An Introduction to Chinese Medicine

Summarized by Robert W. Griffith, MD
June 19, 2006

More and more people living in the so-called 'Western World' are becoming interested in medical practices from other worlds. Foremost amongst these is Chinese Medicine (sometimes called Oriental Medicine). Dr T Quinn Evans is a practitioner of Chinese Medicine who has kindly written a brief article to help our understanding of his profession. Here it is. Robert Griffith, Editor.

The basic premise of Chinese Medicine is somewhat different from what we are used to in the western world. Often in our approach to disease, or even life, we see the situation in black and white, with one element the force to be defeated and the other the pure and the good. While we do concern ourselves in oriental medicine with "evil Qi" (a phrase that can cover a multitude of ailments), we see the evil as an imbalance of natural and necessary elements. The Yin/Yang symbol illustrates this harmonious balance between apparent opposites. The two forces are shown in constant motion, eternally changing places. Within each is the seed of the other. Doctors of Oriental Medicine work to bring these elements back into balance for the smooth functioning of the entire person. This is one reason that acupuncture is considered "holistic" - we are attempting to treat the entire person, not only the primary cause or the symptoms of that cause.

Chinese Medicine has been developed as the study of living bodies, so it is very much involved in imagining what is going on inside while being very pragmatic about observing external clues. The 27 patterns of the pulse, the color, coat, moisture and shape of the tongue, a person's complexion, posture, smell, voice - these are all observed and integrated with detailed questioning about a person's energy, sleep, diet, appetite, digestion, sensations of hot or cold, elimination, pain and so on. These clues are put in the context of the natural world. Heaven/earth, interior/exterior, heat/cold, and excess/deficiency were among the first divisions in attempting to understand disease. As Chinese medicine was developing these beginnings led to almost poetical descriptions of the workings of the body and it's response to pathogenic factors. A further evolution brought us phrases like "stagnant Liver Qi" and "fire afflicting the Heart".

In order to illustrate how Chinese Medicine views the body and illness let us consider arthritis as a concrete example. Acupuncture has been shown to be effective in treating osteoarthritis, both in relieving pain and in improving range of motion. In Chinese medical terms this is called "Bi" or "Painful Obstruction Syndrome" but there is not an exact correspondence. We see this as an invasion of wind, along with damp, cold or heat. Wind manifests as soreness and pain of the muscles and joints, limited movement, with the pain moving from joint to joint. Fixed pain, soreness and swelling in the muscles and joints with a feeling of heaviness and numbness is related to dampness. Cold is severe fixed pain in joint or muscle with limited range of motion and worse with damp weather. Inflammation, that is heat and pain in the joints with swelling, is simply attributed to heat. These climatic factors often work to aggravate symptoms. Someone with a Damp-cold Bi would be most miserable in a New England winter. Another person's sensitivity would inform them that a storm was moving in.

In treating this we work to strengthen the body's natural ability to defend itself against these common pathogenic forces. This means strengthening Qi (energy) and Xue (blood). This internal work builds the body's ability to heal itself. The external work concerns the muscles, sinews and bones. These are all considered exterior aspects of our body. Our bones are considered "exterior" because they hold us upright, out in the world. It is because of the bones that our muscles and sinews have something to pull against. The external work is to get the energy moving again. When the energy of the body is circulating appropriately and freely there will be no pain. Over the centuries acupuncture doctors built up a repertoire of points that affected these different aspects of pain and stiffness in the body, nourishing on the deep levels and moving blocked energy on the more exterior ones.

I haven't touched on the system of meridians that we use to understand the flow of energy through the body or the Chinese Medicine view of the organ systems and how they interrelate. These will have to wait for a future article.

We hope to post additional articles by Dr Evans. He can be reached at TQuinnEvans@gmail.com

Source

• T. Quinn Evans, DOM. Dr Evans is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine in private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. He can be reached at tquinnevans@gmail.com

Related Links
Yin and Yang
ChiMed: The History of Chinese Medicine
Karolynska Institute: History of Traditional Chinese Medicine

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