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The Theory of Chinese Herb Use in Alternative Medicine

The use of ancient traditional medical practices, such as using Chinese herb treatments, is becoming increasingly popular in the western world. Chinese herb therapy is not simply the use of herbs in place of manufactured medicines. Rather, Chinese herb therapy takes a completely different view of how the body functions and what causes disease than what is found in scientific western medicine.

Western medicine views the body as an organic machine, and diseases occur when something goes wrong with all or some of the parts. Causes of failure may be structural (such as hardening or weakening or arterial walls) or due to the presence of foreign bodies (bacteria, etc.). Treatments are directed at the part of the body that is compromised. This approach fits well with western empiricism, but is quite foreign to practitioners of Chinese herb medicine. In the Chinese view, the body is not just a machine, but a place where universal opposing forces, the yin and the yang, are in harmonious balance. Disease occurs when either the yin or the yang come to dominate some region of the body, resulting in a body that is out of balance. Chinese herb therapy seeks to restore the natural balance of yin and yang by using Chinese herb remedies that have properties that work to counter the out of balance condition.

Chinese herb therapy is still quite new to the western world and, as such, its place is uncertain in the western health care system. Some insurers have started to cover Chinese herb treatments, but the health care community is not totally convinced of its effectiveness.

Sources
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