Chinese Herbal Therapy and Acupuncture
Chinese medicine is a complete medical system that has diagnosed, treated, and prevented illness for over two thousand years. While it can remedy ailments and alter states of mind, Chinese medicine can also enhance recuperative power, immunity, and the capacity for work and creativity. In my clinic, treatments may incorporate acupuncture alone, or in conjunction with other body therapies, such as hydrotherapy, deep tissue massage, and craniosacral therapy. These, enhanced by naturopathic advice, such as herbal remedies, homeopathy, diet, and exercise, are used to treat sports injuries, trauma, and conditions of chronic pain. Duration of treatment depends on the nature of the complaint, its severity, and how long it has been present. Acupuncture may be scheduled as often as twice a week, or as little as twice a month. Some patients need only a few sessions while others need sustained care to reverse entrenched patterns. Sometimes Western medicine has little to offer nagging chronic complaints. Chinese medicine can be very beneficial in these conditions. Western and Chinese medicine are often complementary.
Pain and discomfort in Chinese medicine is caused by stasis of Qi. There are 12 meridians or energy channels in the body and each is associated with an organ. Acupuncture points along the meridians are used to stimulate the flow of Qi and to remove any obstructions to smooth flow of Qi. Only stainless steel disposable needles are used, so there is no risk of infection. The procedure is relatively painless, with the small, round tipped needles being inserted in various parts of the body at acupuncture point sites. Some notice a relief of the symptoms or feel more energetic in the days that follow treatment. Most people are pleased to find that sessions are not uncomfortable, and even look forward to them.
Assessment is made by feeling the pulses at each wrist and observing the color and form of the face, tongue, and body. This information is interpreted in the context of your present complaints, work living habits, physical environment, family health history and emotional life.
The Chinese looked out the window and saw the sun, the cold, the rain, and the wind. They used this language to describe what they saw and felt in the body. Heat dries fluids and causes dryness and stagnation, cold causes contraction and stasis, dampness is sticky and gums up the channels, and the wind invades the channels, causing symptoms which come on quickly. The goal of acupuncture is to balance: cool the heat, disperse the cold, release the wind and evaporate the dampness. Adjust and harmonize Yin and Yan, cold and heat, inner and outer, body and mind. This is achieved by regulating the Qi, moisture and Blood on the organ networks; weak organs are tonified, congested channels are opened, excess is dispersed, tightness is loosened, agitation is calmed, and heat is cooled.
In Chinese medicine all illness is understood as a consequence of either a depletion or congestion of Qi, moisture and blood. Depletion leads to weakness, lethargy, frequent ill, poor digestion and inadequate blood flow. Congestion results in aches, tension, tenderness, pain, distention, irritability, and swelling.
People of the Stone Age are thought to have first used stone or bone needles to stimulate certain points on the body. Eventually they noticed that these points seemed to lie on definite pathways, that the sensation from the needle was felt to pass along a certain line and that the points had a distinct therapeutic effect on the body. The earliest writings on Acupuncture are from China and to back 2.000 years or more.
After the People's Republic of China was created in 1949, many studies were made of the efficacy of traditional medicine. Hundreds of papers were published and on this solid foundation, traditional and modern medicine were accorded equal status. Today in China, there are huge hospitals devoted to treatment by traditional medicine and to research. In Canada and in other Western countries, acupuncture is becoming increasingly accepted as a medicine in its own right.
