ACUPUNCTURE AND TCM

A Timely Caution

Acupuncture is not Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is not acupuncture. Acupuncture is part - and only a part - of TCM.

To imagine that Acupuncture is TCM is as mistaken as to imagine that, say, surgery is western medicine. Surgery is only part - a small part - of conventional medicine. Furthermore, and in light of this, one should be fully aware of the fact that acupuncture is not good for every medical complaint, just as surgery in western terms is not good for every medical complaint.

Acupuncture is good for what acupuncture is good for – but it is not good for everything - just as surgery is not good for everything.

Three further considerations follow from this:-

Acupuncture alone is not sufficient to attempt to treat every medical problem that might present. It is for this reason that TCM - as an entire medical system - involves much more than just acupuncture.
A so-called acupuncturist is not necessarily a fully trained TCM practitioner.
Not all acupuncture is TCM Acupuncture.

From the very outset, almost thirty years ago, the ICTCM and the PRTCM has striven to educate the public to these facts. Why? Because both bodies are of the firm conviction that a person’s health is one of their most precious and fragile commodities that, consequently, should be treated as such. The utmost care should be exercised in choosing a medical practitioner to whom one entrusts one’s health-care.

What is Acupuncture TCM?

"Acupuncture is one of the most popular and effective contemporary healing techniques, practised in almost every country on the globe. Acupuncture is part of a comprehensive medical system that has survived over the millennia. Not only is it safe, in the hands of fully trained practitioners, but its clinical applicability is enormous.

The World Health Organisation has compiled a huge list of medical conditions that are amenable to treatment with acupuncture, including chronic respiratory problems, such as sinusitis and asthma, neurological and musculoskeletal disorders, such as headaches and low back pain, digestive disorders, such as colitis and gastritis, and chronic menstrual problems. This is apart from the treatment of mental and emotional disturbances and certain behavioural problems, such as addictive habits."

The Natural Family Doctor. A. Stanway, Century Publishers, London.

Traditional Chinese Medicine, through the use of Acupuncture and other classical medical therapies such as Chinese Herbal Medicine and Medical Qigong, aims to establish energetic harmony in the whole person and thereby not only treat illness but also promote active health and vitality and thereby increase resistance to disease.

It is the principle form of medical care available to a large portion of the world's population.

From its very ancient origins such medicine has been at once both preventative and curative, the ideal being to so strengthen the person's overall health and well-being that they do not get sick in the first place, or if they do fall ill, to speed their recovery. One of the most attractive and distinctive features of TCM is that, from its earliest days, it has emphasised the promotion of positive health and has not restricted itself merely to the treatment of disease.

Who and what can be treated?

The scope and range of ailments amenable to TCM care is enormous. An indication of their type and variety can best be gleaned from looking at the booklet Acupuncture and the leaflet Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, both available from the PRTCM.

All ages of client can be catered to, from the tiny infant to the very old. All types of conditions can be treated - chronic or acute, severe or mild, mental or physical. Pregnant women are prime candidates for TCM and much can be done to promote both ante-natal and post-natal care of mother and baby. Acupuncture TCM can also be very helpful for those having trouble conceiving or having the family they would wish. Those properly qualified can treat animals with TCM therapy.

For a list of some of the typical conditions which people present with in the Acupuncture TCM clinic see Conditions Treated.

What Treatment Methods might be used in TCM?

The following are among the most commonly available TCM treatment options.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a form of treatment used by qualified TCM practitioners which involves the insertion of extremely fine pre-sterilized, single use only stainless steel needles at pre-determined points on the body surface (known as “acupuncture points”) to promote or restore health and wellbeing. In the hands of a fully qualified professional practitioner the use of acupuncture is entirely safe and free of any harmful side-effects. It has stood the test of time over several thousands of years and has not been found wanting.

Moxibustion

Moxibustion is a form of heat treatment which is used by a fully qualified TCM practitioner when appropriate. The treatment is carried out by applying a substance known as "moxa" over a particular area or acupuncture point. This introduces heat into the area for therapeutic effect.

Dietary Therapy

This form of therapy is a highly sophisticated and ancient specialism in TCM terms, quite unlike any western, contemporary approximation. It involves careful monitoring of food and drink intake in order to eliminate disease and speed recovery. The TCM practitioner can advise a patient regarding the type of food eaten, the time and manner in which it is eaten, or the manner in which it is prepared, in order to promote cure and enhance health.

Chinese Herbal Medicine

This is a very extensive part of TCM and includes the dispensing of various Chinese herbal prescriptions in the form of natural herbs, pills, tablets, powders, ointments and other medical preparations.

See Herbal Medicine for a fuller account of this comprehensive TCM medical option.

Medical advice

This forms a crucial part of TCM treatment and concentrates on eliminating factors in the patient's life style or daily living activities that contribute to the cause or prolongation of a health complaint. Alternatively, the client can be instructed upon how to positively promote active health and increase wellbeing by suitably modifying the way they live. Clearly, this type of specifically TCM instruction has no equivalent in conventional, western, medicine.

Medical Qigong

Medical Qigong is a form of treatment used by specially trained and qualified TCM practitioners. Unlike all other treatment modalities it dispenses with intervening instruments and medicaments. Instead, it involves the employment of the practitioner's own Qi to bring about or restore harmonious and smooth flow to the client's Qi, thus helping to restore health and well-being.

It is the most rarefied and specialised form of TCM treatment.

More information on Medical Qigong.

Are these treatment methods safe?

They are safe provided they are used only by a fully trained practitioner who is qualified to use them.

If seeking treatment from a practitioner you should check, as a very minimum, that they are fully trained and insured and that they are a member of a recognised professional body.

Further information

To put the above account of Acupuncture TCM in a fuller context, the following can be viewed by interested parties.

China and Chinese Medicine

China is one of the oldest and most cultured of world civilizations. Its medicine, namely Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is one of the most potent, tried and tested, comprehensive forms of medicine known to man. It has many branches, which can flourish independently or in conjunction, one with the other. Some of them are already well-known in the West such as Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine, others are currently less well represented. All the several branches have certain features in common, the most crucial being that they all focus, according to their individual modalities, upon the Qi, a notoriously difficult word to define with anything approximating to adequacy, so complex is the notion of Qi.

Qi

In purely medical terms, and leaving aside all the other features of Qi, we could say that the word QI encapsulates whatever it is that makes a person alive and healthy, a sort of vital energy, a vitality or life force, a verve or spark that underpins and gives expression, ideally, to all that a person is on all levels of personality, including the physical, emotional, psychological, mental, intellectual and indeed all other features of that which goes to make up a healthy human being. This, of course, is considering Qi at its best, when it is as it should be, that is, when it is at its very healthiest. Not all Qi, in the real world, as far as human beings are concerned, is constantly at its optimal level. We do not live in a world of ideals but in a world which falls far short. People are not always, or even most frequently, as healthy as they could possibly be. Their Qi – their health and vitality - waxes and wanes. They get sick. They become unhealthy. They decline. They degenerate.

TCM confronts this phenomenon head on. It employs its various weapons or treatment methods to fight against this ever-present invasive onslaught – frequently with surprising success. No matter which of the medical modalities is employed in any given instance, they all strive to boost, reinforce, strengthen and invigorate the client’s Qi. Acupuncture medicine, for example, employs finest needles, applied to the skin, to drive out unhealthy invasive factors and restore healthy circulation of optimal Qi. Herbs do likewise, but “from the inside”. The herbs are ingested and work away, silently and unseen, to do their restorative, regenerative or vitalizing work.

To summarise this brief account of Qi - we all naturally experience ups and downs. TCM, as a self-contained, complex, and complete medical system in its own right, works to maximise a person’s vital Qi and in so doing strives to both preserve and enhance it, thereby reinforcing and augmenting a person’s health and wellbeing.

In all instances the promotion of healthy Qi is the primary aim and ultimate objective.