That S the Difference Between Western Medicine (WM), and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Ever see that drawing of two silhouettes looking at each other? One moment you see two faces, the next moment, it’s a vase. Which is it? Obviously it is just a matter of your perception or the way your brain links together visual clues. That’s the difference between Western medicine (WM), and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) or Eastern medicine. Same symptoms, same signs, same patient, but very different ways of organizing the information. There's an ongoing debate raging in the medical community between Eastern medicine vs. Western medicine. The great debate between these two very different health care practices both have very valid points on each side of the aisle, but whether one is better than the other is a matter of opinion for those trying to decide which health remedies is right for them.

One of the main difference between Eastern and Western medicine is the concept of qi (pronounced ch-ee), which is he body and spirit’s life energy. It is at the center of Eastern teachings, yet is completely absent in Western practices. The literal translation of "qi" is breath, air, or gas. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) asserts that the body has natural patterns of qi that circulate in channels called meridians. In TCM, symptoms of various illnesses are believed to be the product of disrupted, blocked, or unbalanced qi movement through the body's meridians, as well as deficiencies or imbalances of qi in the Zang Fu organs:  The Zang Organs: Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, Kidney  The Fu Organs: The Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Gall Bladder, Urinary Bladder, Stomach. Traditional Chinese medicine often seeks to relieve these imbalances by adjusting the circulation of qi using a variety of techniques including herbology, food therapy, physical training regimens (martial arts training), massage, and acupuncture. In Chinese medicine, health is represented as a balance of yin and yang. These two forces represent the bipolar manifestation of all things in nature, and because of this, one must be present to allow the other to exist. Hence, where there is above there is below, whatever has a front also has a back, night is followed by day, etc... On an emotional level, one would not know joy had they never experienced pain. It is important to note that the balance of yin and yang is not always exact, even when the body is healthy. Under normal circumstances the balance is in a state of constant change, based on both the external and internal environment. For example, during times of anger, a person's mood is more fiery, or yang, and yet once the anger has subsided, and a quiet peaceful state is achieved, yin may dominate. The Zang Fu organs constitute the centre piece of TCM's general concept of how the human body works. The term zàng (脏) refers to the organs considered to be yin in nature (Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lung, Kidney), while fǔ (腑) refers to the yang organs (Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Gall Bladder, Urinary Bladder, and Stomach). Each zàng is paired with a fǔ. The zàng-fǔ are also connected to the twelve standard meridians - each yang meridian is attached to a fǔ organ and each yin meridian is attached to a zàng. This shift in the balance of yin and yang is very natural. It is when the balance is consistently altered, and one (be it yin or yang) regularly dominates the other, that health is compromised, resulting in illness and disease. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners attempt to determine the exact nature of the imbalance, and then correct it through the use of acupuncture, herbal remedies, exercise, diet and lifestyle. As balance is restored in the body, so is health.

In order to really see all the differences between the Eastern Medicine and the type of medicine we practice here in the United States (Western Medicine), we can compare the two side by side. The main differences between the two are:

 Health is a balance between mind,  Health is the absence of pain, body, and spirit. symptoms, and physical or mental defects.

 Being unhealthy is an imbalance or  Being unhealthy means there is a disharmony of the natural body defect of the bodily structure with a energy (qi). cause and symptoms.

 Symptoms are the body's way of  Symptoms are a sign of illness and showing that it is healing. must be eliminated or suppressed.

 The cause of an illness is any action  The cause of an illness is a foreign that will cause disharmony of the qi. pathogen or force from outside the body.

 The patient's responsibility is to  Personal lifestyle and living prevent illness and live a healthy, conditions don't play as much of a harmonious lifestyle. role, as more of an emphasis is put on healing vs. staying well.

 The role of the doctor is as an  The role of the physician is that of a assistant, to help people stay well mechanic, to fix what is broken and instead of fixing them once they find things that are wrong. become ill.

 The goal of treatment is to restore  The goal of treatment is to suppress balance through lifestyle changes symptoms, usually through drugs or and other natural means. surgery.

 The main strength of Eastern  The main strength of Western medicine is that it focuses on medicine is that it is able to treat prevention and management of structural trauma and defects, as chronic illness, and the recognition well as address life-threatening of the importance of lifestyle and illnesses that require medical or the mind/body connection. surgical intervention.

One of the most well known aspects of traditional Chinese medicine is Chinese herbology. This is the practice of combining different herbs in order to restore balance to the body and relieve the symptoms of many common conditions. There are a few main focus points in Chinese herbology that differentiate it from other types of herbal medicine. All herbs and symptoms match up with these factors and aid the Chinese medicine doctor in determining which herbs are used in the remedy. These are:

For example, menthol is a pungent, cool herb that acts upon the lungs and liver, so it would be used to protect the lungs against the cold or flu that is caused by an invading "heat." Chinese herbology and other Eastern medicine practices has been used throughout Asia and other parts of the world for more than 2,000 years, and there are over 300 herbs used. The most common ones are:  Ginseng  Cinnamon  Mushrooms  Ginger  Dang Gui  Licorice  Astragalus  Rhubarb  Wolfberry  Though Chinese herbology is the most recognizable of the Eastern medicine practices, there are a variety of other treatments and therapies that are commonly used in the field. The goal of Eastern medicine is to restore and maintain the balance of qi (your body's natural energy), and there are many ways that practitioners accomplish this goal. The most common Eastern medicine practices are:  Acupuncture  Chinese herbology  Yoga  Energy therapy  Massage therapy  Nutrition  Tai chi and martial arts  Herbal medicine