Why Chinese Herbal Medicine above other Natural Medicines?
Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine makes use of around 300 different roots, barks, flowers, minerals and leaves. Animal parts have previously been used but are now generally less used and replaced with other herbal medicines.
- 2,500 years of unbroken development of a specific medical system and 100 generations of master herbalists passing on their knowledge to the next generation to be expanded upon and improved.
- A specific and detailed diagnostic system which is interwoven with the understanding of each herbs exact nature.
- Current scientific investigation is continually confirming the effectiveness and minimal possible side effects of Chinese Herbal Medicine.
- CHM has been effectively used in a modern urban society similar to ours for thousands of years.
- CHM is used alongside pharmaceutical drugs in thousands of Chinese hospitals and therefore information on how to safely combine CHM with Western drugs is available to Australian practitioners.
Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine.Scott Smallwood.Sunshine Coast, Buderim Qld 4556
Let’s look at the details
- Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is based on and unbroken history of over 2,500 years of directly transmitted knowledge from one generation to the next. Unfortunately in places like Europe much of the Western herbal knowledge was lost through changing political and religious climates (ie witch hunts)
- CHM utilizes formulas of between 4 and 16 herbs on average to all work in a synergistic action and create a much stronger and balanced therapeutic effect. Single herbs are rarely used alone.
- Since the 1950’s in China and over the past 20 or so years in the West Chinese herbs have undergone large amounts of scientific and pharmacological research which has demonstrated their effectiveness. When combines with a traditional diagnostic system they are extremely effective.
- CHM is used on a massive scale within the Chinese hospital system and therefore reactions and interreactions with pharmaceuticals better documented with CHM than with any other herbal system. A CHM practitioner in Asutralia has access to all of this information and can therefore work in safely with any Western Pharmaceuticals that you are taking.
- In the 1950’s the Chinese government after massive amounts of clinical research decided to give their traditional medicine an equal place with the new Western medicine. This practice continues today and now more than ever modern scientific investigation is proving the effectiveness and minimal side effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
- Herbal medicine when used by a trained practitioner has minimal side effects which would mostly be limited to slight nausea or diarrhea in sensitive individuals just from the injestion of concentrated plant matter. This compares well with the possible side effects of pharmaceuticals that we are all familiar with. You must of course choose a practitioner who uses high grade and pure herbal medicines.
- Many current approaches to herbal medicine rely on a Western medicine diagnosis and then attempt to treat this diagnosis with herbal instead of pharmacological medicine. CHM differs in that its traditional diagnostic system (based on questioning, palpating, listening and looking (at the tongue for example) as well as complex pulse taking) and millennia old understanding of the exact nature of the herbs is still intact. This can be used to precisely diagnose a disease within the coherent and linked herbal treatment system. What does this mean to you ? more targeted, specific, and potent treatment with less chance of side effects due to lack of understanding of a particular herbs true nature and how to balance its effects with complementary herbs.
- Our precious planet and its varied peoples have all used herbal medicine at some stage of their history. CHM however has been used in a modern, urban, and industrialised settling for thousands of years. The large cities of China centuries ago had much the same stresses and diseases as our modern society and it was in these cities that herbal Chinese herbal medicine was used to treat people in their millions. This makes CHM perfectly adapted to our way of life as compared to say a single herbal remedy from an Amazonian tribe (for example) for an ailment specific to their area and more natural lifestyle.
Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine.Scott Smallwood.Sunshine Coast, Buderim Qld 4556
