Traditional
Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture:
A Preventative Medicine and a
Health Maintenance Medicine
In China, traditional Chinese medical (TCM) practitioners historically were employed to maintain health and prevent disease. You would regularly visit a TCM practitioner for treatments even if you were healthy. During these visits, your TCM practitioner would be able to monitor your health and if he noticed an irregularity, he would be able to correct it before it became an illness. In addition, if you did become sick while you were under the continuing care of a TCM practitioner, you would not pay for any of your treatments while you were sick, and payments would resume once you were healthy again.
This story illustrates the extent that TCM has been used in China as a preventative medicine as well as a health maintenance medicine. The biggest reason that this type of doctor-patient relationship is so valuable is that it allows the practictioner to have a good understanding of the way a patient is when he or she is healthy, making it much easier for the practicioner to spot changes in the patient when they do occur. For example, say you were to meet a good friend and notice that he does not look like himself, rather he looks tired and out-of-sorts. You can tell that your friend is not well because you know him, whereas someone who doesn't know your friend may think that he looks fine.
TCM works as a preventative medicine and as a health maintenance medicine because of its ability to treat your “constitution”. Your constitution is the blueprint of how you were born. You may be taller or shorter, small-boned or big-boned, shy or outgoing, athletic or cerebral, or any combination of these and any other characteristics. In traditional Chinese medicine, there are 5 basic types of constitution. Through an evaluation of you, the TCM practitioner is able to determine your particular type of constitution, and then over time, is able to maintain your health. He will get to know your specific tendencies of how your body reacts to seasonal changes, elevated stress, and the everyday occurrences that life brings to you. Some things your pracitioner may discover about you are, in stressful situations, you tend to develop tightness in your shoulders and neck, which leads to tension headaches. Or, you may develop gastrointestinal upset such as nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation. Everyone reacts differently to the daily assaults that life brings. Because of these differences, the importance of regular treatments or "tune-ups" even when you are not ill is great, and consequently your TCM practitioner will be able to gain an even better understanding of you and how you are. Using these methods, the TCM practitioner will be able to give you very effective treatments, and because of his historical knowledge of you, treatment time can be minimized and health restored more quickly.
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.)