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More
about alternative medicines...
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 Overview
Traditional
oriental medicine is a sophisticated set of many systematic techniques
and methods, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, acupressure,
qigong, and oriental massage. The most striking characteristic of
oriental medicine is its emphasis on diagnosing disturbances of
qi, or vital energy, in health and disease. Diagnosis in oriental
medicine involves the classical procedures of observation, listening,
questioning, and palpation, including feeling pulse quality and
sensitivity of body parts.
The
professionalization of oriental medicine has taken diverse paths
in both East Asia and the United States. Currently, the model
in the People's Republic of China, which was established after
the 1949 revolution, involves the organized training of practitioners
in schools of traditional Chinese medicine. The curriculum of
these schools includes acupuncture, oriental massage, herbal medicine,
and pharmacology, though the clinical style of making a diagnosis
and then designing a treatment plan is the one traditionally associated
with herbal medicine. The graduates of these colleges are generally
certified in one of the four specialty areas at a training level
roughly equivalent to that of Western country's bachelor's degree.
In
the United States, the professional practitioner base for oriental
medicine is organized around acupuncture and oriental massage.
There are about 6,500 acupuncturist practitioners in the United
States. The American Oriental Body Work Therapy Association has
approximately 1,600 members representing practitioners of tuina,
shiatsu, and related techniques. Many American schools of acupuncture
are evolving into "colleges of oriental medicine" by
adding courses in oriental massage, herbal medicine, and dietary
interventions. The also are offering diplomas, master's degrees,
and doctor's degrees in oriental medicine. The legal sanctioning
of oriental medical practice is most extensive in New Mexico,
where the acupuncture community has established an exclusive profession
of oriental medicine. Their legal scope of practice is currently
similar to that of primary care M.D.s and D.O.s (doctors of osteopathy),
and their State statute restricts other licensed New Mexico health
professionals' ability to advertise or bill for oriental medicine
or acupuncture services.
Extensive
research has been done in China through the institutions of traditional
Chinese medicine, but only in the past quarter century have biomedical
scientists in China characterized and identified active agents
in much of traditional medical formulary. The use of traditional
oriental herbal medicines and formulas in China and Japan has
been studied for therapeutic value in the following areas: chronic
hepatitis; rheumatoid arthritis; hypertension; atopic eczema;
various immunologic disorders, including acquired immunodefiency
syndrome (AIDS); and certain cancers. It would be useful to repeat
these studies in the United States, assessing U.S. clinical populations
according to high-quality research criteria.
Copyright 2000. National Institute of Health, All Rights Reserved.
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