What is Traditional Chinese Medicine - TCM?

Traditional Chinese (or Oriental) medicine, or TCM as it is known, has developed over millennia in the East and is made up of acupuncture, herbal remedies, tui na massage, qi gong and dietary therapy. Traditionally it was primarily a system of preventative rather than curative medicine, used by a society whose understanding of their bodies and minds was intimate. This knowledge and the factors affecting health and disease were passed down from generation to generation as part of their life philosophy known as the Tao or the Way.

The role of the Chinese medicine practitioner in China was to prevent disease from occurring in the healthy minds and bodies of his patients by timely advice and intervention. So clearly was his role seen as one of prevention rather than cure, that the Emperor's personal doctor was employed only as long as the Emperor himself remained healthy: at the point he became unwell, the doctor, being seen to have failed in his task, was beheaded!

In the knowledge that the Chinese had of themselves, they clearly appreciated the adage that one man's meat is another man's poison. They accepted the concept of personal limitation which the speed and competitiveness of western society leads us to ignore. They knew and adjusted their lifestyle, diet, behaviour and emotional attitudes to deal with the fact that a given circumstance may lead one person to flourish and thrive where a brother or sister may struggle or become sick.

TCM is a holistic therapy which means that it addresses the body as a whole, integrated with both the mind and the spirit. Hence to experience a persistent negative emotion will ultimately lead to sickness of the body in the same way that to suffer physical distress over a prolonged period will lead to a changed emotional outlook and depression of the spirits. Chinese medicine therefore treats the whole person and treatment will heal first on the level where it is most urgently required.

Do you need to believe in it for it to work?

Often we are asked whether the patient needs 'believe in it' for it for the treatment to work. The answer is categorically no. However, it does help to have the patient's co-operation in terms of making the necessary lifestyle adjustments so that the problem does not recur. It also helps if the patient is aware of the breadth of healing involved in acupuncture treatment so that improvements in the patient's general state of health can be attributed to the correct cause!

One of the effects of treatment reported to us by our patients is an increase in their general sense of wellbeing, an improvement in their outlook on life and a lift in their spirits: maybe not an effect they would have expected, but nevertheless predictable in terms of the way Chinese medicine works; that is by facilitating healing of the body, mind and spirit.

Would you like to train in Chinese medicine but not sure which branch? A Presentation Day at LCTA will give you the opportunity to find out more. Click here to see the dates of our next Presentation Days.