Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): East-West Perspective

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM; simplified Chinese: 中医; traditional Chinese: 中醫; pinyin: Zhōngyī) is a style of traditional medicine based on more than 2,500 years of Chinese medical practice that includes various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage (tui na), exercise (qigong), and dietary therapy, but recently also influenced by modern Western medicine. TCM is widely used in Greater China where it has a long history, and recently it has begun "gaining global recognition". One of the basic tenets of TCM is that "the body's vital energy (ch'i or qi) circulates through channels, called meridians, that have branches connected to bodily organs and functions.

At the point when the West meets the East: Traditional Chinese Medicine from the viewpoint of Western Medicine 

As Complementary and Alternative Medicine(CAM) is increasing greater prevalence in our reality, their utilization and adequacy is additionally enthusiastically discussed. There are distinctive feelings among specialists and patients. Traditonal Chinese Medicine(TCM) is viewed as the most generally acknowledged type of CAM in Western Medicine(WM), particularly needle therapy.

I have a Chinese foundation as both of my folks are Chinese. As a restorative understudy at the University of Oslo, I am receptive yet additionally basic to TCM from the viewpoint of WM. The point of this obligatory understudy postulation in the Oslo restorative educational modules hence was to take in more about TCM, incompletely from a WM viewpoint.

Techniques - how is traditional chinese medicine different to western medicine

Through a litterature audit, I gathered pertinent litterature about TCM, including memorable foundation, advancement, instruction, natural prescription and needle therapy. What's more I endeavored to place TCM into a WM point of view and look at qualities and shortcomings in both, setting TCM and its application in connection particularly to malignancy and unending ailments. I moreover included field work in China  traditional chinese medicine different to western medicine, to get hands on involvement on how TCM is utilized in a clinic in to-days China. 

Results Traditional Chinese Medicine  - how is traditional chinese medicine similar to alchemy

The theory is composed as two sections. The initial segment is the writing audit, where I have endeavored to systematize the accessible information about TCM, including memorable foundation and advancement of different patterns in TCM. I broadly expound how is traditional chinese medicine similar to alchemy on natural prescription, needle therapy and its application in malignancy and incessant infections. I likewise give a diagram with connection to training in TCM.

The second part is a pilot observational examination, in light of my own perceptions and experience amid my stay at a TCM healing center in Beijing China the late spring of 2009.

End Traditional Chinese Medicine - how old is traditional chinese medicine

TCM has its one of a kind state of mind. A large number of the thoughts appear to be dark at first look. After some idea, in any case, they obviously bode well. A great deal of studies were completed so as to address the productivity of TCM treatment. Some of them support how old is traditional chinese medicine TCM and promoter further examination. Sadly a significant number of them are additionally uncertain due to methological shortcoming.

Today TCM in China is incompletely coordinating with WM and numerous methodologies look like WM. The outcome is clear and proves to be fruitful for the Chinese individuals. One of a kind methodology like tongue, beat demonstrative, home grown medication and needle therapy is the foundation of TCM symptomatic and treatment and is entrancing. Anyway to some degree they appear to be baffling and come up short consistently. With everything taken into account I figure we could obviously take in something from TCM - how old is traditional chinese medicine and we should do more examination all together investigate and further location their use in various maladies. I figure the all encompassing methodology will be valuable for the two patients and WM specialists, particularly with regards to unending infections.

- by Pure Natural Healing

What are the key differences between T.C.M. and Western Medicine?

Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have been viewed as two distinct and divergent medicines. Their approaches to physiology and healing appear quite different in perspective. 

The western doctor observes the facts before him and uses the current physiological theories to explain them. It separates the various systems and organs of the body and delves deeper and deeper into the particles that comprise matter. 

Chinese medicine views the body and further, the whole person, as a unified organic whole. Spiritual, mental, emotional and physical aspects are all seen as interrelated and interdependent. This perhaps explains why some people see Chinese Medicine as a "holistic therapy".

Theory

Western Medicine

Use modern pathology, physiology, microbiology and pharmacology knowledge to study human disease. Its research process from macro to micro (start from system, now develop to DNA molecular). Although its history is not long, the theory updates very quickly.

TCM

Use the theory of Yin and Yang and Five elements to human body.  When the entire system is in balance, optimal health occurs. Disease occurs when there are obstructions to the flow of Qi, deficient or excessive Qi, or when there is an imbalance of Yin and Yang.
Despite the long history, but the basic theory is almost unchanging. There is unfortunatly still not enough evidence-based medcine in TCM as there is in conventional medicine

Diagnosis & Treatment

Western Medicine - Diagnosis & Treatment

In addition to history taking and physical examination, also by means of a large number of modern scientific instruments to check on the human body (such as blood tests, urine, stool, X-rays, isotopes or computer imaging, ultrasound and other organs function to check). Doctors make diagnosis until all evidences were collected. It is an Evident Based Medicine.

Western Medicine - Treatment:

Treatment directly target to the pathogen or etiology. For example, with chemotherapy to kill cancer cells, antibiotics kill bacteria, immunosuppressants to control autoimmune diseases, or surgery to remove the lesion tissue.

TCM - Making Diagnosis:

TCM doctors make diagnosis by analyzing patient’s tongue, pulse, and whole body situation (reaction, hair, posture etc) during history taking and physical exam. Diagnosis base on symptoms related to the imbalance of Yin/Yang rather than diseases itself.

TCM - Treatment: 

This is a holistic therapy by boosting your own healing power to heal yourself.  Patients with the same disease may have different Yin/Yang imbalance, their treatment may be different even tough  having same disease. On the other hands, different diseases may use the same method of treatment if they have similar Yin/Yangimbalance

Pros & Con

Western Medicine - Advantages:

Since it can directly and quickly remove the cause of the disease, if the cause of disease is clear, it will be effective. It is suitable for the acute and seriously ill rescue.

Western Medicine - Disadvantages:

(1) Since it targets the pathogenic of the disease, it often derived from other systems (such as taking anti-inflammatory for arthritis disease, but it causes gastrointestinal, liver and kidney damage), especially patients require long-term medication for chronic disease, the dangers of side effects is more remarkable.
(2) If the cause of the disease can’t be found,  it helpless.

TCM - Advantages:

Suitable for  patients with chronic functional problems, especially for those that Western medicine can’t find the cause, but there are uncomfortable symptoms.By correcting organ dysfunction, TCM may prevent severe diseases before they are detectable by Western medicine. Compare to Western medicin, TCM, particulary acupuncture, has few and less severe side effects.

TCM - Disadvantages:

Because focus on stimulating healing power rather than target specific diseases, its effect is different individually, and sometimes take longer time to manifest. So for acute or severe diseases, conventional medicine is still recommended as first line treatment

In spite of their radically different philosophical assumptions, it is wiser to look upon Chinese and Western medical systems as mutually beneficial rather than exclusive. Each approach has ideas and therapeutic methods that can be explained both scientifically and philosophically, each can benefit the individual and together they can broaden the philosophical and idelogical bases of medicine. 

How Does Traditional Chinese Medicine Work?

The Chinese regard the body as a system that requires a balance of yin and yang energy to enjoy good health. Each part of the body is also thought of as an individual system that requires its own balance of yin and yang to function properly. TCM assumes that a balanced body has a natural ability to resist or cope with agents of disease. Symptoms are caused by an imbalance of yin and yang in some part of the body, and illness can develop if the imbalance persists for any length of time. Therefore, health is maintained by recognizing an imbalance before it becomes a disease. Chinese medicine holds that everything needed to restore health already exists in nature and that it is up to the individual, with or without the aid of a health practitioner, to free up energy and restore balance using diet, herbs, acupuncture, and other yin/yang treatments.

The Chinese believe that all living things—people, the earth, and the universe—are connected by cosmic energy. Thus the balance of chi in an individual is connected to the balance in the environment; the forces active within the world are the same forces active within the individual body. Simply put, nothing happens without consequence to something else. The concern for balance and harmony is not only reflected in the TCM approach to the individual but also in the view that the balance and well-being of the resources of the natural world and society are vital to the overall health of all who live on the earth. Practitioners never lose sight of the multifaceted relationship between individuals, communities, societies, and nature.

Traditional Chinese Diagnosis

The TCM practitioner has four diagnostic methods (szu-chen): inspection, auscultation/olfaction, inquiry, and palpation. These methods gather information about the five phases and their related body systems. The practitioner examines how the person eats, sleeps, thinks, works, relaxes, dreams, and imagines. No part of the self is considered a neutral bystander when the body is in a state of imbalance. All of this diagnostic information is compiled to arrive at a "pattern of disharmony," or bian zheng.

Inspection refers to the visual assessment of the spirit and physical body of patients. Spirit inspection or observation is an assessment of the person's overall appearance, especially the eyes, the complexion, and the quality of voice. Good spirit, even in the presence of serious illness, indicates a more positive prognosis.

Tongue diagnosis is a highly developed system of inspection of the physical body. The tongue is considered to be the visual gateway to the interior of the body. The whole body "lives" on the tongue, rather like a hologram. Different areas of the tongue correspond to the five phases and related organ systems 

The microcosmic tongue— diagnostic information found in your mouth

The practitioner inspects the color, shape, markings, and coating of the tongue to gather information about the state of balance in the person's body. For example, a moist tongue with a thin white coating may signal the presence of a "cold" or yin illness whereas a dry, yellow or dark tongue may signal a "hot" or yang illness.

The second part of diagnosis consists of listening and smelling. Practitioners will listen to the quality of speech, breath, and other sounds their patients make, and they will observe other odors such as those from the breath and body, as well as excreta. Types of sound are associated with the five phases and organ systems. How the person is breathing is a good indication of the status of the organs. Phases and organ systems are associated with specific odors such as sickly sweet, rotten, putrid, rancid, and scorched. Odors can arise from the skin itself or from the ears, nose, genitals, urine, stool, or bodily discharges. The breath may also have a distinctive odor. Usually the stronger the odor, the more serious the imbalance has become.

The third part of diagnosis, inquiry, is the process of taking a comprehensive health, social, emotional, and spiritual history. The practitioners question their patients not only about the complaint that brought them there, but also about many other factors, including sensations of hot and cold, perspiration, excreta, hearing, thirst, sleep, digestion, emotions, sexual drive, and energy level.

Read more: The Healing Promise of Qi, McGraw-Hill - East-West Perspective: The Three Treasures

Palpation is the fourth diagnostic method and includes pulse examination and general touching and probing of the body, especially at the acupuncture points. Reading the pulses can provide key information about the person's condition. For example, a fast pulse might indicate a problem with an overactive heart or liver; a slow pulse might indicate a sluggish digestive system; pulses described as wide, flat, and soft may indicate a spleen problem; and narrow, forceful pulses might indicate a liver dysfunction. The locations of major points used in pulse diagnosis are illustrated

Put your finger on it: major points used in pulse diagnosis

The pulse allows the practitioner to feel the quality of chi and blood at the different locations in the body.

Traditional Chinese Treatments: Restoring Balance and Flow.

Since an individual's combinations of yin and yang are unique, TCM practitioners must tailor their treatment to each client. The goal of treatment is to reestablish a balanced flow of energy in the person through diet, herbs, massage, acupuncture, and Qigong, a Chinese form of Yoga.

Diet

The simplest and most accessible treatment is diet. Dietary interventions are individualized on the basis of the individual's pattern of disharmony. Foods are used to rebalance the body's internal "climate" by bringing warmth to coldness or cooling off too much heat—that is, by balancing yin and yang. The thermal nature of food is described by the way a person feels after ingesting it. A diet to maintain health should be varied and include a minimum of seven different fruits and vegetables a day to avoid a cold or hot imbalance. If a person is ill and the symptoms indicate a hot condition, then the diet should emphasize cooling foods, and vice versa.

Each food has both yin and yang energies but often one is dominant. Cooling foods and those with bitter and salty flavors are yin. Warming foods are yang, as are foods with pungent and sweet flavors. When people have an excess of yin they may be sluggish, laid back, calm, slightly overweight, and emotionally sensitive. To balance these overly yin tendencies, yang foods are added to the diet to help activate the metabolism and provide more energy. People experiencing an excess of yang may be tense, loud, hyperactive, and aggressive. By adding yin foods to their diets, internal tension can be cooled. 

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Concentrate Traditional Chinese Medicine - what are the key standards of customary chinese drug 

Leaving on a course of concentrate in customary Chinese drug (TCM) offers a scope of individual and expert advantages. A program in TCM gives understudies an expansive base of information, analytic aptitudes and a comprehension of the nuances of treatments utilized by experts of this antiquated arrangement of human services.

Diagnostics - traditional chinese medicine work

One of the primary components of a scholarly program in conventional Chinese prescription is the investigation of diagnostics. This territory centers around the analysis of ailments and disorders through examination. In a TCM program, diagnostics is shown dependent on an explicit hypothesis and strategy that contrasts from customary traditional chinese medicine work Western prescription.

Understudies examine diagnostics with regards to the clinical claims to fame of TCM — needle therapy, Chinese home grown drug and Tui Na — and take in the hypothesis and techniques for these practices. They likewise find out about obsessive conditions and build up the capacity to break down separating disorders in their patients.

Clinical practice - what are the key principles of traditional chinese medicine

By concentrate both hypothesis and diagnostics, understudies at that point end up fit for joining hypothesis and practice, which turns into the establishment of clinical practice. Alongside key principles of traditional chinese medicine taking in the helpful techniques for TCM, understudies gain a broad foundation in Western bio-restorative sciences.

A degree in TCM will likewise incorporate investigation of the customary Chinese drug store and solutions, herbs, and generally utilized medications. Understudies additionally figure out how to treat oftentimes experienced illnesses.

The claims to fame of TCM - classic scripture of traditional chinese medicine

In light of an establishment of hypothesis and diagnostics, understudies at that point examine ailments with regards to the therapeutic claims to fame, including interior medication, medical procedure, gynecology, pediatrics, classic scripture of traditional chinese medicine ophthalmology, traumatology and orthopedics. Understudies additionally get top to bottom preparing in the claims to fame of TCM, including needle therapy and moxibustion, home grown drug and back rub (Tui Na).

A degree program will likewise incorporate preparing in how to distinguish the sorts of infections reasonable for treatment with needle therapy, moxibustion and Tui Na rub, and those that react best to recovery treatment.

An establishment of learning - where to learn traditional chinese medicine?

The investigation of TCM is both testing and fulfilling. As learn traditional chinese medicine a major aspect of their educational modules, some licensed projects offer outings to China, where understudies can profit by rehearsing in doctor's facilities in which TCM is the essential arrangement of restorative consideration.

When of graduation from a certify TCM program, where to learn traditional chinese medicine?  understudies ought to have built up a wide base of information in TCM, with center preparing in the clinical abilities expected to perform needle therapy, moxibustion, home grown medication remedy and Tui Na treatment to successfully treat a wide scope of wellbeing conditions.

Learn more: How to Clear Energy Blocks - WAYS TO CLEAR

 A list of common foods and their thermal effects on the body:

Thermal Properties of Some Common Foods

Cooling	Pork, duck, eggs, clams, crab, millet, barley, wheat, lettuce, celery, broccoli, spinach, tomato, banana, watermelon, asparagus, ice cream, soy sauce
Neutral	Beef, beef liver, rabbit, sardines, yam, rice, corn, rye, potato, beet, turnip, carrot, lemon, apple
Warming	Tuna, turkey, salmon, lamb, venison, chicken, chicken liver, shrimp, trout, oats, cabbage, squash, kale, scallion, celery, ginger, sugar, garlic, pepper

TCM practitioners recommend certain foods for balancing and improving a variety of conditions. Foods can be potent healers, especially when dealing with temporary illnesses, but they are never used as a lone treatment for serious or chronic conditions.

Herbs

Herbal medicine (ahong yao) is an integral part of TCM. In terms of the complexity of diagnosis and treatment, it resembles the practice of Western internal medicine. Herbs may be used whole, typically as a tea, or they may be powdered and made into pills, poultices, or tinctures for internal or external use. Just as in food, some herbs are warming (cinnamon) and some are cooling (mint).

With the exception of conditions that require surgery, herbs can be used to treat almost any condition in the practice of TCM. Herbs are often prescribed in complex mixtures and tend not to be used as isolated components, such as extractions from the parent plant. TCM practitioners believe that the healing benefits of herbs result from the synergistic interactions of all the components of the plant. The same herb can be used for many different disorders. Likewise, the same disorder in different people will be treated with different herbs, depending on the practitioner's assessment of the individual. Herbs are used in the following ways: antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer. Herbs are also used to treat pain, aid digestion, lower cholesterol, treat colds and flu, increase resistance to disease, enhance immune function, improve circulation, regulate menstruation, and increase energy. Table 3.3 lists herbs commonly used as tonics in TCM, and Chapter 6, "Herbal Medicine," covers the use of herbs in greater detail.

 Tonic Herbs Frequently Used in TCM

Herb	Use
Garlic	Lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol and triglycerides, antiseptic, antifungal
Ginger	Warming effect, stimulates digestion, decreases nausea, relieves aches and pains
Green tea	Lowers cholesterol, anticancer effects, antibacterial effects
Astragalus	Enhances immune function by increasing activity of white blood cells and increases production of antibodies and interferon
Siberian Ginseng	Enhances immune function, increases energy
Ginseng	Increases appetite and digestion, tones skin and muscles, restores depleted sexual energy
Dong Quai (or Tang Kuei)	Blood-building tonic which improves circulation, tones the uterus, balances female hormones
Ho Shou Wu (or Fo Ti)	Cleans the blood, nourishes hair and teeth, increases energy, powerful sexual tonic

Massage

Traditional Chinese massage methods were described in texts as early as 200 BC. Both energizing and sedating massage techniques are used to treat and relieve many medical conditions.

Widely varying illnesses treated with traditional Chinese massage include the common cold, insomnia, leg cramps, painful menses, diarrhea, abdominal pains, headache, asthma, rheumatic pains, stiff neck, colic, nasal bleeding, and throat pains. Massage increases circulation of blood and lymph to the skin and underlying muscles, bringing added nutrients and pain relief. Massage can help restore proper movement to injured limbs and joints and help restore a sense of balance. Massage is an effective method of reducing stress and tension that usually leads to a feeling of relaxation. Chapter 11 covers massage therapy in greater detail.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture involves stimulating specific anatomic points called hsueh where each meridian passes close to the skin surface. The primary goal of acupuncture is the manipulation of energy flow throughout the body following a thorough assessment by a TCM practitioner. Puncturing the skin with very fine needles is the usual method but practitioners may also use pressure (shiatsu), friction, suction, heat, or electromagnetic energy to stimulate points. Moxibustion is an application of heat from certain burning substances at acupuncture points on the body. Ear acupuncture is a complete system within itself and is quite powerful for balancing the hormones and overall energy of the body.

Treatment is offered in the context of the total person and with the goal of correcting the flow of chi to restore health. Some Western health care practitioners who have learned the techniques of acupuncture miss the broader context and limit their focus to an injured or painful body part. Acupuncture is effective in the treatment of acute and chronic pain and motion disabilities. In addition it can be used for the maladies listed below:

• Respiratory and cardiovascular conditions
• Eye, ear, nose, and throat disorders
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Urogenital conditions
• Skin disorders
• Psychiatric problems
• Addictive disorders and withdrawal syndromes.

Chapter 12, "Pressure-Point Therapies," covers acupuncture in more detail.

Qigong

Qigong, pronounced chee-gong, is the art and science of using breath, movement, self-massage, and meditation to cleanse, strengthen, and circulate vital life energy and blood. In India the comparable practice is called yoga. Both of these traditions of self-healing have been called "moving meditation" or "meditation in motion." T'ai Chi, which is familiar to many Americans, is a more physical form of qigong. In China, millions of people from children to workers, to elders, to patients in the hospital practice qigong daily. The techniques are easy to learn and simple to apply for people who are well or sick. Qigong decreases fatigue and forgetfulness and generates energy by enhancing bodily functions.

CAUTION

People who are pregnant, hemophylic, or who suffer from acute cardiovascular disorders should NOT receive acupuncture treatment.

It is inevitable that taking a deep breath triggers a sense of relaxation. By adding the intention to relax with breathing, the effect is even greater. Adding gentle movements or self-massage to deep breathing and relaxation generates increased self-healing abilities. The focus on deep and intentional relaxation allows for the release of emotional stress, for a sense of tranquility, and for one's natural spirituality to arise.

I have consulted a number of articles on websites that talk about meditation as one of the treatments in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This is not true. Meditation is the way to enlightenment. It is not related to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Author of story creation / boast.

Some medical conditions in treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine

Studies Funded by the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health

Medical Condition	TCM Treatment
Unipolar depression	Acupuncture
Osteoarthritis	Acupuncture
Premenstrual syndrome	Traditional Chinese Medicine
Common warts	Chinese herbal therapy
Balance disorders	T'ai Chi
Menopausal hot flashes	Chinese herbal therapy
Postoperative oral surgery pain	Acupuncture
Breech version	Acupuncture
Chronic sinusitis in HIV infection	Traditional Chinese Medicine
Hyperactivity	Acupuncture
Intractable reflex sympathetic Dystrophy	Qigong

East-West Perspective - Chinese Medicine vs Western Medicine

We need both western and Chinese medicine.  The sooner we integrate both into a universal approach to healing and treatment, the healthier and wiser we will all be.

Different Philosophy, Different Medicine: The issue that many have with the modern medicine is that its science and philosophy purposely excludes anything that does not fit its paradigm of physical reductionism. It cannot, by its very definition, consider that humans have both physical and non-physical essences. Because of this, many people feel that mainstream western medicine fails to evaluate them as a complete human being. As result, many people are increasingly turning to holistic medicine.

Do you think of your body as being more of a machine or garden?

Modern medicine is synonymous with Western medicine, even if it originates in the East. It is referred to as being “Western,” because modern science is rooted in the rationalist philosophy of European Enlightenment. Similarly, holistic medicine is often synonymous with Traditional Chinese or Oriental Medicine. This not to say that all alternative medicine is Oriental or Chinese in origin, but rather that many of core principles and practices are based on the paradigms of Traditinal Chinese Philosophy. Because of this, it is important to understand Traditional Chinese philosophy and views of the body.

Creating Research Evidence in TCM & Integrative East-West Medicine—The Hurdles

As many readers will recognize, research in both TCM and IM comes with unique set of challenges. The first, most obvious challenges have to do with the core differences between biomedicine and TCM. Such disparities range from fundamental differences in understanding about how the body works to differences in diagnostic practice and treatment approach. For example, in TCM the body is ideally understood as an interconnected network of mental, physical, and spiritual processes, each of which is constantly affected by the other. Health is understood as an intricate and ongoing balance of these multiple processes, and disease is understood to be a manifestation of imbalance at many levels of the self (Hui et al., 2006).

Differences like these can make it difficult to research either TCM or IM with current medical research models, including especially the gold standard clinical trial or RCT. The RCT, in general, attempts to research one variable, such as a specific drug or procedure, on another variable, such as a score on an objective scale measuring distress, or a biological marker such as cortisol levels, in relation to one disease or condition. For TCM and East- West IM researchers who are committed to looking beyond single biomedical diagnoses, the RCT can be problematic due to the need for TCM practitioners to diagnose sometimes multiple TCM patterns in conjunction with subjects’ biomedical assessments (Lao et al., 2001; Ruggie, 2004). Treatment variations based on pattern differentiation further complicate the research process. There are also issues with outcomes measurement, where in comparison to the single or sometimes double outcomes of the conventional RCT, TCM looks to many outcomes at once to understand effectiveness (Lao et al., 2001; Ritenbaugh et al., 2010).

The second major set of challenges in both CAM and IM research has to do with getting financial support from government and private funding organizations (Ritenbaugh et al., 2010). In the U.S., the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds many CAM and IM studies through the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) as well as through other institutes within the NIH. The overall budget for CAM and IM research is small, however. There also remains a significant amount of resistance to CAM and IM research within the professional medical community (Offit, 2012; Srivastava, 2012). CAM and IM studies are thus particularly challenged by the need to create studies that fit in with the existing demands of medical researchers and grant review committees, where CAM and IM techniques are often approached as if they were new drugs or procedures rather than centuries-old approaches to holistic healthcare (Ruggie, 2004).

A third major challenge facing IM researchers consists of finding publishing opportunities within mainstream medical research journals once they have completed their studies (Ritenbaugh et al., 2010). In the English language, there are several internationally, respected, peer-reviewed journals dedicated to the publication of CAM and IM research, including BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, The Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, The Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM), Complementary Therapies in Medicine, and Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. There are also several more journals dedicated solely to acupuncture and herbal medicine research in Chinese and IM, such as The Journal of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture in Medicine. When IM researchers want to speak to a broader audience of more mainstream biomedical physicians and researchers, however, they are consistently challenged to adjust their research reports to conform to the underlying assumptions and expectations, including especially the supremacy of the RCT, of more mainstream journals.

The Best of Both Worlds

There is clearly value to the conventional RCT approach. It is highly specific, and especially for single conditions where there is a clear etiology, provides a rigorous methodology for testing the efficacy, and side effects profiles, of particular treatments. The limitations of this approach are quite clear, however, even for strictly biomedical practitioners. RCTs attempting to measure the treatments effects on the average patient often overlook significant differences in individuals, and make it difficult to parse and apply findings in evidence-based practice that, by its very nature, is focused on specific cases (Liu, 2011). RCTs and the compilation of RCTs collected in systematic reviews are complicated by the difficulty in creating unbiased trials that have a large enough sample size, and utilize adequate control mechanisms to ensure reliability. For TCM and IM, moreover, RCTs using discrete biomedical disease categories as a starting point for their inquiries are challenging due to differences in approach to evaluation and treatment of patients.

From our perspective at the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine, the successful development of both TCM and East-West IM in the contemporary world hinges on the development of evidence that does not sacrifice the integrity of either approach to care. This article has offered several examples of approaches to research that better serve the goal of evaluating TCM and IM as they are practiced in actual clinical settings. Whole Systems Research (WSR), Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER), and qualitative research based in the social sciences all offer promising techniques for building an even stronger and more comprehensive evidence base for TCM and IM. Most importantly, such research techniques, especially when used in combination with conventional RCT approaches in mixed-methods studies, offer more holistic approach to researching TCM and IM by showing real outcomes based on the way they are actually practiced.

Research that emphasizes the emerging health models as they are developed in integrative settings is becoming increasingly important given the prediction that “the current health systems of nations around the world will be unsustainable if unchanged over the next 15 years” (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2005). In the U.S., the ensuing moves to reform health care to make it more preventative and person-centered at the same time as evidence-based—observable especially in major changes in health care research funding at the government level (Clancy and Collins, 2010)—demand that we establish research methodologies that investigate TCM and IM as they function to treat and manage multiple interconnected, complex and ongoing conditions. From our perspective, it is imperative that researchers in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. where there is extensive IM infrastructure already available for research, play a role in the development of such innovative approaches to the evaluation of TCM and IM (Hui and Zhang, 2011).

Ebook - Program for Traditional Chinese Medicine 

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