Traditional Chinese Medicine

Kwok Lap Wong's Boston Center for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine

To remove evil - To support and aid correction

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The TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) model of the body is a culturally based philosophy of how the human body works.

The elements of the TCM model of the body are the Fundamental Substances; Qi, Blood, Jing (Essence), Shen (Mind) that nourish and protect the Zang-Fu organs; and the meridians (jing-luo) which connect and unify the body. Every diagnosis is a "Pattern of disharmony" that affects one or more organs (such as "Spleen Qi Deficiency" or "Liver Fire Blazing" or "Invasion of the Stomach by Cold"), and every treatment is centered on correcting the disharmony.

Unlike the Western anatomical model which divides the physical body into parts, the Chinese model is more concerned with function. Thus, the TCM Spleen is not a specific piece of flesh, but an aspect of function related to transformation and transportation within the body, and of the mental functions of thinking and studying. Indeed, the San Jiao or Triple Burner has no anatomical correspondent at all, and is completely a functional entity.

Chinese medicine is a coherent and independent system of thought, it has been developed over two millennia. Based on ancient texts, it is the results of a continuous process of critical thinking, as well as extensive clinical observation and testing. It represents a thorough formulation and reformulation of material by respected clinicians and theoreticians. It is rooted in the philosophy, disease is caused by an unhealthy relationship with nature and that treatment lies in establishing balance with nature, Yin/Yang and five elements.

Traditional Chinese medicine is holistic, based on the idea that no single part of the body can be understood except in its relation to the whole. A symptom, therefore, is not traced back to a cause, but is looked at as a part of a totality. If a person has a symptom, Chinese medicine wants to know how the symptom fits into the patient's entire bodily pattern. A person who is well, or "in harmony", has no distressing symptoms and expresses mental, physical, and spiritual balance. When that person is ill, the symptom is only one part of a complete bodily imbalance that can be seen in other aspects of his or her life and behavior. Understanding that overall pattern with the symptom as part of it, is the challenge of Chinese medicine.

People all over the world are using TCM including acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.

200 Lincoln Street, Suite 302, Chinatown, Boston MA. 02111

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