Herbal Medicine
Chinese herbal medicine is the use of special naturally occurring plants and substances in combination to correct constitutional imbalances and resolve the myriad of diseases occurring in the human condition. It is a medical tradition that has been practiced in China for over 2000 years. In relatively recent years, this remarkably virtuous medicine has been introduced to consumers of conventional western medicine. Every day, more and more people are discovering Chinese herbal medicine and receiving the major health benefits it has to offer.
A practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) will prescribe herbal recommendations according to your unique constitutional needs. The Nei Jing, an ancient foundational text of Chinese medicine, states “one disease, many treatments. One treatment, many diseases.” This underlines the reality that two people with the same western medical diagnosis may have completely different Chinese medical diagnoses and corresponding herbal formulas.
Herbs are usually prescribed in formulas that contain, on average, between 4 to 20 ingredients. These ingredients may be dried roots, leaves, branches, bark, flowers, fruits, minerals, or animal byproducts. The formula, a group of specially combined substances, can be distributed to a patient in bags, to be boiled and drank as a decoction. Patent formula extracts in the form of tinctures, tablets, and granule powders are also used for convenience.