Traditional
Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture:
Diagnosing Your Condition Using
Traditional Chinese Medicine
The terms that a traditional Chinese medical (TCM) practitioner uses when diagnosing a patient can sound unusual to most people, to say the least!. Acupuncture is an energetic medicine, and the terms used to describe it reflect the energies of the body. You may hear things like “lung qi deficiency”, “liver yang rising”, “stomach fire blazing”, “phlegm misting the mind” or “stagnant blood and qi in the bladder channel” while you are diagnosed by an acupuncturist. These terms all describe the state of your body's qi (energy). “Lung qi deficiency” means that the lungs don't have enough qi to function properly. “Liver yang rising” means there is not enough liver yin energy to balance the liver yang energy.
These diagnostic terms are describing syndromes. A syndrome is a pattern of symptoms indicative of some disease or disease state. In traditional Chinese medicine, the aliment for which you are seeking treatment is usually a symptom of your condition. It is a part of your syndrome. Here is an example: you may come to an acupunctuist seeking treatment for headaches. The headache itself is actually a symptom of your condition. It may be your most pronounced symptom, but there are other important signs and symptoms present that will be used to compile your full diagnosis. Through a detailed interview with you about how your condition is affecting you, the practitioner will take into account all of your symptoms to form a diagnosis for your condition. In addition, your pulses at your wrists are felt and evaluated. Your pulses indicate the condition of your body's qi. With this information and your other diagnostic indicators, your traditional Chinese medical diagnosis is determined.
The following is a list of some common aliments in familiar terminology, followed by the same aliment with one possible diagnosis using traditional Chinese medical terms:
Common cold with fever ~ Wind/heat condition
Common cold with chills ~ Wind/cold condition
Dull, achy headache ~ Spleen qi deficiency
Sharp, painful headache ~ Liver blood stagnation
Dull, constant back pain ~ Kidney yang deficiency
Sharp, intense back pain ~ Stagnant blood & qi in the bladder channel
As you can see, the common aliments above can have vastly different TCM diagnoses depending on how it is affecting the body. This is how the licensed acupuncture practitioner's education and training in traditional Chinese medicine will give you a proper TCM diagnosis. The proper diagnosis is essensial in providing you with the best acupuncture treatment possible to treat your condition.
Acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine is a time-proven, effective and safe way to treat many illnesses and diseases, and can help with the symptoms of:
Musculoskeletal
conditions
(including back
pain, neck pain, tendonitis and arthritis)
Headaches
and Migraines
Stress
Colds
and Flu
Allergies
Gastrointestinal
conditions
Gynecological
conditions
(including PMS,
painful menstruation, irregular
menstruation,
and menopausal symptoms)
Anxiety
and Depression
Fatigue
Post-stroke
conditions
Asthma
Repetitive
strain injuries
Acute
injuries such as sprains
(If you don't see your condition, please call or email to ask about it.)