What is the difference between Western Medical Acupuncture (WMA) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)?
The Chinese are generally credited with “inventing” acupuncture but in fact it has been found in earlier cultures. The Chinese certainly embellished the principles of acupuncture and came up with concepts that you may have heard of, such as “chi” (the life force that flows through the body in channels or meridians) and “ying and yang” (opposites such as day and night, hot and cold or male and female). Originally the Chinese physician could only examine your hands and face so pulse and tongue diagnosis were invented. Together with techniques such as cupping, moxibustion and some herbal treatments these form Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In TCM acupuncture works by re-balancing your “chi”. When China became more open to the West (after President Nixon’s visit in 1974) many doctors felt that acupuncture worked, even though the concepts of meridians and chi did not fit with what was known of anatomy and physiology. Western Medical Acupuncture (WMA) therefore uses the treatment withou
