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foundations
The foundations of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are very different of western medicine. It is a medicine that favors analogies, which has a broad and integrated view of what it means "Be healthy", and whose foundations have been established long before the advent of scientific thought.
But, paradoxically, we have started to discover, in recent years, all kinds of agreement between millennial empirical observations of TCM and the explanations of modern science, for example regarding anatomy (interdependence of organs, action of acupuncture points, etc.) and the determinants of health (diet, emotions, lifestyle, environment, etc.).
The methodology specific to TCM belongs to the approaches of the pre-scientific era which combined both observation, deductions and intuition. TCM is therefore essentially based on a abundant literature on clinical cases and their resolution, on the clinical experience of practitioners, on informed reflections of some doctors and on various "consensus" between clinicians through the ages.
Despite the efforts made over the past thirty years to corroborate traditional claims in the light of scientific research, we are far from having at our disposal all the elements to confirm or refute the results obtained by the traditional approach.
In the eyes of the scientist, the so ancient theoretical bases of the TCM can seem naive and anachronistic. However, many concepts like Theories on Substances, the Viscères and the Meridians remain perfectly useful and relevant in modern practice. In addition, several theories continue to advance and we obviously do not deal more today in the same way as 3,000 years ago …
The naturalist schools behind TCM believed that the same basic components weave the whole universe, and that the same laws govern both the organization of the microcosm human and the dynamics of the macrocosm that surrounds us. Chinese medicine therefore applied to transpose the rules she observed in the environment to the body. She identified correspondences and affinities between the organization Climates, Flavors, Organs, emotions, etc .; for example, such as Climate or such Flavor seeming to react more particularly such Organ or such tissue.
TCM has created empirical models that it has used the Review clinically and validated over time. She developed a set of theories characterized by a certain syncretism, that is to say a conception of global reality rather that fragmented; an often very useful approach, but, it must be said, sometimes more or less consistent …
The richness and complexity of the links envisaged between all the elements who make up our world have made TCM favor an approach systemic:
including multiple grids that classifyenvironmental influences and the components of our body according to their affinities;
defining laws capable of describing, even predicting, the evolution of relationships between our organism and its environment.
The Theories of Yin Yang and the Five Elements constitute the two cornerstones of this long process. But it's not about "medical" theories in the strict sense. They are part of a philosophy and a way of conceiving the world having broad cultural, spiritual and social foundations. TCM used these bases for developing his own theories about meridians, the physiology of organs and Substances, causes of disease, diagnosis and treatment. To use an image, suggest that the Theories of Yin Yang and the Five Elements are two ways of transposing reality as a photographer: Yin Yang in black and white, the Five Elements in colors!
The approach of Yin yang proposes to represent reality like the play of two forces, light and shadow, which create infinite shades of gray. These two forces, one active and emitting (the Yang), the other passive and receptive (the Yin), oppose and complement each other both in the human body and in the rest of the universe. Their opposition is driving all of the changes we are seeing. Their relationships evolve cyclically, more or less predictably, alternating phases of growth and decline, like the light that believes from dawn at noon, then decreases until sunset. Applied to medicine, this theory describes homeostasis of the organism in terms of opposite and complementary components, whose imbalances, excess or insufficiency cause the appearance symptoms of disease. (See Yin Yang.)
Just as light can decompose into complementary colors, the Theory of five Elements invites us to look reality through five specific filters. All reality and all part of reality, of alternation from seasons to diversity of flavors through organization Organs, can be seen through these filters. In the prolongation of Yin Yang, the Theory of the Five Elements allows to refine the study of the dynamics present within the organism and better describe the influence of the environment on our internal balance. This theory describes five seasons, five Flavors and five climates which stimulate or attack the five organic spheres (the five major sets of Organs and their spheres of influence) responsible homeostasis in our body. (See Five Elements.)
TCM has never spent time "dismantling" life, as scientific research has undertaken for several centuries, separating and isolating each piece of the living mosaic as we dismantle and classify the parts of a gigantic machine. The MTC privileged the general description of the mobility living systems which she tries to predict and influence changes to keep the patient in a state of dynamic equilibrium. The global vision that she maintained – while pursuing experiments Rich and varied clinics – astonishingly simple. It contrasts with the Western medical vision where knowledge are so fragmented and complex that it is almost impossible for a single individual to grasp the whole.
You could say that the challenge today is not so much to prove the value scientist of Chinese medical theories but to assess the relevance of the discoveries they have made in art to treat, to heal, to stimulate self-healing, to strengthen the organism, to make up for deficiencies and to eliminate certain pathogenic factors.
Of course, the diseases of the XXIe century are not necessarily those described in the texts old. AIDS, cancer, allergies, resistant bacteria and new viruses have taken place in our daily lives. The effect of drugs unknown 100 years ago, like vaccines, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories or anxiolytics have helped many people, but have also created their own perversities by their sometimes abusive or reckless uses. The industrialization of food production methods, the diseases they create in animals (which are sometimes transmissible to humans), the unknown effect genetically modified or artificially preserved foods, all these new parameters modify the diseases that affect us and question the relevance of a traditional approach like that of TCM.
Yet the solution to the disease invariably seems to be through strengthening of the immune system, good breathing, a varied diet and natural and exercises adapted to everyone's needs. On this ground, the TCM has lost nothing of the relevance of its interventions, promoting since Confucius the preventive approach and patient empowerment. The human body has changed little physiologically despite the dramatic changes of the environment. The stimulating action of massage, needles, heat, meditation, Food or herbs (just to mention them) still valid to reinforce the body's responses and help it maintain its balance.
Since the middle of the XXe century we are witnessing modernization of TCM and the emergence of acupuncture medical which develops in a Western and scientific context. This medical acupuncture is still very young, but is based on research rigorous clinics. These come from scientists who favor, among others, neurophysiology to understand regulatory processes triggered by acupuncture. These researchers describe the action acupuncture according to models very different from those of theories traditional.
For example, the discovery of Clement and Jones1
in 1979 on the release of opioid peptides helped explain the anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties of acupuncture otherwise than according to the traditional model which wants that the stimulation of certain points “unblocks the circulation of Qi and blood in the Meridians ”. The work of different researchers has made it possible to describe several actions of acupuncture on the nervous and endocrine systems. important syntheses report the results of this research2A4.
According to the modern biomedical model, most diseases are the result of a set of factors: harmful influences of the environment, nutritional problems, psychological stress, predisposition hereditary, etc. Currently, several researchers are issuing the hypothesis that acupuncture acts mainly on psychological stress. It would modulate certain regulatory mechanisms such as activity of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic) or hypothalamus, and to release neuropeptides, for example.
The decoding of the mechanisms triggered by the stimulation of skin and subcutaneous areas through acupuncture is still in its infancy. An urgent need for clinical evidence must decide what, in the action of acupuncture, is directly related physical stimulation of certain points on the body or the placebo effect. The research needs are enormous and the difficulty of finding funds remains the main obstacle to the advancement of knowledge.