Traditional Chinese Medicine - TCM

FAQ on Traditional Chinese Medicine

FAQ on Traditional Chinese Medicine


Q. What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)?

TCM is comprised of acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine, massage, exercise and dietary therapy. With a history of 3000 years, TCM developed into a modern tool for Medicine and nowadays used by a quarter of the world's population.

TCM is based on the concept of Qi (pronounced chee) which is the life force or vital energy. Qi is the living force that serves to warm us, protect us from external pathogenic factors, promote the functions of the body and hold our organs and tissues in place.

TCM is also based on the idea of yin and yang. These terms refer to a conceptual framework that comes from observing and analyzing the natural world. They relate to an, opposite, but complementary relationship between phenomenons.

Examples of yin/yang are cold/hot, night/day, dark/light. In traditional Chinese medicine, there must be a harmonious balance between yin, yang, and a smooth flow of qi throughout the body for good health to exist. A disharmony between yin and yang and a disturbance in the flow of qi may result in disease.

The goal of traditional Chinese medicine is to guide the body back into balance. Traditional Chinese Medicine is holistic; it treats the whole person (mind, body, spirit), not just the illness.



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Q. Acupuncture

Qi travels along specific pathways that cover the body called meridians. Each pathway is associated with a particular physiological system and internal organ or function. Acupuncture allows qi to flow to areas where it is short and away from where it is in excess. If qi is blocked or obstructed in its flow, pain and discomfort will occur.

Acupuncture regulates and restores the energetic balance of the body, therefore pain or illness will be resolved. Acupuncture points are places along the meridians near the body's surface where qi can be manipulated by the insertion of acupuncture needles.
There are hundreds of acupuncture points and each point has a therapeutic effect. Problems can be solved by needling points close to and distant from the problem being treated, because the meridians run throughout the body. For example, a headache may be treated by placing needles in the head, hands and feet.

Acupuncture needles are very thin, flexible and about the thickness of a human hair. They have no resemblance to an injection with a hypodermic needle, since the main source of pain from injections is from the large hollow needle and the medication being forced into the tissues by pressure.
Usually, by insertion of an acupuncture needle, clients will experience special sensations. This varies from no pain at all, to a slight pinch, a feeling of heaviness, warmth and/or possibly tingling and an electric sensation during a treatment. The needles are retained for 20-45 minutes and people often become relaxed and even fall asleep. After needle removal, you may feel energized, sleepy or lighter.

You may notice immediate improvement of your symptoms.

The needles used at our Clinics are high quality, individually packaged, disposable and sterile. Every needle is used only once and discarded after a treatment.

The number of acupuncture treatments depends on the duration, severity, and nature of your problem. An acute condition may require only a single treatment. Whereas 5 to 15 treatments may be necessary for many chronic problems. Some degenerative conditions may need many treatments and long-term maintenance.

An acupuncture treatment can go together with by other applications:

  • Massage, Tuina or Chinese massage, shiatsu and acupressure.
  • Laser-acupuncture, the laser light works as a ‘needle’.
  • Manipulation Treatment, to release obstructions in bone positioning.
  • Herbal Medicine, to help the internal functions and healing power.
  • Moxibustion, the burning of mugwort leaves, held a few inches from the body to bring warmth to a specific point on the body.
  • Cupping, glass cups that create suction on the skin.
  • Electro-acupuncture, a mild electrical stimulation of acupuncture points that reduces pain and speedup recovery.


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Q. Chinese Herbal Medicine

Chinese Herbal Medicine is the same age as Acupuncture and is an important part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Acupuncture treatments are best combined with Chinese herbs. Herbs enhance and increase the effects of an acupuncture treatment. Herbs can be prescribed and taken on their own without having to have acupuncture treatments.

Herbs are used especially to strengthen and build the body's constitution in deficient, weakened conditions. In addition, they also have many other helpful actions on the body, to strengthen the general condition, preventing us against a cold and such.

There are thousands of herbs in the Chinese pharmacopeia, consisting of plants, minerals and animal products. Chinese herbs are usually combined into formulas containing anywhere from 3 to 20 herbs. These combinations are designed to increase the actions or to improve poor effects of certain herbs in the formula.



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Q. More on Traditional Chinese Medicine

  • Traditional Chinese Medicine is a general medicine.
  • This means it is beneficial for a wide range of conditions.
  • It is a perfect method for your body's natural healing ability.
  • What conditions does traditional Chinese medicine treat?
    • Addiction: smoking/alcohol/drugs Allergies/asthma
    • Arthritis/back pain/sciatica
    • Digestive disorders
    • High blood pressure
    • Immune enhancement
    • Infertility/menopause
    • Pain and injury
    • PMS/menstrual problems
    • Skin disorders
    • Stress/anxiety/depression/insomnia
    • Colds and flu

A Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis consists of interviewing the patient, checking the pulse, looking at the tongue and inspecting the body. From these procedures, the practitioners recognize patterns of disharmony and decide a course of treatment. Nowadays, we us also diagnostic devices, such as AcuGraph, to monitor the client and being able to record al necessarily data. This is especially helpful with follow ups and long client histories. So we can base on al visits before to perform a more adequate treatment today.



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