Herbal Medicine

What are Chinese herbs? Some say they the are barks and roots. However, Chinese herbs are not limited just to barks and roots; they include many other medicinal agents. In fact, it includes an animal as well as mineral products. The development of the TCM materia medica has gone from the original 364 entries when it was first formally compiled around the fourth century AD to almost 6,000 entries today.

For thousands of years, Chinese medicinal plants have played an important role in disease prevention and the treatment of the Chinese people. Currently, their importance and significance have been recognized by the Western world and they are now well received by the general public. How do they work you might ask? The answer to that question is well beyond the scope of this document. Briefly, herbs have basic qualities or energetics, such as the nature of property, the taste, its direction, functional site, etc. These qualities are all taken into consideration when formulating an herbal prescription, which usually includes many different herbs to achieve balance. All of this is based on the diagnostic principals of TCM, which includes the system of Yin and Yang, Meridian Theory, organ diagnosis, therapeutic strategy, organization of prescription and the selection of herbs. All of this in order to balance and regulate the body holistically.

There is a lot of confusion regarding Chinese herbs and their side effects on the liver and kidneys. Please give us a call with any questions you may have.