Ang Mga Tungkulin ng Tradisyonal na Tsino na Medisina

Sa isa sa mga paningin para sa pambungad na seremonya ng XXIX Olympiad sa Beijing noong Agosto 8, 2008, lumitaw sa mahigit sa 2,000 ang mga gumaganap na lumulutang sa lugar ng pagganap habang isinasagawa ang magagandang paggalaw ng taijiquan. Maraming mga manonood sa pandaigdigang madla sa labas ng Tsina ay maaaring pamilyar sa taijiquan (o tai chi, dahil ito ay karaniwang tinatawag na) bilang isa sa mga panloob na kasanayan sa martial-arts. Karamihan, gayunpaman, marahil ay walang kamalayan na ang taijiquan ay ginagamit bilang isang paggamot para sa talamak na sakit o sa rehabilitasyon para sa sakit sa tradisyonal na gamot na Tsino (TCM). Ang makabagong pananaliksik ay kinilala din ang pagsasanay na ito bilang epektibo para sa pagpapabuti ng isang bilang ng mga kondisyon sa kalusugan, tulad ng mataas na presyon ng dugo at mahinang balanse. Sa pagdaan ng Olympics, ang mga manonood sa telebisyon sa buong mundo ay ipinakilala sa iba't ibang mga aspeto ng TCM,kabilang ang acupuncture - ang pinaka pamilyar na modyment ng paggamot ng TCM sa West.

Ang tradisyunal na gamot na Tsino ay isa sa pinakalumang patuloy na nagsasanay sa mga sistemang medikal sa buong mundo. Ang mga elemento ng system ay mayroon nang hindi bababa sa 5,000 taon. Sa kabila ng pangkalahatang kakulangan ng kaalaman tungkol sa TCM sa Estados Unidos, hanggang noong 2005 ay mayroong higit sa 22,000 mga nagsasanay ng AOM (acupuncture at Oriental na gamot) na lisensyado upang magsanay sa US (Tungkol sa isang-katlo ng mga praktikal na ito ay nasa California.) Bilang karagdagan, mayroong tungkol sa 7,000 mga mag-aaral na nakatala sa iba't ibang mga kolehiyo ng AOM, at tungkol sa 60 mga kolehiyo at iba pang mga institusyon ay na-akredito sa Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture at Oriental Medicine, isang organisasyon na hindi para sa kita na itinatag sa US noong 1982.

Ano ang Espesyal sa Tungkol sa TCM?

Ang TCM ay isang by-product ng Eastern spiritual na kasanayan ng qigong (binibigkas na "chee gung"), o "lakas ng trabaho," na nagsisilbing palakasin ang koneksyon sa isip-katawan-espiritu at tulungan ang katawan na gumana bilang isang maayos na sistema. Bagaman ang mga salungguhit ng TCM ay kung minsan ay itinuturing na isang sistema ng pilosopiya, nauunawaan ng mga practitioner ng TCM na ang komprehensibong sistemang medikal na ito ay nakaugat sa likas na batas at nakikita ang mga prinsipyo at teorya na nagpapatakbo sa pisikal na mundo. Isang pangunahing prinsipyo ay ang yinyang. Sinasabi nito na ang dalawang uri ng mga pantulong na enerhiya ay bumubuo sa kabuuan ng lahat ng pisikal at hindi aspekto. Kailanman wala sa balanse ang yin o yang enerhiya, lilitaw ang mga problema. Inilapat sa kalusugan ng tao, kawalan ng timbang ng yin at yang sa loob ng katawan ay nahayag sa pamamagitan ng iba't ibang uri ng mga karamdaman sa kalusugan.

Whereas Western medicine focuses primarily on disease and disease management, TCM works to achieve health through balance and harmony of the body as a whole in which complementary energies seamlessly intertwine and move together as one. It strives to return the body to an internal state of balance, after which the body will automatically regulate itself to maintain its harmony within. For that purpose TCM employs six major healing techniques: acupuncture, acupressure, qigong, herbal therapy, healing foods, and Chinese psychology.

The Role of Qi and Meridians.

An essential aspect of TCM is an understanding of the body’s qi (life force, or energy), which flows through invisible meridians (channels) of the body. This energy network connects organs, tissues, veins, nerves, cells, atoms, and consciousness itself. Generally speaking, there are 12 major meridians, each of which connects to one of the 12 major organs in TCM theory. Meridians are also related to a variety of phenomena, including circadian rhythms, seasons, and planetary movements, to create additional invisible networks.

In acupuncture, thin needles are inserted into specific points along the meridians. The needles stimulate the meridians and readjust the flow of qi to balance the body’s yin and yang. In place of needles, massage (acupressure) can also be used to stimulate the acupuncture points. Acupuncture is sometimes accompanied by moxibustion, the burning of small cones of an herb (typically Artemisia moxa) at acupuncture points. Not only can the meridian network be used to alleviate symptoms; it can also endow TCM with the ability to change consciousness in those who receive treatment.

A TCM practitioner uses smell, hearing, voice vibration, touch, and pulse diagnosis to discover the source of an unbalanced health condition, which organ it is related to, and which meridians are affected. In addition, the practitioner typically makes use of what is known as the five-element theory. By observing natural law in action, ancient healers recognized five basic elements in the world—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—and found that these elements have myriad correspondences, both visible and invisible. This framework helps skilled TCM practitioners to identify unbalanced relationships. For instance, one key correspondence relates to time of day. If an individual always gets a headache at 4 pm, this signals that Bladder qi is unbalanced, since the Bladder (of the TCM Kidney/Bladder organ pair) is in charge of maintaining the body’s functions at that time. Using the five-element theory, the practitioner can create a healing plan that might contain such components as acupuncture, herbs, lifestyle changes, and foods for healing. It might also include Chinese psychology, which shows how the energy of unbalanced emotions can affect proper organ function.

Chinese Herbal Therapy.

TCM makes use of herbs and herbal formulas to strengthen organ function and support good health. An understanding of the essence of various herbal components gives the TCM practitioner a way to create a healing effect that reaches beyond the chemical composition and physical properties of the herbs. The practitioner chooses the herbal formula whose essence, or signature energy vibration, correctly stimulates or adjusts the body’s own energy vibration.

Chinese herbal formulas, some in use for about two thousand years, are composed of ingredients chosen to function in combination with each other. In Western medicine, medications are usually prescribed individually for a specific effect. In classical TCM herbal formulas, each herb has a different purpose or role to help the body achieve harmony. For a plant to have been included in the Chinese apothecary, each of its parts had to be identified for a different healing purpose. TCM also looks at the healing properties of foods in the same way. Different foods carry different energies that can go directly to specific organs to help them heal.

TCM Developments.

Various Western scientific disciplines have conducted studies to learn how Chinese medicine works, but it is difficult to use a Western yardstick to measure Eastern medicine. Many studies on acupuncture, for example, involve research that attempts to prove that this modality can eliminate or reduce pain or alleviate certain conditions. This elementary approach, however, ignores the deeper insight and experience of Chinese medicine that the human body has unlimited healing power and that the complementary energies of health and disease reflect the yinyang principle within the human body. For example, the yinyang principle can be applied to a genetic disease such as inherited breast cancer and its associated genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. According to this principle of natural law, if either of these genes is activated, somewhere in another part of the genetic code there also exists a gene to fix the action of the cancer gene, because there is an opposite energy to the one that produced the disease. There must be complementary programs running—one for developing the disease and one for healing it. At present, scientific research is directed only toward exploring the disease aspect of the program, but this is only one-half of the genetic code. We have yet to begin the far-more-promising exploration of the healing aspect of the genetic code. In the future this uncharted territory could yield tremendous healing benefits.

Si Nan Lu ay isang Oriental Doctor of Medicine at ang Founding Director ng Traditional Chinese Medicine World Foundation.