If you suggested to your doctor that you wanted to try acupuncture, herbs, or balancing your qi to help with your illness, you would likely get laughed out of the office. Once your doctor realized that you were serious, he would probably tell you not to waste your money and give you dire warnings of how dangerous Eastern medical treatments can be. It is hard to believe that a form of medicine that has been around for thousands of years and had the benefit of intense trial and error usage could be so wrong.
It is equally hard to understand why Western medicine is so intimidated and down right angry about Eastern medicine practices. Eastern medicine is considered a laughing-stock at best or an out right danger at worst. In truth, Eastern medicine does not come in too far behind Western medicine in keeping its patients alive. The life expectancy for a person living in the United States in 2008 was 78 years, according to Infoplease. For Japan, it was 82.02 years, and for China, it was 72.88 years. Only India sees a significant drop at 68.59 years. For a laughing-stock medical practice, these life expectancy numbers are close to Western medicine’s numbers. Even so, some of the lower numbers can be a result of urbanization, infant mortality in underdeveloped parts of the world, and the lack of access to any sort of medicine.
It is only through integrating these two approaches that the greater good for patients will be servered because Eastern medicine draws on thousands of years of tradition and it could combine with the latest technology, if only Western medicine would open its eyes.
Eastern Medicine Explained
Eastern medicine is primarily focused on traditional Chinese medicine that has been used in that country and in numerous other countries for over 3000 years. Traditional Chinese medicine focuses on treating disease holistically and balancing the lifestyle of the patient. A Chinese practitioner will look at diet, stress, and other factors before prescribing medications, surgeries, or other treatments. The primary theories of Chinese medicine are the ying/yang theory and the five elements theory.
Ying/yang theory in Chinese medicine revolves around the idea of balancing light and dark, warm and cold in the body. Diseases create a certain state of coldness, and to counteract that, a practitioner prescribes something that has warm properties to balance it out and restore the body to balance. The properties of ying and yang have been worked out over centuries, so Chinese medicine has determined through trial and error what restores balance in a body. Sometimes that is herbs. Sometimes it is diet changes or acupuncture.
The five elements in traditional Chinese medicine are fire, water, wood, metal, and earth, and these elements roughly correspond to the organs in the body. This theory is similar to the ying/yang theory in that it strives to keep these elements in balance within the body of the diseased person. The elements also react to each other in specific ways that can impact how a disease responds to treatment. Each element not only corresponds to organs, but to directions, senses, materials, and actions in the natural world. It takes a skilled practitioner to sort through these signs and come up with a diagnosis.
How Western Medicine Is Different
Western medicine, by contrast, focuses on the disease and not the patient. For a doctor in Western practice to accept a treatment, it has to be proven to work for many people in many situations. This is not the case in Eastern medicine which strives to find what works for each individual patient. Western medicine seeks to quantify its results in regimented, scientific studies, when Eastern medicine looks at the quality of the treatment that it brings to each person.
One of the big difference in approaches is the focus of each theory. Western medicine tends to be reactionary, focusing on treating a disease to the exclusion of all else. Eastern medicine is concerned with the whole person: diet, lifestyle, stress, and behavior. An Eastern practitioner looks to prevent disease by advising the patient to modify their lifestyle to lead a healthier life. Only now are these ideas filtering their way into Western medical thought. Some other ideas are making it through, but it is taking time for Western doctors to see that Eastern medicine may have some ideas worth listening to.
Why Western Medicine Is Biased Against Eastern
Western medicine is biased against Eastern medicine because the latter does not rely on rigorous studies and proofs before prescribing a technique or herbal preparation. Western medicine prides itself on the scientific method and the studies that populate the medical literature, and Eastern medicine is based on balancing something that cannot be seen or quantified. Yet people have been using these methods for thousands of years and have found them useful. Through trial and error over a long period of time, Eastern medicine has learned how to treat common maladies.
It is rather arrogant of Western medicine to completely dismiss Eastern practices as nothing more than wishful thinking. People would not have submitted to acupuncture, herbal cures, or ying/yang therapy if they did not get some form of benefit from it. The problem with Eastern medicine is that the results cannot always be quantified as clearly as Western practitioners would like. Sometimes acupuncture works for people, sometimes it doesn’t. This ambiguity keeps the two traditions from working together as a cohesive whole.
How the Two Can Work Together
Western and Eastern medicine can work together, but it will take a paradigm shift on the part of Western doctors and researchers. In fact, it is imperative that Western practitioners learn about Chinese and other Eastern practices because more people are turning to alternative medicine to heal their diseases. If a Western doctor truly wants to help a patient and keep them safe, he will have to know what these practices are and how they work so that he can knowledgeably inform his patient.
Research is also showing that some Eastern practices are actually more effective than Western ones. Acupuncture has been accepted as a treatment by many medical bodies in the west now, and herbal medicines are tested in the Western fashion against many diseases. It does not make sense for Western medicine to totally discount a centuries old tradition because it does not conform with culturally held ways of approaching a disease or treatment.
What is important is finding what works best for the patient, and Western and Eastern medicine need to come together to provide the best of both worlds. Eastern medicine can provide the holistic, preventative approach while Western medicine can test theories and deal with diseases when they arise. If doctors would let down their guard and accept something outside their system, it could be a perfect combination.
References
Infoplease; Life Expectancy for Countries, 2008
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934746.html
Traditional Chinese Medicine Information Page
http://www.tcmpage.com/
Zhang Clinic; Philosophical Differences Between Chinese and Western Medicine; 2005
http://www.sinomedresearch.org/c21_PhiloMCM.htm
UCLA School of Medicine; Harmonizing Traditional Chinese and Modern Western Medicine: A Perspective from the US; Ka Kit Hui, M.D., F.A.C.P.;
http://www.cewm.med.ucla.edu/sources/WHO_paper.pdf