Similarities between Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chiropractic

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) is a set of several medical activities

and knowledges that aim to health care, but are not valued by scientific community (NCCAM

cited in Williams, 2012, p. 92). This essay makes a comparison between Traditional Chinese

Medicine (TCM) and Chiropractic which are part of the CAM. They two have incorporated

different medicinal knowledges due to they have been practiced since several years ago.

TCM was born around 5000 years ago in the ancient philosophy of Taoism (Sutton cited in

Williams, 2012, p. 95), and Chiropractic has its origin in the nineteenth century (Kaptchuk

& Eisenberg, 1998). Nowadays, both are widely known and used in the Western world

because offer different therapies and treatments to improve the human health.

Chiropractic and TCM aim to establish a state of harmony among the different bodys

parts and functions. The first one intends to seek a perfect compass between the bodys

structure and its functioning (Sutton cited in Williams, 2012, p. 98), due to this relationship

has important effects on health. Therefore, to achieve this, chiropractors carry out therapy

sections in which the bodys self-healing ability is stimulated as well (p. 98). Similarly, the

second one states all members of the human body such as organs, tissues, etc. are vitally

interconnected. Furthermore, it even treats the human body as a microcosm that is directly

affected by the environment and its forces (p. 95). Thus, both intend to achieve a balance to

accomplish an optimum well-being.

According to the treatment applied, both determine a specific treatment for each

patient. First of all, practitioners have to make a dictum. TCM practitioners examine people
by observing the physical state, asking questions and using their senses of smell, hearing, and

touching (Sutton cited in Williams, 2012, p. 95). Likewise, chiropractors perform a physical

examination, ask questions about health history, and even carry out several tests such as x-

rays (p. 98). After the dictum, they establish which kinds of therapies will apply. TCM

practitioners can recommend a treatment based on usage of medicinal herbals, insertion of

needles on the body which is called acupuncture, burning a sort of herb called moxa near the

skin, etc. (p. 95-96). Similarly, chiropractors have a couple of techniques such as spine

adjustment, usage of ice and heat, stimulation by electrical devices, etc. (p. 98). Hence, TCM

and Chiropractic have different methods to treat several health problems.

In conclusion, both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chiropractic seek a balance

among the different components of the human body and even the environmental that

surrounds it to get an optimum well-being. They try to achieve to this by a deep examination,

and then establish a specific treatment to each person according to his/her health issue.

Perhaps all the above and their several years of experience have made these medical

practices widely used in the Western world as they have become an alternative for those

who have not been cured by conventional medicine or just do not like it.

References

Kaptchuk, T. & Eisenberg, D. (1998). Chiropractic. Origins, Controversies, and

Contributions. Arch Intern Med. 158(20), 2215-2224.

doi:10.1001/archinte.158.20.2215

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2011). What is

complementary and alternative medicine? Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov/

Sutton, A. (2010). Complementary and alternative medicine sourcebook. Detroit, MI:

Omnigraphics Inc.

Williams, J. (2012). Philosophies of Medicine. In Learning English for Academic Purposes.

Reading and Writing (2th edition). Quebec, Canada: PEARSON.