What are the benefits of Traditional
Chinese Medicine?
The diagnosis and treatment plans of Traditional Chinese Medicine
are both similar to and different from a Western medical treatment. Like a
medical doctor, I will be taking a detailed history, and asking you about your
chief complaint. Like your medical doctor, I will consider your signs and
symptoms and formulate a likely diagnosis. Should you not improve with several
treatments, your information will be reviewed again, and other possible
diagnoses will be considered.
However, Traditional Chinese Medicine weighs subjective information,
referred to as a symptom, on an equal basis with an observable physical
manifestation, called a sign. Furthermore, emotional states and physical
distress are not considered separate in terms of treatment. A single etiological
agent does not need to be proven in order for a disease diagnosis to be
considered.
Like your medical doctor, I work from information gathered from
empirical observation. Although it is difficult to perform clinical trails to
test the efficacy of acupuncture, because of the difficulty of simulating an
acupuncture treatment for the control group (the group that is to receive the
placebo treatment), acupuncture is studied widely in Chinese hospitals, and many
research findings have been published. Institutes as diverse as the Karolinska
Institute of Sweden and Dana Farber of Boston study Traditional Chinese
Medicine. Many universities, such as Columbia in New York, now have
departments of Alternative and Complementary
Medicine.
While your medical doctor will treat you with pharmaceuticals once a
diagnosis has been arrived at, I will suggest herbal remedies in addition to
acupuncture. Although herbs are generally safer and less expensive than drugs,
they may also take longer to work.
Traditional Chinese Medicine doesn't stop with herbs and acupuncture
though. I may also do some Asian bodywork, to loosen your joints and make your
body receptive to acupuncture. If you are interested in making lifestyle
changes, your mental state, nutrition, and exercise program may be discussed.
Please understand that I am neither a disciplinarian nor a dogmatist. We will
discuss gradual changes that you can comfortably
incorporate. |
