Traditional Chinese Medicine is such a long phrase that I often abbreviate it as “TCM." It's no
wonder that people commonly refer to acupuncture and TCM as being
interchangeable simply because of the length of the name. I grew up
singing a song called
“Eddiegutchaketchicamma-tosinaratosinoka-sammacammawackybrown,”
which tells the story of a boy who drowned in a well because his name
was too long to spread the word that he needed help. Sometimes I
think TCM has the same problem. Even shorter words like acupuncture
are still quite a mouthful!
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TCM, OM, AOM... Acupuncture terminology
will mix you up like alphabet soup! |
For this reason, acupuncturists often abbreviate words so our
patients don't drown in a well of pain before we get our point
across. We're left with a confusing alphabet soup of anagrams: TCM
(Traditional Chinese Medicine), OM (Oriental Medicine), AOM
(Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine), and many others. For
simplicity's sake, I will be using TCM to refer to all of these
abbreviations, while recognizing that the American acupuncturist's
TCM is a melting pot, combining many aspects of traditional medicine
in Asia and even Europe. Acupuncturists use some strategies that are
thousands of years old, while others are only a hundred, or fifty, or
even modern. In every case, I use time-tested, established methods
that have been proven in case after case.
Acupuncturists in the US possess a comprehensive combination of
therapies to more fully understand and service their patients' needs.
It's common to consider acupuncture as being synonymous with TCM, but
actually, acupuncture is just one of the important pillars of TCM
treatment. Because practitioners are focused not only on stopping
pain and other symptoms, but also on the prevention of their return,
we rely on the combination of acupuncture with herbal therapy,
nutrition, massage, and home care to provide long-lasting results.
(Here's one example.)
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Your recovery period need not
last an eternity. |
Many people who are new to acupuncture are concerned that the
relief will only be temporary and that they will have to return for
treatment indefinitely. Some medical professionals who practice
acupuncture but are not fully trained to do so may use acupuncture in
this way – for the temporary relief of symptoms. Licensed
acupuncturists like myself are trained to address conditions with the
full complexity of TCM; we understand that the solution to your
condition is pain-free independence, as well as the freedom to live
your life. For more information on getting results with your acupuncture treatment plan, see my article on getting
timely results with acupuncture.
