Traditional Chinese Medicine - What is it?

Hello! I want to take this opportunity to quickly introduce myself.  My name is Marissa Byrum.  I am a licensed, Board Certified, Acupuncture Physician and Doctor of Oriental Medicine in the beautiful state of Florida, and I am happy to be located in this great Temple Terrace community. 

For my first post today, I'm going to answer the question I get most often:  What exactly is Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)? 

The answer is, there is no short answer.  However, to be as brief as possible, TCM is a medicinal modality developed in the Far East by thousands of years of clinical observation, and it is centered around the idea that the body's energy is moved through and regulated by a series of pathways called meridians.  The energy is called "Qi" (pronounced "chee"), and is sometimes spelled "Chi", or "Ki" in Japan.  This energy allows us to wake up in the morning, work out complex problems, digest our food, move our bodies, etc.; all of the things that we do as humans on a daily basis.  Along these meridians are certain points that affect the meridians directly, which we call acupuncture points.  When energy flows freely through the meridians, the body is healthy and without problems or pain - it is balanced, or in a state of homeostasis.  But when these pathways have some sort of issue, such as damage, or a blockage, the points on the meridian can be used to help repair and restore the body's natural balance. 

For example, we can use an acupuncture point on the lateral side of the lower leg to affect temporal headaches.  This is because the meridian that contains the point on the leg that we are treating is the same meridian that circles the side of your head, and it was discovered that stimulating the point helps the headaches by removing or repairing an imbalance in that meridian.

The usual response I get is, "wow, energy and balance, that sounds really new age to me, I'm not so sure about all that metaphysical stuff."  I understand that feeling.  My first degree was in Biology, and as you may have seen in my profile, I did cancer research for about a year and a half as an undergrad.  I come from a Western medical background.  This is not a religion, and it is not metaphysical.  You don't have to believe in TCM for it to help you. 

The reason TCM uses the model of meridians and Qi and points is because past practitioners have taken the liberty of doing millions (if not billions) of clinical observational trials over the past several millenia to treat every kind of disease known to man, and the information we have today is the culmination of that vast amount of knowledge.  The Meridian model is the best way to explain thousands of years of clinical results in summary.  

TCM is very complex, and yet it can be very simple and elegant as well.  I am happy to answer questions you may have both on and offline.  Please feel free to ask!

--Marissa Byrum, AP, DOM, Dipl. Ac., is an associate at Ideal Balance Center for Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine in Temple Terrace, FL.