It is difficult for a doctor with a typically
Western education to approach the enormous world
of Oriental medicine. Even more so when
considering that, as the range of
specializations and fragmentation offered by
Western medicine is very complex, so is that of
Eastern medicine.
First of all we have to free the field of
equivocal terms as eastern and western medicine:
eastern and western relatively to what? What are
the reciprocal influences and dependencies? Are
we talking about philosophical thought or the
therapeutic approach? Reference books like the
Yellow Emperor’s Classical Text of Internal
Medicine where for the first time the system of
meridians and the functions of the acupuncture
points are described? Galeno’s texts? The later
Harvey’s texts; etc.? Do we consider Avicenna (Ibn
Sina), author of the medicine canon (Kitab
alQanun fi alTibb or Liber canonis medicinae)
Eastern or Western?
In this article we will
briefly depict a comparison between the TCM (Traditional
Chinese Medicine) and its scientific evidence in light
of modern scientific research.
In fact, there is a growing interest in TCM
which includes:
1. aknowledging its benefic potential,
2. a diffused dissatisfaction for the
occidental therapy models
3. an inclination towards the holistic
health concepts
4. fear for the collateral effects of
medicines (1,2,3)
The TCM includes a wide range of therapies among which
the most known are, without a doubt, acupuncture and
the
use of medicinal herbs.
In fact the TCM is one of the most ancient forms of
medicine in the world and it is now used in the West as
an alternative or complementary therapy (alternative in
substitution of orthodox medicine, complementary to
sustain it) (4).
It is difficult to
summarize in few lines the philosophy behind the
TCM but we can say that, from the point of view
of prevention and rehabilitation, the use of
some techniques like Tai Chi and QiGong are
welcomed by so-called orthodox medicine, but
more controversial are TCM therapies on real
pathologies, especially when acute; although the
treatment of chronic pathologies is becoming
more accepted.
For example, some studies have demonstrated an
improvement of the risk factors and
physiological values on cardiovascular
pathologies with
acupuncture; the
techniques of exercise mentioned above have shown
efficiency in the improvement and conservation of the
health conditions in elder and in patients affected by
different pathologies (5).
Particular attention is given to the exaggerated use of
medicinal herbs with unknown components and with obscure
long term effects.
It is clear that in severe and acute pathologies the use
of remedies and techniques of the so-called orthodox
medicine is necessary, as it directly cures the
symptoms; if we want to accept a more “holistic” vision
of health, in chronic conditions a softer profile is
more acceptable to the patient. We must take into
consideration the expectations of a patient and his
doctor and, at the end, the influence of the “mental”
component on the body reactions, which is, though,
always at the limits of the official science.
Whereas the approach of TCM in thousand year old
philosophies has a sure validity, the tradition cannot
be enough in modern science which needs concrete
evidence obtained following validation criteria
unanimously accepted; on the other hand, orthodox
medicine cannot ignore or refuse techniques and
knowledge which have for thousands of years kept
millions of people healthy, and often healed them.
The desire is that the dialogue between the two kinds of
medicine can continue, with the purpose of the wellbeing
of the patients rather than the prestige of one or the
other school, in the hope that the times of ”IPSE DIXIT”
are gone forever.
Antonio Paoli Surgeon
1. M. Kreitzer and D.
Jensen, Healing practices: trends, challenges, and
opportunities for nurses in acute and critical care.
AACN Clin Issues 11 1 (2000), pp. 7–16.
2. M.M. Kaler and P.C.
Ravella, Staying on the ethical high ground with
complementary and alternative medicine. Nurse
Practitioner 27 7 (2002), pp. 40–42.
3. A.H. MacLennan, D.H.
Wilson and A.W. Taylor, The escalating cost and
prevalence of alternative medicine. Prev Med 35 (2002),
pp. 166–173
4. Whitworth and A.
Burkhardt, Complementary therapy and cardiac surgery. J
Cardiovasc Nurs 12 4 (1998), pp. 87–94
5. Davidson P, Hancock K,
Leung D, Ang E, Chang E, Thompson DR, Daly J.
Traditional Chinese Medicine and heart disease: what
does Western medicine and nursing science know about it?
Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs 2 3 (2003), pp. 171-81.
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