No, trees are not the only metaphor in Chinese medicine, and though I have written about Chinese medicine and trees before, this time it’s a little more about how Chinese Medicine works, and why it’s sometimes able to treat diseases when Western Medicine fails.

We usually go to the Doctor when something is wrong with us. We have pain or discomfort or something isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. Maybe we’re going to the bathroom a little more often they we should be, maybe we’re having trouble going at all. These are symptoms which in Chinese medicine are referred to as the “branch.” Western medicine has plenty of ways to treat the branch, but for many situations, there’s no real way to treat the underlying physiological problem causing the symptom, which in Chinese medicine we call the “root.” An example of a situation in Western medicine where the “root” can be treated would be with bacterial infections – we have antibiotics which treat the cause of the inflammation and pain.

Both acupuncture and herbs are often very effective at treating the root and the branch for many diseases. The underlying reason for that as far as my understanding goes, is that because of the way Chinese medicine has evolved and developed, understanding the actual disease involves understanding its etiology. In other words, if someone comes to me and is experiencing  a headache, I will then ask them a host of questions that will help me understand which type of headache they have. In Chinese medicine we have tools to treat different types of headaches with different etiologies. The idea is that here, we’re treating the root of the problem, the thing that is causing the headache, rather than just treating the headache. In working with our patients this way we can often have an impact on many symptoms they’re experiencing that they never realized were connected.

One of my teachers goes even farther. He says, we don’t treat headaches, or lower back pain, or dysmenorrhea, or fatigue. What we do as acupuncturists and herbalists is help people bring their body back into balance and alignment, both internally and with the world around them. The result is a reduction or disappearance of the symptoms they’re experiencing.

I like this idea a lot.