8 Main Principles behind Traditional Chinese Medicines

China has a rich and world-renowned history of traditional medicine of China that goes back to thousands of years. Traditional Chinese Medicine has a different way of recognizing and treating illness in the body that makes it very unique. Unlike Oriental Medicine, the conventional medicine technique from China does not assess the disease of a person purely based on the symptoms the patient is showing. Instead, it asses the illness based on the intricate pattern of disharmony present in the body of the patient and does the Physiotherapy accordingly. There are eight main principles in the traditional medicine of China to determine the disharmony. In this article, we will talk about those eight principles.

What are the 8 Principles?

1.Interior: The principle of Interior describes diseases that manifest themselves in the interior organs of the body. CTM believes that the transmission of exogenous pathogenic factors causes internal syndromes into the zang-fu organs or the interior organs of the body.

2.Exterior: Exterior indicates the illness that takes place on the surface of one’s body. Exterior illness in TCM is usually located superficially and within a short period. Skin Disease, meridians, light pulse, etc. are an outer disease.

  1. Heat: In TCM, the principle of heat means the absence of distaste to cold. Heat syndromes are believed to be caused by exogenous pathogenic heat or the constitutional deficiency of yin. The symptoms include fever, dehydration, sore throat, etc.
  2. Cold: Cold means distaste to cold. The syndromes of cold in one's body are pathological changes or constitutional deficiency of Yang. The common cold symptoms are tastelessness, abdominal pain, vomiting, and absence of thirst.
  3. Deficiency: Deficiency is also called Xu. Xu means the illness caused by insufficiency or inadequacy of body fluids and weakness. Common symptoms of deficiency are slow pulse and dizziness.
  4. Excess: Excess is also called Xi. An example of Xi is the presence of intolerable pain in the body. An excess of exogenous pathogenic factors mainly causes Xi syndromes. Si symptoms include pain in the chest and abdomen, irritability, sonorous voice, etc.
  5. Yin: Yin, along with Yang, describes the relationship between the other six principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Interior, Cold, and Deficiency come under Yin. Yin indicates the consumption or loss of yin fluid.
  6. Yang: Yang also describes the relationship between the other six principles. Exterior, Excess, and Heat fall under Yang. Common Yang symptoms are cold, tastelessness in the mouth, pale complexion, absence of thirst, etc.

Conclusion

From the principles mentioned in the article, you must have realized why the traditional medicine technique of china so unique and different from any other Alternative Medicine. It mostly uses acupuncture and herbs to treat the illness and has different ways of treating a syndrome.

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