The difference between traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine is an independent medical system that covers the entire process of "preventing disease before it's too late, preventing disease before it gets worse, and preventing recurrence after recovery." It includes the complete logic of principles, prescriptions, and syndrome differentiation for treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine health care is a branch of traditional Chinese medicine that focuses on "preventing disease before it's too late." The former is responsible for "treating diseases," while the latter is only responsible for "preventing diseases." The boundaries, responsibilities, and learning thresholds are completely different.

Does this sound a bit convoluted? Let me give you a scenario that you may have encountered before and you will understand: A while ago, the little girl in my office felt numb from the air conditioner blowing on half of her face, and she went to the acupuncture department of the traditional Chinese medicine hospital. The doctor felt her pulse and looked at her tongue, and judged that she had insufficient health qi and wind and cold attacking her collaterals. He first arranged 5 electroacupunctures, and then 7 pairs of Qianzheng Powder to drink. This process of diagnosis, syndrome differentiation, and issuing a treatment plan is the standard of traditional Chinese medicine. When she was almost healed, the doctor specially told her not to blow the air conditioner on her face all the time, wear a thin mask to block the wind when commuting, massage the Hegu and Yifeng acupuncture points more often, and brew 3 slices of astragalus as tea every day to replenish her qi. These daily guidelines to help her avoid recurrence without taking medicine or acupuncture are part of traditional Chinese medicine health care.

As for the boundary between the two, in fact, the industry has not completely unified the statement for so many years. Many veteran traditional Chinese medicine practitioners who were trained as teachers feel that there is no need to set up a separate category of "TCM health care" - how could ancient doctors distinguish between health care and disease treatment? Sun Simiao wrote "A Thousand Gold Prescriptions". The first few volumes are all about health maintenance in daily life, dietary taboos, and the following is the diagnosis and treatment content of diagnosing and prescribing prescriptions. "Treat the doctor to prevent the disease" is the core concept of traditional Chinese medicine. If health maintenance is taken out separately, it will easily tear the complete traditional Chinese medicine system into pieces. But the academic view is just the opposite, and they feel that splitting is too necessary: ​​Ordinary people can't spend 5 years memorizing the "Huangdi Neijing" and "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" to become a licensed physician just to know how to eat and sleep on a daily basis, right? Taking universal health care methods out of the professional diagnosis and treatment system and lowering the threshold for dissemination can actually benefit more people.

When I was doing charity science popularization in the community, I saw too many people who confused the two. Two years ago, an aunt came to listen to the lecture and said that she saw an online health blogger saying that drinking Shengmai Yin can replenish qi and blood. After drinking it for three months, her blood pressure was so high that she felt dizzy. She came to ask me if the prescription was wrong. When I asked, I found out that my aunt has a constitution with hyperactivity of liver yang, and her blood pressure is usually high. Shengmai Yin is for people with both qi and yin deficiency. She took the general advice of health bloggers and applied it directly to herself. Is there something wrong? To be honest, most of what TCM health care gives are basic guidelines that are suitable for most people, which is equivalent to giving you a reference answer for a healthy life. But if your body has specific symptoms, you have to find a professional TCM doctor who can customize a plan for you based on the syndrome differentiation logic of TCM. The boundaries of responsibility between the two are not even the slightest difference: a licensed physician who studies TCM is responsible for the patient's diagnosis and treatment results, and will bear medical responsibility if he prescribes the wrong prescription. ； However, as long as the advice given by people who popularize TCM health care science conforms to universal health care principles, it will not be considered a violation. Most of the time, if problems arise due to their own misuse, they can only bear the responsibility themselves.

I have been studying Chinese medicine for almost 10 years. To be honest, what I talk about the most with my friends and family is health care. After all, most people don’t need medicine or acupuncture. Just knowing not to eat ice-cold, stay up late, and adjust your diet and exercise according to your own constitution can prevent 80% of diseases. But I always add this after saying that if you really feel uncomfortable for more than half a month, don’t search for health care methods and try blindly. Go to a doctor quickly. No matter how useful health care is, it cannot replace diagnosis and treatment.

In fact, the two are originally from the same root, and there is no distinction between them. Just like the maintenance and repair of a car: you usually change the oil regularly according to the maintenance manual, and be careful not to drive too hard when driving. This is health care.； If the engine really breaks down, you have to go to the 4S shop to find a repairman to repair it. This is Chinese medicine. It’s enough to understand the boundary between the two. Don’t treat health care as treatment and delay the condition, and don’t believe that health care is an IQ tax.