Chinese Medicine (CM) has been practiced in China for over 3,000 years. But this long history doesn’t mean CM is either simplistic or backward in comparison to modern biomedicine. Sustained by centuries of empirical clinical evidence, CM has evolved into a complete and highly-nuanced system that offers a coherent alternative to the Western medicine’s view of how and why we get ill.

CM is still used as primary healthcare in much of South-East Asia; and in state hospitals throughout China, it enjoys an equal and pragmatic relationship with the newer system of Western orthodox medicine. Chinese Medicine is based on a Daoist understanding of the human body as a system of finely balanced connections, and one closely linked to and influenced by its environment. This holistic principle forms the foundation of a set of complementary practices that together comprise the CM system: herbal medicine, acupuncture (including cupping, gua sha and moxibustion), lifestyle advice and dietary therapy, massage techniques (Tui Na) and movement disciplines (Tai Chi and Qi Gong). Designed not only to cure but also to prevent illness, these practices share a focus on re-establishing or supporting harmony, balance and order in the body.

Although Chinese Medicine operates outside of an established biomedical understanding of why we get ill, it’s become increasingly popular in the UK since its introduction into the West in the 1970s.