuncture， mainly for healing coldness issues. Cupping's effect is similar to moxibustion but has to be performed at the flat skin surface. All these methods have great effects on health.

Herbs are the main part in Chinese medicine. It helps all problems that acupuncture， moxibustion， and cupping are targeted at， but way beyond. To practice herbal medicine， you have to understand acupuncture and moxibustion as the knowledge base.

Chinese medicine vs western medicine， which one is better for you?

More and more people in America are looking at herbal solutions for their health problems. For people who don't know much about herbs， we strongly recommend you to read articles on this website. Health is yours. Please do not shut down the possibilities of healing with your self-defense system. No matter what medicine it is called， if it helps your health problem， then it is one you should go to. Please read Am I Healthy to help you understand your body language.

Remarks： this article is only for study and knowledge sharing by JH Chinese Medicine Research Center. Clients of Jia Herbal Practice should refer to its office for specific health questions.