Harmony Acupuncture

Unlike Western medicine, in which diagnosis in treatment focuses on the local changes in structure in isolation from the whole body, Chinese medicine views the human organism as an integrated system where a change that occurs in one part of the system affects the dynamic balance in the whole as well as every other part. Furthermore, Chinese medicine considers how a pathological change has been brought about as opposed to focusing solely on the outcome. Every TCM therapy session, whether it involves only acupuncture, herbal medicine, Tuina massage, or any combination of these treatments, starts with collecting information about existing unique physiological and psychological states of a person in order to identify patterns of disharmony. After the TCM diagnosis is made, a practitioner formulates a plan of treatment. Choosing a proper prescription of herbs or acupoints is a very important next step of the treatment, as the effect of the combination of several single herbs or points is very different from the sum of their individual effects. Herbal treatment not based on individual pattern identification (as could be the case with unqualified practitioners) or acupuncture treatment comprising only points of the problem area are often ineffective; this is because the underlying cause of the disorder has not been addressed.