Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine最新文献

The standard approach to the translation and recording of terms is as feasible in Chinese medicine as in other fields. This paper describes my own experience in Chinese medical translation and terminography. It explains why this methodology has been slow to be applied in Chinese medicine, and how problems in dictionary compilation created by the intellectual environment of Chinese medicine can be overcome.

It is generally recognized that a knowledge of Chinese is beneficial for students of Chinese medicine. Until now, however, schools have provided little or no language training, and the few students who have learned Chinese have done so on their own initiative. In this paper, I suggest that the question of learning Chinese is one of the major issues in the transmission of Chinese medicine that, like all the linguistic issues, tends to get ignored. The question of learning Chinese deserves attention because it may be more feasible and more beneficial than has hitherto been thought. What is more, it has been in certain people's interests to ignore this fact, and to give no encouragement to the learning of Chinese.

Many of the ideas that I have presented in this series of papers have been expressed before. A growing number of people are receptive to them. Some, though, are still reluctant to accept them. The most commonly heard contentions, and my answers to them, run as follows.

Objectives:ÊTo determine whether electroacupuncture (EA) is taught in Oriental Medicine (OM), Chiropractic (Chir), Physical Therapy (PT) and Osteopathic (Osteop) colleges in the USA, what position it holds in the overall curriculum, what are thought to be its most useful applications (vis-à-vis those of manual acupuncture, MA), and whether certain treatment parameters are considered as having particular effects.

Methods:ÊQuestionnaires were mailed, faxed or emailed to the different colleges, and results analysed informally.

Results and conclusions:ÊDespite lack of formal analysis, it is clear that EA in some form is taught in many OM and some PT schools, and at least a few Chir (but probably no Osteop) colleges. More time is devoted to it in OM than PT trainings, and the scope of practice for EA is taught as much wider in OM than PT, with a corresponding emphasis on a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) approach in the former, and trigger point (TrP) stimulation in the latter (using noninvasive methods). It tends to be taught as more effective than MA for pain, neuropathy, paralysis and addiction. Least agreement appears to be in the area of treatment parameters to be used, and their effects. There is a possible trend for different schools to recommend textbooks written by members of their associated profession. Further results are discussed in detail.

Cold and heat are two fundamental principles in the differentiation of the nature of disease. They are the two characteristic patterns of exterior manifestations of internal imbalances of yı̄n and yáng. Clinically, only after a clear differentiation of the cold or hot nature of a disease or pattern can there be a correct treatment that follows with satisfactory curative results. However, in clinical realities, neither cold nor heat patterns typically manifest externally through classical patterns and signs. For instance, if the symptoms of cold or heat are not obvious externally, or they are not substantial enough to be included in [the diagnosis of] the true nature of the illness, or, even more frequently, if the actual pattern manifests itself externally with a false ‘mask’, all these are frequent causes for mistakes in pattern identification. The focus of this paper is to analyze the causes for such mistakes in cold and heat pattern identification. This paper addresses three main causes of such problems. First is the rather easily confused relationship between the manifestations, on the one hand, and the patterns, on the other hand, of cold and heat. Second is the unclear understanding and poor grasp of the concepts and clinical manifestations of cold and heat patterns. Third is non-discrimination of the complex interrelationships between cold patterns and heat patterns, particularly with respect to so-called true and false cold and heat. Below is a close examination of these three causes of these problems in diagnosis.

The transmission of Chinese medicine has been far less successful than it could be. The reasons are to be found in the nature of Chinese medicine itself, but more importantly in the motivation of those involved in the process of transmission and reception. It has suffered by the unintegratedness of its knowledge and the fuzziness of its concepts. In the transmission process, Chinese medicine has suffered from the influence of Western medicine, but more importantly from Western expectations of Chinese medicine as a complementary health practice.

Successful acts of transcultural transmission of knowledge rest on an approach to translation that for the most part is highly literal. In the present paper, I describe this methodology and show how it has not been applied in the westward transmission of Chinese medicine. Through practical examples, I demonstrate the conceptual problems that arise through failure to choose the methodology described.