What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine?

You've probably heard something about traditional Chinese medicine (or TCM for short) before, but if you're like most people in the west, it is far less likely that you actually know just what this term refers to. It is admittedly a complex subject, but one which is fairly easy to explain at least in the broadest sense. As you would expect from the name, this is a blanket term which refers to the body of medical knowledge which was developed in China over the last several millennia. Much of the knowledge which makes up the spectrum of traditional Chinese medicine dates back to antiquity; many of the techniques which are still used today have been around for three to five thousand years, with some doubtlessly being even older than this.

Some people use the term TCM to distinguish it from Western medicine (and the term is occasionally misused to refer to other Asian medical traditions). However, it does have many things in common with other non-Western medical systems in that its approach to health is a holistic one. Instead of simply aiming to treat the patient's symptoms, the goal of traditional Chinese medicine is to cure the illness by going after the root cause of the disease. TCM looks at the whole patient, considering their mental and emotional health as part of the bigger picture and targeting the cure at the whole person.

There are a number of elements which form the basis of TCM, most important of which are herbs, acupuncture and acupressure, along with an understanding of the patient's emotional and psychological state and how this ties into their physical well being. The concept of Qi is an incredibly important one to practitioners of TCM; it is in many ways the basis of traditional Chinese medicine and the techniques of acupuncture and acupressure are all about Qi. In case you're unfamiliar with the term, Qi can be roughly defined as energy. TCM holds that our health in large part dependent on the flow of this Qi, or life energy, through our bodies. When the pathways for this energy in the body are blocked, illness is the result and by the application of needles or pressure on the body's pressure points, these blockages can be cleared and physical, mental and emotional health restored.

Another concept that is vital to traditional Chinese medicine is the concept of Yin and Yang. This is an idea which you may be at least somewhat familiar with even if you don't know much, if anything about TCM. These are the two opposing, yet complementary forces which cannot exist without the other - and harmonizing these dual forces is an important part of the practice of TCM.

These are some of the most important concepts which underpin the theory and practice of traditional Chinese medicine. Obviously, with a medical tradition dating back more than five thousand years, this barely scratches the surface, but having an understanding of the fundamentals will help you to gain a basic knowledge of how this ancient system of medicine works and how it could help you to maintain your health.

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