Chinese Herbal Therapy

Herbal therapy is a term encompassing medications derived directly from plants and animals. The power of plants is often underestimated, both their ability to heal and to harm. Even penicillin, one of the first antibiotics, is well known to come from a common bread mold.

Our modern system of synthetic medication is put through scientific testing to determine efficacy. Western medicine finds this format easy to interpret, especially in our time of legal consequences. These synthetic medications often have to prove themselves in a short period of time. Herbal medicines have often not been “proven” through scientific studies, but have been used over thousands of years with gentle yet reliable results.

Herbal medications can come in the form of a single plant (“western”herbs), or have multiple ingredients within one formula (“eastern” or “Chinese” herbs). Chinese theory proposes that all foods have energies or directions – up, down, inward, outward, cooling, warming, etc. Herbal recipes, which can involove as many as 20 herbs in a single well-balanced formula, were composed using these ideas. The earliest reference, “Bole’s Canon of Veterinary Acupuncture” dates back to 621 BC, with other encompassing references written in the early part of the first century.

Chinese herbal medicines are believed to have deeper effects than acupuncture alone. For medical problems that are severe, or long standing, herbal remedies are often better at achieving desired results. Chinese herbal medicine is based on the same theories of energy that are used to perform acupuncture, including the theories of Yin and Yang, and the Five Elements. These theories are used to make a diagnosis, to which both acupuncture and herbal therapies can be applied.

Any time Chinese herbs are used to aid in healing, it is very important to have an accurate, correct diagnosis based on Chinese diagnostic techniques. For a condition such as skin allergies or dermatitis, there are 10 or more possible Chinese herbal formulas for treating skin conditions, and it is important to apply Chinese theories to determine which one. The herbs are administered by mouth, often in capsule or powder form, for weeks to months. They are meant to re-establish a natural balance, then often they are discontinued once resolution has been achieved. Unlike some synthetic medications which are used to alleviate or mask symptoms, Chinese herbal theories seek to rebalance the source of these symptoms and therefore “correct” the condition.