According to an alternative medical website, Tuberose. com, over 5000 years ago, the Chinese discovered a subtle energy in the body that cannot be seen, felt or found using the senses. Abnormalities in the flow of this energy through its normal path (meridian) can cause sicknesses and it is by restoring the natural flow that a person will be healed. This is the basic theory that acupuncture and acupressure relies on. Because of its concepts on energy, yin and yang, and elements, Oriental medicine cannot be easily adapted to Western Medicine.
Also, many of the philosophy Chinese medical practitioners had merged medical theories with the Taoist philosophy of life. The Oriental medicine also reiterates that the individual human experience expresses cause and effective principles that are effective in the environment in all areas of concern. The Minister of China during the year s 2698 to 2696 B. C. wrote the basic questions of internal medicine called Huanadi Neijing. Also, Mayor Hippocrates of China had put into writing the Treatise on Cold damage referring to the Neijing Suwen.
Furthermore, Jin Dynasty practitioners and proponents of acupuncture and moxibustion, Hung-fu mi, who lived between 215 to 282 A. D, had referred to the Emperor in his Jia Yi Jing, ca. 265 A. D. Furthermore, Classical Chinese Medicine differs very much from the traditional Chinese medicine (French, 2003). There was a time when even the National government of China announced that the practice of Classical Chinese Medicine shall be prohibited. This ban had run for an estimated thirty years.
However, Mao Zedong lifted the ban on Classical Chinese Medicine in the 1960s. In fact, he authorized that the ten top doctors in Classical Chinese Medicine must undertake a survey on the current status of Classical Chinese Medicine and create a standard application set. This set is now called the Traditional Chinese Medicine. This revitalized Traditional Chinese Medicine curriculum has been implemented in all medical schools in China today.
Traditional Chinese Medicine has also crossed overseas to other Asian countries as well as the United States. Western and Oriental medicine differ in its approach. Traditional Chinese Medicine regards the whole individual as part of the universe. It involves man’s physiological, emotional and moral balance encompassing the social and natural cycles of heaven and earth. It considers the body as a “language of processes rather than structure and tissues and organs.
” (Pennsylvania Arts and Sciences News 2002) Western medicine’s view is anatomical wherein the body is made up of broken parts and that for it to heal the doctor has to find which one needs repairing before it can be in good running condition again. This approach considers the body as a machine that has different mechanical parts that just need to be fixed. Both approaches can be effective. Recently, Traditional Chinese Medicine has proven itself worthy of being one of the major medical theories of the world.
Evidently, many doctors from the Western world run to Oriental or Traditional Chinese medicine as a last resort if Western medicine fails. Oriental medicine has also opened itself to and emphasizes its harmony with modern technology and science. Also, the simple flu or allergies have been better cured by Traditional Chinese Medicine because Western medicines have side effects that release toxins to the human body. Money wise, Traditional Chinese Medicine proves to give the same healing effects as Western medicine but at a lower over all medical cost.