Traditional Chinese herbal medicine
Herbal medicine is the use of roots, flowers, bark and other natural products for their medicinal property. It is the primary medical vehicle of TCM, especially for internal conditions. Herbs are used to nourish and strengthen the body tissues and organs, clear away toxic elements and pathological accumulations, promote healing and re-growth, reduce fever and swelling, control bleeding and regulate the metabolic, nervous, circulatory, respiratory and hormonal systems as needed. Herbs can also be applied externally for traumatic injury and dermatological conditions.
Thousands of years of accumulated experience have gone into understanding how to combine herbs to safely extract their beneficial powers and minimize any potential side effects. How to combine herbs into formulas and personalize them encompassing an integrated understanding of the whole environment that produces health or disease is a major distinction of TCM. An herbalist may recommend a formula of 6-20 different herbs to be taken as a tea, pill, powder, capsule, poultice or tincture for each client's age, gender, constitution and specific health or energy condition at the time of each visit. Therefore, two different persons both suffering the same medical disease might receive two quite different formulas. This is because they manifest two different TCM conditions or states of energetic imbalance. This refers to the stage of disease, the relative strength of one’s immunity, related stress factors, effects of other long-standing conditions on body functions and tissues are all considered as part of the complete assessment picture determining the nature and composition of the recommended formulation. We also take into account the combined effects of other allopathic or natural medications already prescribed. This ensures a safer and more appropriate medicine for each individual, more likely to bring positive outcomes and less likely to result in undesirable side-effects.