Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is one of the oldest and most expanding and popular traditional medicines in all the world, back to 3000 years ago, in the stone needle century. TCM, which is the one kind of Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and holistic medicine, modernized to be standing around the world many times, most important ones were at 1970, Mao’s revolution in China. During this long
time, many studies and trials have been done to make enough scientific base evidence to approve that TCM is one of the scientific kinds of medicine.
WHO has approved the effectiveness of TCM and its subcategories such as acupuncture since 1979. After TCM has been approved by WHO, it has become more popular in other countries and is accepted and practiced throughout all the world. There are more than 160 countries and regions beginning to offer TCM (acupuncture) treatment, and the research and education of TCM.
There now exist more than 20,000 TCM institutions with almost 100,000 professional TCM doctors, and more than 10,000 professional TCM and acupuncturists.
TCM is including:
- Acupuncture and Moxibustion
- Herbs
- Tuina (massage and manual therapy)
- Qigong (exercises, breathing, concentration)
- Cupping (Hijama)
According to Chinese philosophy, the body contains two opposing forces: YIN & YANG. When these forces are in balance, the body is healthy. In TCM “QI” is an active principle forming part of any living thing and asserts Energy, flows like rivers along pathways or meridians, throughout the body. In TCM, symptoms of various illnesses are believed to be the product of disrupted, blocked, or unbalanced qi movement through the body's meridians, as well as deficiencies or imbalances of qi in different organs. TCM often seeks to relieve these imbalances by adjusting the circulation of qi using a variety of techniques like acupuncture.
The disease prevention concept is one of the important principles of TCM. Modern Chinese textbooks of acupuncture indicate that, according to clinical practice, acupuncture has varying degrees of effectiveness on more than 300 diseases, of which 100 show good or very good effects, covering different specialties in medicine. The number of diseases that have scientific proof to can be treated with TCM and acupuncture is so large and it is rising more and more over time.
In the acupuncture hearing held by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, in November 1997, acupuncture was thought to be an effective treatment for nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy or operation and in 2018 for pain management. It has an exact effect on many pain syndromes and is applicable to smoking cessation, drug addiction, apoplectic sequel, osteoarthritis, headache, asthma, senile disease, mental diseases such as schizophrenia, manic depressive psychosis, children's mental growth retardation, anxiety, insomnia, and many more diseases.
A healthy lifestyle, healthy dietetics, healthy exercise, and healthy breathing can make a healthier person to prevent disease and make long life by using TCM strategy. In the other hand, healthy treatment without side effects and far from chemical and artificial drugs can be achieved by using TCM in PREVENTING and TREATMENT of diseases.