What is Chinese Medicine?

Traditional Chinese Medicine, also known as TCM, is a health practice that is over 2,000 years old. It is based on the idea that the body will fight and naturally recover from illness when it is balanced. This means that the body's Yin and Yang must be equal. When people make poor lifestyle choices, like eating bad food, not exercising and living in polluted environments, their bodies can easily go out of balance. To make the body balanced again, Chinese Medicine uses a combination of herbal remedies, stretches and even acupuncture, which involves pricking the skin with needles to alleviate pain.

Chinese Medicine is most commonly used for chronic illness that can be reduced over time. Did you know it works for adults and kids? Chinese Medicine has helped kids with allergies, diabetes, asthma and even learning. This is because on popular treatment is herbs, which kids and adults can both use. Herbs are plants that contain properties that have healing effects on the human body. For example, peppermint is an herb that helps with digestion or upset stomach when people eat or drink it. This is why many stores sell peppermint tea, which is a great way to break down the herbs into a medicine-like form.

While many Western countries use herbs as a natural treatment for patients, they did not always believe in Chinese Medicine. Chinese Medicine was first recorded in 186 B.C. (Before Christ) when practitioners wrote a book of recipes. Aside from herbs, Chinese Medicine practitioners also used chanting spells, or cut and burned skin as cures for things like warts, snake bites and possession by demons. When Western doctors discovered Chinese Medicine, they thought it was unscientific and similar to witchcraft or magic, which was illegal in the 1600s. But as medicine advanced and more doctors around the world began sharing their practices, Chinese Medicine became recognized as a historical and accepted form of effective treatment.

by Mya Kagan (Whyzz writer)