Alternative medical systems
Traditional Chinese medicine/dried goods shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
Acupuncture · Anthroposophic medicine · Ayurveda · Chiropractic · Herbalism · Homeopathy · Naturopathy · Siddha medicine · Traditional medicine (Chinese · Mongolian · Tibetan) · Unani
NCCAM classifications
Whole medical systems · Mind-body interventions · Biologically based therapies · Manipulative therapy · Energy therapies
See also
Alternative medicine · Glossary · People
v · d · eTraditional Chinese medicine, also known as TCM, includes a range of traditional medicine practices originating in Asia, primarily in regions that are now part of China and Taiwan. TCM is a common part of medical care throughout East Asia, but is considered a complementary and alternative medical system (CAM) in much of the Western world. TCM therapy largely consists of Chinese herbal medicine (use of plants, human and animal parts, and minerals to make medicines), acupuncture (insertion of needles in the body), tuī-nǎ massage, and dietary therapy. It uses a scientifically incorrect “alternative anatomy”, metaphysical principles that have no correlates in science based medicine, and is primarily based on a conclusion from these principles that is inconsistent with scientific facts; that the blood is propelled by a supernatural force called qi, whereas in science based medicine blood is propelled by the pumping of the heart. Traditional Chinese medicines play a major role in Chinese lifestyle that is substantially different than the role of medicines in the west. They are part of everyday and social life in Chinese society. Those that have been scientifically analyzed have sometimes been found to be ineffective, have sometimes been used to make discoveries in science-based pharmacology, and sometimes have been found to contain dangerous toxins.Traditional Chinese medicine theory is based on ancient Daoist philosophical and religious conceptions of balance and opposites (yin and yang), and other metaphysical belief systems. In evidence based medicine, disproved theories are “continually being replaced with new ones”, but in traditional Chinese medicine little has changed since antiquity and “the most current medical knowledge always had roots centuries old”.Chinese knowledge of the human body was based not on anatomical studies using dissection, but on an “alternative anatomy” based on astrological calculations and “complex associations with gods”. Ill health is believed to result from an imbalance between what are believed to be interconnected organ systems, with one organ system believed to weaken or overexcite others. TCM practitioners believe that plant and animal products, and minerals can be used to stimulate or calm particular systems and bring them into balance. It is believed that insertion of needles in points of the body (acupuncture) and burning points of the body (moxibustion) stimulates the systems directly along what TCM believes are metaphysical flow lines of qi “energy”, and that these can also be stimulated by practices such a special kind of massage and exercise. Astrological influences are also believed to affect qi flow in the body, e.g., the alignment of homes with the planets and stars, and the year, month, day, and hour of birth.

TCM has been subject to criticism regarding a number of issues: its lack of scientific basis, its questionable effectiveness, its medicines containing toxins, its being used instead of proven science based medicines, possible side effects of its treatment methods, the ecological impact on endangered species by creating a black market demand for ineffective medicines made from animal parts, and the superstitious beliefs it promotes.

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