What is the difference between treating a patient with acupuncture versus treating him or her with herbs?
Chinese medicine is practiced differently in America than it is in China. One way in which our approach differs is that in China, acupuncture is rarely performed as a stand-alone treatment choice. Most often acupuncture is seen as an adjunct therapy to herbal medicine. In America it is more often the reverse. Acupuncture tends to ‘harmonize’ things – that is, it brings things closer to balance. By this means, it does some things very well (releasing stress, resolving muscle spasms, facilitating digestion, and so on). Herbal medicine also has its areas of special efficacy. In particular, the fact that an herbal formula is taken two to three times a day means that there is a steady nudge to the system that acupuncture can only provide if the patient is treated daily, or even more frequently (this is in fact the way acupuncture is practiced in China – patients receive a program of 10 or 12 daily or twice-daily treatments, then there is a short break, then the sequence is repeated). Herbs,
