Common Talk Weeklyshuang yu zhou kan
issue date

Healing the tradtional way
November 5, 2003
By Angela Lehmann

The debate between Chinese and Western medicine stems from their vastly differing philosophies. Chinese medical science regards the human being and other things in nature as combinations of the two opposites, yin and yang. The loss of balance between yin and yang gives rise to disease, and to treat disease is to re-adjust the yin and yang and restore balance in the body.

中药和西药理论的区别在于它们所建筑的哲学基础不同。中药理论认为生命是一个阴阳统一体，当阴和阳失去平衡的时候，疾病就产生了。

Wednesday. Another day at the office. The computer staring back at you. As you sit. And sit. And sit. Not terribly physically strenuous （使劲的） is it? Wrong. Bad posture and endless hours at a desk can cause havoc（大破坏） on your back and spine. While some endure the pain, more and more people across the world are seeking help from the traditional Chinese arts of acupuncture（针灸）, acupressure（针压） and chiropractic（指压）.

Dr Xiong is a doctor of acupuncture, chiropractic, acupressure, cupping and massage at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Xiamen（厦门中医院）. He graduated in 1986 and has recently seen a rise in foreigners coming to receive treatment from him and to learn from his expertise.

"In our department we deal mainly with pain, arthritis （关节炎）and nerve damage. Some people work all day at the computer and have very bad posture. They walk badly too. So the muscles can become tired and inflamed（发炎的）. So people come here with these kind of ailments（症候） and we look, and say maybe we can use acupuncture, acupressure, chiropractic or massage to help them."

A majority of his patients are people dissatisfied with Western medicine. Often the patients have been diagnosed（诊断） as normal by a Western doctor but they still feel something is wrong. While Western medicine requires physical evidence of a disease or problem through techniques such as x-ray, blood-tests or MRI scans. Dr Xiong says Chinese medicine takes more of an interest in the symptoms（症状） patients describe.

"I once treated a German lady who could not walk up stairs because of the pain she was in. For ten years she had to get up at midnight because of the pain in her lower back and neck. So every night she had to get up and walk around. Many western doctors had x-rayed her as normal and said they couldn't do anything except recommend exercises. She came here and told me of her pain and I realised that her spine(脊骨) was not straight. I gave her acupuncture and a course of massage and now she doesn't need to get up in the night anymore. She can walk up stairs.”

The debate between Chinese and Western medicine stems from their vastly differing philosophies. Chinese medical science regards the human being and other things in nature as combinations of the two opposites, yin and yang. The loss of balance between yin and yang gives rise to disease, and to treat disease is to re-adjust the yin and yang and restore balance in the body.

"It is difficult to mix Chinese and Western medicine because the theory is so different", Dr Xiong says. "Some doctors in the West don't understand Chinese medicine and maybe they don't believe in it. Chinese medicine comes from a very old philosophy which so it is based on theory rather than scientific knowledge such as bacteria（细菌） which you can see."

"The theory behind Chinese medicine is very simple. The Yin and the Yang represent good energy and bad energy. Everything needs to lie in the middle, not too weak and not too strong. The four bad energies are wind（风）, damp（湿）, fire（火） and cold（冷）. If you have too much dampness for example, you will feel tired, your body will feel very heavy, you will suffer insomnia（失眠症） and bloatedness（肥胖症） and your memory could be very bad. So your body is out of balance but you can't see that."

According to Dr Xiong, one of the main differences between the traditional Chinese approach to the body and the Western approach is that while Chinese techniques attempt to prevent pain while Western approaches attempt to cure it or remove it through surgery（外科）.

"Chinese medicine believes that disease accumulates over time where as Western medicine treats it after it has already accumulated. During the time while the disease is accumulating, everything can check out as normal. So Western medicine would say to wait and then eventually there is a problem."

Nevertheless, Dr Xiong believes that Chinese medicine and Western medicine can learn from each other and help each other. The Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital in Xiamen now uses advanced diagnostic（诊断的） techniques such as CT and MRI scans and occasionally Dr Xiong recommends a patient also consult a Western doctor.

Traditional Chinese Medical techniques are becoming increasingly popular in the West and Xiamen is a great place to learn from the experts themselves. The Overseas Education College at Xiamen University runs short-term courses and undergraduate degrees in Traditional Medicine for Chinese nationals and overseas students. The courses cover theory, medicine, acupuncture, massage and include time for practical experience. The courses can be run in both Chinese and English.

Students can also gain practice by visiting Dr Xiong. "Students have come here from Malaysia, America, Germany, Holland and Australia. Some people have studied for one or two years in their home country before they come here to my hospital to practice. Many have studied at Xiamen university."

What is...

Acupuncture and Moxibustion 针灸术

Acupuncuture and moxibustion were invented in China as a means of medical treatment over 2000 years ago. Acupuncture involves the insertion（插入） of needle tips into the skin at specific points for the purpose of treating disorders by stimulating nerve impulses. Moxibustion, or moxa treatment is performed by burning small cones of dried wormwood plant on certain points of the body. The two methods are often used together.

Acupressure 针压

Uses fingertip massage on acupuncture points to achieve similar effects.

Cupping 拔火罐

Cupping is an ancient technique developed for the treatment of rheumatic diseases（风湿病）, strains（疲劳）, headache（头痛）, dizziness（头昏眼花） and colds（感冒）. Glass cups are vacuumed so that they are attached tightly to the body and then removed, sucking （吸出）"bad energy” from the body.

Chiropractic 指压

Manipulates the body by "cracking" the spine to readjust and realign it.