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The Healing Modalities of Chinese Medicine

Whenever someone asks me what I do for a living, I tell them that I’m an acupuncturist. This is a half-truth, as I am really a practitioner of Chinese medicine. To most people, this may feel like nit picking, but in reality there is a big difference. That’s because acupuncture is only one method of treatment under the wide umbrella that is Chinese medicine. As a practitioner of Chinese medicine, I have a number of healing tools that I can use to help my patients get better. Among them:

Acupuncture is the best-know healing practice in Chinese medicine. Through acupuncture, disease and pain can be treated and prevented through the insertion of fine, sterile needles into various points on your body. Acupuncture is based on the theory that energy circulates in numerous pathways, and pain and disease are the result of a blockage or imbalance of this energy. Through acupuncture points, usually located in small depressions in the skin where your energetic pathways come closest to the surface, this energy can be accessed and balanced to return your body to its healthy state.

Acupuncture is very safe when performed by a licensed practitioner. This is especially true when compared to Western medicine and the statistics on prescription drug side effects and complications from surgery. An acupncture treatment consists of a selection of points based on your specific diagnosis. The needles, when inserted, produce some sensation, but generally not pain. Most people find acupuncture to be very relaxing and revitalizing.

Auricular Acupuncture is the practice of preventing and treating disease and pain by stimulating certain points on your ear. When disease occurs in an internal organ or other parts of your body, reactions will also appear at corresponding points in your ear. For example, someone who is struggling with pneumonia or bronchitis may also have tenderness, discoloration, or skin changes at the point in the ear that corresponds to the lungs.

The needles used for auricular acupuncture are generally smaller and finer than body acupuncture needles. Auricular acupuncture may be performed in conjunction with body acupuncture or by itself. Auricular acupuncture is commonly used in the treatment of addictions, such as smoking, chemical use, and weight loss.

Practitioners of Chinese Herbal Pharmacology rely on formulas or a combination of herbs to achieve the desired healing effects. Herbs come in many forms, including pills and capsules, powdered or raw, which are cooked in hot water and taken like a tea.

Chinese Herbal Pharmacology is an important treatment modality for many practitioners. It began thousands of years ago in southern China, where the weather was warm and humid, producing a rich variety of plants from which to choose. Herbalists today draw on formulas that have been in use for hundreds, and even thousands of years.

Chinese Herbal Pharmacology is effective for a number of reasons. Practitioners are better able to fine-tune their treatments, and formulas can be custom tailored as an illness or condition changes. In addition, people take herbal formulas to augment their acupuncture treatment and continue their care at home.

Oriental bodywork is the use of massage or Tui Na, which is a form of Chinese massage, to treat a variety of conditions. Oriental bodywork usually incorporates the stimulation of acupuncture points and energy pathways into a massage format to achieve the best results. Oriental bodywork may be used for any condition, but is especially effective for musculoskeletal injuries and pain. A practitioner may work on the entire body or just the affected area.

Cupping is a method of treatment that uses suction to move energy and blood. Glass cups are applied, usually after a lit alcohol swab inside the cup has created the vacuum necessary to create suction on your skin. The cups may be left in one position on your body or slid across your skin to affect a larger area. Cupping is especially effective for painful conditions. Most frequently, your back or the larger muscles of your legs or arms are cupped.

Moxabustion is a method of warming that involves the use of the herb artemesia vulgarius. The artemesia may be loosely rolled into cones or tightly rolled into a stick, and is lit and placed near your body, usually at acupuncture points. The smoke produced is extremely warming and penetrating.

Moxabustion originated in the northern part of China, which has a cold and dry climate. It is commonly used to treat cold conditions such as arthritis that is affected or becomes worse during cold weather.

Practitioners of Chinese medicine believe that lifestyle and diet play a large role in health and illness. As a result, most offer lifestyle guidelines on topics such as stress reduction, exercise, and sleep. These practitioners believe that food is the same as medicine. Therefore, most will offer advice and guidelines about dietary choices. Dietary therapy may consist of ways to improve digestion and choosing easily digestible and nourishing foods, or they may prescribe foods that warm, cool, or nourish a particular organ or system in the body.

Treating the Common Cold with Chinese Medicine

The common cold is a miserable thing. You feel sick, but not really sick enough to stay home from work. You think your runny nose is finally getting better, but then the whole thing sinks into your chest or you lose your voice. You’re achy, your throat hurts, and you can’t sleep.

What does Chinese medicine have to offer in the way of cold relief? Well, it’s true that there really is no cure for the common cold, but in the Chinese system of healing there are some ways to help shorten the duration of your cold and make you more comfortable while you tough it out.

Your cold has some distinctive characteristics that can help your acupuncturist determine how best to treat it. First of all, a common cold is considered an illness of the exterior of your body. That means that it’s fairly superficial in nature, compared to a deep-seated disease of, say your kidneys or heart. Your cold is also external because you caught it from some outside funkiness, like someone sneezing into your coffee or hanging out at a daycare center.

In Chinese medicine, your cold is considered a kind of pathogenic wind. Pathogens, or stuff that makes you sick, is a little like bad weather in your body. You can have pathogens in the form of heat, cold, damp, and in the case of your cold, you have wind hassling your exterior. Wind tends to affect your upper body with changeable symptoms that come and go, and those symptoms tend to move around–all characteristics of your average common cold.

So, to your acupuncturist, your cold is considered external wind. But there’s more, and this is where some diagnostic skills come into play. Your cold can be associated with symptoms of heat or cold. Heat symptoms include running a fairly high temperature, more fever than chills, a really sore throat, thirst, yellow phlegm when you cough or blow your nose, and painful or red eyes. Cold or cool symptoms include clear phlegm when coughing or blowing, more chills than fever, a mild sore throat, losing your voice, and achiness that tends to move around.

Acupuncture can be helpful in speeding your cold on its way. Your acupuncturist would choose points to clear the pathogen from the exterior of your body, points to warm or cool as needed, and points to resolve your specific symptoms.

In China, herbal formulas for wind plus cold generally start with a combination of ephedra and cinnamon twig, plus other herbs depending on your symptoms. However, in the United States, ephedra can no longer be used in herbal formulas, so your best bet is to talk with your practitioner, who can prescribe the right formula for your symptoms. A common formula for a cold that involves wind plus heat is Yin Qiao San, which helps fight off the cold and relieve the heat-related symptoms. Beyond treating wind plus heat or wind plus cold, you may also need some help if you have a cough, sinus congestion, and wheezing or congested lungs. There are herbal formulas for all of these situations, but you’ll need a little guidance from your practitioner of Chinese medicine.

There are also a few things you can do at home to help resolve your cold. When you feel like you’re coming down with something, or even the first day of your cold, you can try to sweat it out. At home, make a broth of grated ginger and scallions (you can add chicken or vegetable broth), drink it down, bundle up, go to bed and sweat.

If you can’t fight it off, and actually come down with a cold, there are some things you can do, too. If you have wind plus cold symptoms, you will want to warm things up and disperse the pathogen. Common household herbs like cinnamon, basil, cayenne pepper, fennel, mustard seed, as well as ginger and scallions are warming and help relieve your symptoms. If you’re unlucky enough to have a wind plus heat type of cold, the path to feeling better is cooling the heat and dispersing the warm pathogen. Some cooling herbs that you may have around the house that can help include mint and chrysanthemum flowers (as a tea). You can also find teas or powders at your local Asian grocery store that contain the herb Ban Lan Gen (you may have to ask). Ban Lan Gen has antibiotic and antiviral properties and also clears heat–a good choice, especially if you have wind heat kind of cold (but it can be used for either).

We all agree that having a cold is a miserable thing. However, with a little Chinese medicine, self care, and taking it easy, you can speed up your recovery time and minimize your symptoms.

Ten Foods Used in Chinese Herbal Medicine

When we think about Chinese medicine, most of us immediately think of acupuncture, however, the use of herbs in healing is a cornerstone of Chinese medicine, too. The theory behind herbal medicine is that each herb exerts several different effects on the body through its inherent temperature, actions, and the organ(s) that it affects.

Like herbs, foods also have healing properties. However, some foods have stronger actions on the body and are in fact considered herbs as well as foods. Among them:

Ginger is best known for its ability to settle an upset stomach. Also considered a very warm herb, ginger can be combined with scallions in broth to fight off the early stages of a cold.

Walnuts have been getting the thumbs up lately as a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids. However, walnuts are also used in Chinese herbal formulas and in food therapy to moisten the intestines and relieve constipation. Walnuts are also considered a good tonic for the Chinese Kidney – think longevity.

Watermelon is a food you often crave on a hot, humid day, and for good reason. Watermelon is cooling and moistening, and is used in Chinese medicine for a condition called Summerheat, which is that blah nauseous feeling you get when it’s really hot and sticky out.

Mung beans are also good for Summerheat. Boil the mung beans until they are soft and drink the water they were cooked in. If that sounds gross, just add a little broth, seasoning and some vegetables, and make it into a soup.

Cinnamon is warm and gets your energy moving. It’s good if you have a cold with lots of aches and pains.

Scallions are also warming and dispersing (moving). They are most commonly used in the early stages of a cold boiled with ginger. Drink the broth and go to bed – these herbs are used to cause a mild sweat, which can diffuse a cold before it gets too severe.

Hawthorne fruit can be found in Asian markets, as a supplement, or as a sour candy called Hawflakes. Hawthorne is good for something called food stagnation in Chinese medicine, which is similar to indigestionGarlic is known to kill parasites. It’s used as a flu preventative in Chinese medicine, as well as for food toxicity (food poisoning), with symptoms such as diarrhea and dysentery.

Chinese dates are great to tonify the Chinese Spleen. Signs of a Spleen weakness include shortness of breath, fatigue, poor appetite, lack of energy. Chinese dates can also be found in Asian markets and some health food stores. They can be eaten alone or added to salads and other dishes.

In the last couple of years, Goji berries have gotten a lot of attention as a food for health and longevity. Also known as Chinese Wolfberries, Goji berries are red, sweet and sour, and can be eaten or added to foods like raisins. In Chinese herbal medicine Goji berries are used for eye problems like blurred vision and diminished eyesight due to aging. Eating Goji berries for longevity wouldn’t be wrong, as they also benefit the Chinese Kidneys, which are associated with aging.

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !