INTRODUCTION TO TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a complete medical system that originated in China about 3,000 years ago.  In the diagnosis, management, and treatment of diseases, this professional medical system includes, but is not limited to  one or more of the following modalities: acupuncture, moxibustion, Chinese herbology, muscle and joint manipulations, exercises, diets, massage, hydrotherapy, thermotherapy, lifestyle counseling, etc.

Traditional Chinese Medicine has also evolved by incorporating the use of modern diagnostic procedures to the traditional clinical examination. Today, if considered pertinent to confirm a diagnosis, a doctor of Oriental Medicine may order laboratory blood tests, x-rays, CT-scan, MRI, sonogram, etc. The advances in medical engineering have also brought new options in Traditional Chinese Medicine, which has added its own modern therapies such as electro-acupuncture, laser acupuncture, the TDP Lamp (far conduction of heat in thermotherapy), etc.

The medicinal ingredients used in Traditional Chinese Medicine commonly derivate from three sources, animals, minerals, and vegetables. However, due to the need and importance of animal preservation, some medicinal ingredients that originally came from animals (bile, hormones, bone minerals, etc.), are now used from synthetic sources. The most common Chinese herbal remedies usually come in the forms of infusions (decoctions), oral liquids, pills, tablets, capsules, granules, intramuscular injections, suppositories, enemas, poultices, plasters, creams, and skin solutions.   

Traditional Chinese Medicine remains a popular and useful medical system in Asia, where many traditional therapies that have been in use during thousands of years, are still successfully applied in hospitals of Chinese medicine and in hospitals of integrated medicine.

Due to its effectiveness in curing and alleviating many conditions for what Western medicine has no cure or have very little to offer, Traditional Chinese Medicine has become common in America in the past 30-40 years. Modalities such as acupuncture, traditional Chinese herbal remedies, and exercises like Tai Qi Chuan and Qi Gong are now very popular. 

The World Health Organization has cited a wide range of medical conditions that can be treated with acupuncture, and the National Institute of Health in the United States also promotes the use of acupuncture for various medical conditions (low back pain and inflammation, postoperative pain, nauseas due to chemotherapy, etc). Even Harvard Medical School recommends acupuncture and herbal medicine to manage pain, as published in their special health report " What To Do About Pain".

There is the false notion that Chinese medicine is new in this part of the world. But Traditional Chinese Medicine has been available in the West since the mid 1800's, when the first large number of Chinese workers came to the United States and Cuba (those events started the migration of Chinese to the Americas). Together with the Chinese laborers came TCM doctors that soon opened their practices and herbal pharmacies in the so called "Chinatowns" or "Barrios Chinos".  

What is correct to say is that acupuncture or Traditional Chinese Medicine in general, was not well known or popular among Western people until recently. Traditional Chinese Medicine began to be taught professionally in the United States about 30 years ago. There are now around 50 colleges teaching TCM in the United States (those colleges are approved by the U.S. Department of Education), and it is believed there are more than 30,000 licensed acupuncturists practicing in the United States.    

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the patient is seen as an integrated microcosm. And in healing the body, the emphasis is not only in alleviating the symptoms but in finding and resolving the true cause of the illness (imbalance). In this effort, Traditional Chinese Medicine takes into consideration a full spectrum of facts, internal and external, that can affect the proper biological function of the organs and the physiological inter-relationship of the entire organism as a whole. That's why this approach is often called "holistic medicine".

It has been said that in Western medicine the body is often seen as a complicated machine that if something goes wrong, it must be replaced or fixed immediately. While in Chinese medicine, the body is seen as a garden that must be cultivated and organized in order to function properly. Both approaches, the Western and the Chinese, are valid and the clinical value and use of each system must be considered according to individual cases. There are cases for which Traditional Chinese Medicine should be the choice, and vice verse, there are medical conditions for which Western medicine should be the priority. Furthermore, chronic conditions such as cancer, respond better when treated by both medical systems in combination.

Even though Traditional Chinese Medicine is growing fast in the United States, many doctors and patients still remain unaware of the importance and benefits of this medical system. The state of ignorance about Chinese medicine is even worse in Latin America, where practicing regulations and TCM schools are virtually a few or non existence.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is the oldest continued professional medical practice, and it shares with Western Medicine the responsibility of providing medical care to the majority of the population in the world. Besides striving to provide excellent health care with the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine, my desires and objectives are directed to bring consciousness of this healing system to those unaware of it    

Wishing you, health and good luck,

Marcelo Lam, O.M.D., A.P.
TCM General Practice and Oncology