Both medical systems have important roles to play in the health and well being of patients. The correct application of each medical system to the treatment of disease is key to the clinical efficacy of the treatment and cost-effectiveness of treatment for the patient.

TCM was originally the medicine of the Emperors of China for over 2000 years. In ancient China, the TCM physicians sole function was to keep the Emperor virile and well. If the TCM physician failed to keep the Emperor well, the TCM physician did not get a second chance to make amends with the Emperor! The function of the TCM physician and the medicine they practiced was to keep patients well before disease developed by balancing and strengthening root vitality. The nature of this root vitality has yet to be investigated by scientific experiment using the scientific method. The scientific method is the basis of randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled studies. It is important to remember that the scientific method demands that experiment must prove a hypothesis false in order to make a determination that the hypothesis is false.

Western or Functional Medicine continues to ease patient suffering and save lives through the miracles of pharmaceutical drugs, vaccinations, biomedical testing and surgery. When a devastating injury occurs, surgical repairs can be made. Severe pain can be treated instantly with powerful medicines. When a tumor develops, surgeons can cut it out and replace body parts. Pharmaceutical drugs can be used to suppress tumor growth and thereby extend the life of a patient. Infections and communicable diseases can be diagnosed with biomedical tests and treated with pharmaceutical drugs and immunizations. Vital signs and biochemical levels can be measured with great precision and accuracy.

Yet, even with these live-saving treatments, and miracle drugs, we have observed that some patients also experience adverse side effects from the pharmaceutical medicines that are prescribed to them to help them treat the original symptoms. Once the medication is stopped, the symptoms return suggesting that the sickness or disease was not really treated where the sickness arose in the body. Sometimes a patient has been prescribed multiple medications. For some unforeseen reason, these medications interfere with one another and lead to another set of undesirable symptoms. We have observed that there are times when biomedical testing reveals no health abnormality or disease although the patient reports feeling symptomatic or sick. Their physicians will order more lab tests to investigate. If these tests don't reveal disease, the patient is told the "good news" that they aren't sick. This often leaves the patient feeling helpless and ignored by their physicians because they know something does not feel right about their health. The physicians become frustrated by their inability to help these patients .

The Greatest Strength of TCM is in Preventative Care or Wellcare.
In addition to wellcare, TCM can effectively treat acute disorders or illness, pain, side -effects of pharmaceutical medications, pre- and post operative recovery.

If you have had any of these experiences, TCM may be able to help you regain that feeling that you are "yourself" again through the individually based treatments that TCM has to offer. If you are told that you must have surgery, TCM can help strengthen your body to aid in pre and post-surgical recovery. TCM can help manage mild and moderate pain syndromes. If you are prone to side-effects from medications, TCM can help lower the severity of the side effects and strengthen the factors in you that predispose you to these side-effects. TCM can help strengthen your vitality so you have the energy to accomplish your goals, and fortify your body to ward off colds, flu and other common illnesses. In addition to acupuncture and dietary/lifestyle suggestions, TCM uses balanced herbal formulas that gradually treat the symptom at the root cause of the problem without interfering with most pharmaceutical medications. These formulas do not cause side effects , cannot be overused and are not intended for indefinite use.

WHAT IS THE CURRRENT STATUS OF TCM WITH RESPECT TO LITURATURE REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC STUDIES AND EFFICACY?

A systematic review of published research studies is a major method used for evaluating particular treatments. The Cochrane Collaboration is one of the best-known, respected examples of systematic reviews.

A 2001 review of 160 Cochrane systematic reviews of studies dedicated to Western treatment of disease revealed that 41% concluded positive or possibly positive effect, 20% concluded evidence of no effect, 8.1% concluded net harmful effects, and 21.3% of the reviews concluded insufficient evidence. A review of 145 TCM treatments using the more up-to-date 2004 database revealed that 38.4% concluded positive effect or possibly positive (12.4%) effect, 4.8% concluded no effect, 0.69% concluded harmful effect, and 56.6% concluded insufficient evidence.