Traditional Chinese Medicine For Women

By Lisa Borg Anderson, LAC

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a holistic system of medicine and it's most fundamental goal is to return an individual to their truest nature and balance. Many people are more familiar with acupuncture and herbal medicine but utilizing all five branches allows patients to be an integral partner to restoring their health.

The five branches of TCM are qi gong, moxibustion, acupuncture, herbal and nutritional therapy, and Tui Na massage. Education is key to explain how and why foods, emotions, periods and sleep or the lack there of can tell us so much about what's really going on inside.

We have an invisible network of channels that connect organs and tissues together like a highway system within the body and when our energy is blocked it creates symptoms like pain, frustration and disease. If it is freely moving within, there will be health and a feeling of ease throughout the day.

When diagnosing a disharmony in TCM, each individual will have their own unique diagnosis and as a patient responds to treatment this diagnosis will change with time. The diagnosis is based on the interview process, pulse and tongue diagnosis, and symptoms presented. Therefore the treatments and points are specific to your imbalance and can treat the whole person mind, body, and spirit.

Utilizing acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, breathing, exercise and food therapy, women experience regulation of hormones to improve fertility, reduce symptoms of pregnancy and prepare women for childbirth, reducing painful or irregular periods, headaches, irritability, depression and sadness, alleviation of menopausal symptoms, and increase the restorative quality of sleep to name a few.

TCM also can prevent us from becoming imbalanced and for keeping our immune systems strong. Staying healthy is vital to leading a full and active life and TCM can offer holistic solutions to health concerns at any stage of life.