Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
170 <strong>Alternative</strong> <strong>Cardiovascular</strong> <strong>Medicine</strong><br />
they will be in relative balance, but under conditions of strain, one of<br />
them can dominate too much and the other become too weak and then<br />
illness occurs. The goal of treatment is to reestablish the relative balance.<br />
The five elements—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—are considered<br />
to be the basic components of the material world. A relationship of<br />
mutual interdependence and control exists among the elements, which<br />
is used to classify natural phenomena, body tissues and organs, and<br />
human feelings (4,5). In practice, the theories of yin and yang and the<br />
five elements are tied together so that the individual elements are divided<br />
into yin and yang parts. For example, the liver and the gallbladder belong<br />
to the wood element, where the gallbladder is the yang and the liver is<br />
the yin.<br />
The theories of yin and yang and the five elements are not seen as stiff<br />
theoretical systems but rather as poetic models, which can be applied as<br />
needed. In Chinese medicine, they are used to describe the body’s functions<br />
and illness development. They also assist in diagnosing and treating<br />
in daily clinical work. Man is seen as a miniature universe, a<br />
microcosm with an indwelling life force, “qi,” which balances between<br />
the two opposing forces, yin and yang. Man is not viewed as an isolated<br />
phenomenon but, on the contrary, as tightly connected to the whole, the<br />
universe. The goal of human life is to live in harmony with this.<br />
The Body’s Composition<br />
According to traditional Chinese medicine, the following components<br />
are the basic elements in the human body (6): (1) the inner organs,<br />
(2) meridians and communication channels, (3) Qi (“life energy,” pronounced<br />
“chee” as in “cheese”), and (4) blood and body fluids.<br />
An important assumption in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is<br />
that the inner organs are connected to the body’s surface through a complicated<br />
network of channels (meridians), whose main purpose is to<br />
supply all the parts of the body with life energy, “qi.” These meridians<br />
generally lie deep beneath the skin and touch the body’s surface only at<br />
particular points, the so-called acupuncture points. There are 12 meridians<br />
that are connected to the body’s various organs. Energy flows<br />
through the organs in a fixed order and then starts again at the end of each<br />
cycle. A full cycle is believed to take 24 h. The individual organs are<br />
believed to be most active when their energy level is at its peak.<br />
TCM has a view of man that differs from the Western view in two key<br />
ways. Man is viewed as an integrated part of the total universe, and the<br />
human biological processes are viewed as being controlled by the circulation<br />
of qi. The concept of qi does not exist in Western medicine; even<br />
the description of the body differs from the Western model. Although the