Face/Vase Optical Illustion Drawing

Western and Eastern (Chinese) medicine compared


Ever seen that drawing of two silhouettes looking at each other? One moment you see two faces, the next moment, its a vase. Which is it? Obviously it is just a matter of your perception or the way your brain links together visual clues.

That's the difference between Western Medicine, and Chinese Medicine. Looking at the same illness, the Western Doctor will see a pulmonary abscess whereas the Chinese Medical doctor will see too much heat in the afflicted area of the body. The Western Doctor will not notice the constipation, the Chinese doctor will include the constipation, scanty yellow urine, rapid superficial pulse, yellow coat on the tongue and other seemingly unrelated signs and symptoms to diagnose what would likely be called "Lung Heat." Same symptoms, same signs, different way of organizing the information.

Within each discipline, there is an enormous amount of time tested information that has its own logic and usefulness. Both Western and Chinese systems have their place. Some believe that the greatest strength of Western Medicine is in it's trauma care and therapies for acute problems, while Chinese medicine excels in the areas of chronic problems and preventive medicine.

One concept that is central to Chinese medicine that the scientific world is still struggling to accept is an internal substance that the Chinese call "Qi" (pronounced "chee", sometimes spelled "Chi"). In the West we could describe this as bio-electric energy. You can't look at it under a microscope, you can't detect it with any scientific instruments, you can't isolate it from a substrate. This isn't to say that one cannot feel it, or see it, but these are intuitive human qualities that practitioners of Chinese medicine develop over years of practice. Many westerners can also perceive this Qi energy. Martial artists sometimes feel it as heat in the palms of their hands, or warm liquid moving through the body. It is the invisible substance in mountain air that clears the mind with just one deep breath. A young mother witnesses it in the form of light coming from her baby's eyes.

Acupuncture seeks to treat health on the level of Qi. There are pathways in the human body wherein this Qi flows. They are called meridians, or channels. Needles inserted along these meridians influence the Qi that flows to internal organs. It can affect both the structure and function of these organs. Needles can also work on specific areas of pain that may not be associated with internal problems, sport injuries, for example. A needle inserted near the area of a pulled tendon or overstrained muscle will increase the flow of Qi to that area which removes pain and quickens the healing process.

Because of this sensitivity to the pivotal role that Qi plays in the body, Chinese medicine can treat the underlying causes of disease that Western medicine can not explain. In fact, diagnostic methods that measure the Qi in one's body are perhaps the greatest gifts that Chinese medicine will ultimately provide us in the West, and it is the gifts that our two cultures can offer each other that will help to create the future of healthcare as an integrated system wherein "Alternative Medicine" becomes "Complementary Medicine."


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