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Tags: health, wellness, medicine, chinese medicine
 Chinese medicine is a range of traditional, ancient medical practices that originated in China and developed over several thousand years. The English phrase “Chinese Medicine” was created in the 1950s in order to export Chinese medicine. In fact, Chinese medicine is a modern compilation of traditional treatments that included theories, diagnosis and treatments such as herbal medicine, acupuncture and massage.
The theory herein asserts that processes of the human body are interrelated and in constant interaction with the environment. Signs of disharmony help the Chinese medicine practitioner to understand, treat and prevent illneCss and disease. Through the years Chinese medicine has survived primarily because of the relief it brought and continues to bring to those who seek it as option for cure.
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Chinese medicine brings remedy where other medical practices seemingly fail or have difficulty in effecting cure. Chinese medicine as embraced has also evolved into what has now become acceptable medicine to many communities. The theory is based on a number of philosophical frameworks including the theory of twin energies Yin-yang, the Five Elements, the human body Meridian system, Zang Fu organ theory, and others.
Chinese medicine does not operate within a western scientific paradigm but some practitioners make efforts to bring practices into a biomedical and evidence-based medicine framework. In the West, Chinese medicine is considered alternative medicine. In mainland China and Taiwan, Chinese medicine is considered an integral part of the health care system.
The term is sometimes used specifically in modern Chinese medicine to refer to the standardized set of theories and practices introduced in the mid-20th century under Mao Zedong, as distinguished from related traditional theories and practices preserved by people in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the overseas Chinese. It developed as a form of noninvasive therapeutic intervention (also described as folk medicine or traditional medicine) rooted in ancient belief systems, including traditional religious concepts.
Unlike their Western counterparts, doctors of Chinese medicine has limited understanding of infection, which predated the discovery of bacteria, viruses (germ theory of disease) and an understanding of cellular structures and organic chemistry. Based on theories formulated through three millennia of observation and practical experience, a system of procedure was formed as guide to a Chinese medicine practitioner in courses of treatment and diagnosis.
Unlike other forms of traditional medicine which have largely become extinct, Chinese medicine continues as a distinct branch of modern medical practice. In recent decades there has been an effort to integrate this with scientific medicine. One important component of this work is to use the instrumentation and the methodological tools available via Western medicine to investigate observations and hypotheses made by the Chinese tradition.
Chinese medicine has a "macro" or holistic view of disease. There is a popular saying in China as follows: Chinese medicine treats humans while western medicine treats diseases. A practitioner might give very different herbal prescriptions to patients affected by the same type of infection, because the different symptoms reported by the patients would indicate a different type of imbalance, in a traditional diagnostic system.
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About the author
The author of this article Rose Windale is a Health and Wellness Coach who has been successful with several natural health programs for many years. Rose recently published a step-by-step guide on how to lose weight the EASY way and become totally healthy and happy. More info on her life-changing eating habits plan HERE.
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