Traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine, also sometimes seen abbreviated as TCM, is a form of medicine which has been practiced in China for over 3,000 years. In the West, traditional Chinese medicine is viewed as alternative or complementary medicine, but in China it is the primarily modality of medical treatment for individuals suffering from ailments that range from depression to broken bones.

Fundamentally, traditional Chinese medicine is about striking a balance between yin and yang, the masculine and feminine elements, and it is believed that medical problems stem from an imbalance in these elements which must be corrected. To treat patients, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine use several approaches, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage (Tui na), exercise (qigong), and dietary therapy.

The doctrines of Chinese medicine are rooted in books such as the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon and the Treatise on Cold Damage, as well as in cosmological notions like yin-yang and the five phases. Starting in the 1950s, these precepts were modernized in the People's Republic of China so as to integrate many anatomical and pathological notions from scientific medicine. Nonetheless, many of its assumptions, including the model of the body, or concept of disease, are not supported by modern evidence-based medicine.

TCM's view of the body places little emphasis on anatomical structures, but is mainly concerned with the identification of functional entities (which regulate digestion, breathing, aging etc.). While health is perceived as harmonious interaction of these entities and the outside world, disease is interpreted as a disharmony in interaction. TCM diagnosis consists in tracing symptoms to underlying disharmony patterns.