Chinese Herbology
Herbal medicine is the backbone and core practice within Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Over 80% of TCM interventions or treatments are traditionally herbal—the use of plant, mineral, and (historically) animal substances* to create a healing process within the body. The choice of which herbal agents to combine together has been, throughout the ages, recorded in the form of Formulas. The first accurately dated written record of these Formulas dates back to 168 BCE. There are over 10,000 herbs and 1,500 formulas that make up the core of TCM Traditional Chinese Herbology. There are also over 11,000 classics of TCM—clinical records that have been kept over the past 2,000 years, detailing strategies and uses of herbal medicines against disease and debilitation. From this vast store of knowledge, with its extensive testing and thorough analysis, Chinese Herbal Medicine when utilized by a properly trained practitioner is a safe and scientific treatment modality.
TCM follows a strict methodology that allows a practitioner to prescribe these herbal formulas to patients. They are often adapted by adding and/or taking away individual herbs within a particular prescription. In this way, treatments can be effectively individualized in a way that conventional Western (or allopathic) medicine cannot.
TCM in general and Traditional Chinese Herbology in particular are ideally suited to chronic or long term disorders. Instead of just treating symptoms, TCM addresses root causes of those symptoms. This means, for example, TCM not only treats the headache a patient complains of, but also the nervous system imbalance that caused the headache.
The Gilbert Clinic offers TCM, herbal medicine formulas and/or acupuncture, as a stand-alone treatment option. We also provide TCM as a compliment to conventional Western/allopathic medicine clients may be undergoing elsewhere.
Read more in our Acupuncture & Herbology: Effective, Affordable Healthcare brochure.
*The Gilbert Clinic does not employ any animal products unless specifically indicated and then only with the full knowledge and consent of the patient. We do not use any animal products whose collection and use have caused any suffering to an animal.