W PUNKT About Chinese Medicine

Secondly, it has a very long tradition and has been supported by the changing rulers of China. Consecutive dynasties financed medical academies that educated many generations of physicians, commentaries to medical texts were being written etc. During the Song dynasty (10^th-13^th century) there was a big movement to verify the information provided by the Nei Jing. Dozens of acupuncturists would check if all the points of a given category, that were supposed to work in a similar way were equally effective. Thanks to this enormous task today every point and every herb are described in detail. No single human is able to collect that much knowledge, we owe it to thousands of hours of work of countless physicians throughout hundreds of years.

Thirdly, in China one can find diverse climatic and life conditions. There are hot areas, cold places, mountains, deserts, seas etc. This means people had very different health problems that needed to be solved. They also had different genes which would make them prone to different diseases. The Chinese had to deal with illnesses of people living in overcrowded cities and of small, nomadic communities. Above all, a diverse climate means a rich fauna and flora. This was a smorgasbord when looking for healing plants.

All this causes Chinese medicine to thrive and gain more supporters around the world. From an exotic curiosity it became a daily occurrence. In some European countries, e.g. Great Brittan one can undergo acupuncture treatments as part of one’s basic health insurance.

The difficulties in understanding Chinese medicine are mainly connected to cultural differences. One can’t understand quantum physics while thinking in the categories of classical physics. Same way, one can’t comprehend how does Chinese medicine work while thinking in the categories of Western medicine. Even students of Chinese medicine have serious difficulties (especially in the beginning) to understand some concepts, because we are taught a different paradigm.

Western researchers have conducted many clinical studies on acupuncture and herbal medicine in order to understand it better. Due to that, some things have been explained in ‘our’ terms, e.g. what chemical compound in a given plant results in a certain healing action. From this point of view acupuncture is harder to explain: we know it works, but the researchers are struggling to figure out how exactly does it happen. So far, the research shows it goes beyond the placebo effect.

If you're interested in the topic of clinical studies that confirm the efficacy of acupuncture and herbal medicine, you can find examples below.

Of course, you can also come across studies that don’t support the effectiveness of Chinese medicine or they find it to work only partially. In the description of this research usually the level of expertise of the acupuncturist is not mentioned. A pill can be given by anyone, but in case of acupuncture the efficacy results from the skill of the person giving the treatment.

Also, in some cases patients in the placebo group were needled not in random places on their bodies, but in other acupuncture points. This of course affected the results of the study.

Above all, the key element of Chinese medicine is an individual approach to any patient. In case of clinical studies a preferred way is to check one active compound, not a mixture of different ones that will be tailored to each person. Depending on the cause of the symptom, we will often choose other points/herbs to get the same effect. This approach will naturally cause difficulties to design RCTs.

I have to underline that even the research that didn’t find acupuncture to be efficacious beyond the placebo effect noted that it was a safe procedure with very few side effects.

Finally, I want to add that the interest in doing RCTs on Chinese medicine methods is small. Clinical trials are mainly financed by big pharma that can’t patent anything existing in nature or medical procedures which are already in use.

Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) is a holistic health system. Its reference point is good health, defined as a sense of wellbeing and a good energy level in every sphere of life.

The roots of Chinese medicine can be found in the antiquity. Nei Jing - The Inner Cannon of the Yellow Emperor or the so called Bible of Chinese medicine was written between the 5th and the 1st century B.C. It represents a coherent and complete vision of human physiology & pathology, meaning that the theory itself is much older. Since that time, just like any other medicine, it was been going through a long evolution of change, which goes os.

In my opinion Chinese medicine has become so successful around the world for several reasons. First of all: it works. The Chinese, despite their love of philosophy have always been very practical. A proof of can be found in the countless inventions they created.

Ewa Iwanowska Gabinet W PUNKT

+48 664556585
ewa.iwanowska@gmail.com

W PUNKT Classical Chinese Medicine

Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in Warsaw