Principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Diseases

(I) Balance of Yin and Yang（平衡陰陽）
(II) Reinforce Healthy Qi and removing the Pathogenic factors（扶正祛邪）
(III) Treat symptoms and root causes according to urgency（標本緩急）
(IV) Holistic treatment（整體治療）
(V) Prevent disease transmission（防病傳變）
(VI) Dietary conditioning（飲食調理）
(VII) Mental self-discipline（精神內守）

There are mainly seven principles.

(I) Balance of Yin and Yang（平衡陰陽）

The dynamic balance between Yin and Yang is the normal physiological state of the human body. In the state of disease, harmonising Yin and Yang is the basic treatment principle. For example: in treatment of patients with chronic cough and asthma due to spleen and kidney Yang deficiency, whose symptom is mild in summer and severe in winter, appropriate use of warming and tonifying the spleen and kidney in spring and summer often achieves better results. This method of "treating winter diseases in summer"（冬病夏治） is a specific application of balancing Yin and Yang, following the laws of nature.

What is "Three Factors Suitability"（三因制宜 ）?

It refers to the comprehensive consideration of season, environment, and individual body constitutes in the clinical treatment process, and that individualized treatment is achieved by adapting to the person, time, and place.

1. Adapt to the person（因人制宜）, that is, formulate a treatment plan based on individual characteristics such as the patient's age, gender, physique, and lifestyle. People have different physiological and pathological characteristics at different ages.

2. Adapt to the time（因時制宜）, that is, formulate appropriate treatment methods according to the characteristics of the season and climate. The climate is different in the four seasons, and the common diseases and prevalent diseases in each season are also different. For example: because there is more rain in summer, the humidity is heavy, and colds often come with damp evil, treatment should also include dampness removal; in autumn, there is less rain, and the dryness is heavy, so colds often come with dry evil, and treatment should also include moistening dryness.

3. Adapt to the place（因地制宜）, that is, formulate appropriate treatment methods according to different regional environments. The natural environment of different regions, such as climate, water and soil, and lifestyle habits, have different effects on human physiological activities and pathological changes, and the treatment medication should also be different. For example: in the high-altitude areas with cold climate, dryness and little rain, the diseases caused by external evils are mostly caused by cold and dry evils, and the treatment should use pungent and moisturizing drugs. In areas with hot and rainy weather, low terrain, and humid climate, the diseases caused by external evils are mostly caused by damp and heat evils, and the treatment should use drugs that clear heat and dampness.

(II) Reinforce Healthy Qi and removing the Pathogenic factors（扶正祛邪）

Reinforcing healthy qi refers to the use of drugs that support the healthy energy, or other therapies, combined with appropriate nutrition and functional exercises and other auxiliary methods, to enhance the body’s healthy energy so as to defeat the disease and restore health.

Removing the pathogenic factors refers to the use of drugs that expel evil qi, or other therapies, to eliminate pathogenic factors and restore health.

Reinforcing the healthy qi and expelling the evil qi are two interconnected aspects. Supporting the healthy qi is for the purpose of expelling the evil qi, by enhancing the healthy qi to drive out the evil qi. Expelling the evil qi is also for the purpose of supporting the healthy qi, to eliminate the damage caused by pathogenic factors and protect the healthy qi.

In traditional Chinese medicine, when reinforcing the healthy qi and expelling the evil qi, it is necessary to carefully analyze the nature of the healthy and evil qi, distinguish the primary and secondary diseases, to determine the order of reinforcing the healthy qi or expelling the evil qi. Generally, reinforcing the healthy qi is used for deficiency syndromes; expelling the evil qi is used for excess syndromes; if it is a mixed syndrome of deficiency and excess, both should be used, with the principle of "reinforcing the healthy qi without retaining the evil qi, and expelling the evil qi without injuring the healthy qi"（扶正不致留邪，祛邪不致傷正）.

What is "reinforcing the healthy qi and nourishing the root"（扶正祛邪）?

"Reinforcing the healthy qi and nourishing the root" means to reinforce the healthy qi, nourish the vital qi, and enhance the body's resistance to disease. For example, tumors are chronic consumptive diseases, and tumor patients are often weak. By reinforcing the healthy qi and nourishing the root, the body's healthy qi can be enhanced, the body's weak state can be nourished, and the patient's ability to resist and expel pathogenic factors can be improved, inhibiting the growth of cancer cells and creating conditions for further treatment.

There are many specific methods of reinforcing the healthy qi and nourishing the root in traditional Chinese medicine, such as:

• Strengthening the spleen and benefiting qi（健脾益氣）;
• Replenishing the kidney and filling the essence（補腎填精）;
• Nourishing yin and producing body fluid（養陰生津）; and
• Nourishing qi and blood,（補益氣血）etc.

Commonly used Chinese medicinal materials include Astragalus（黃芪）, Codonopsis（黨參）, Pseudostellaria（太子參）, Ginseng（人參）, Polygonatum（黃精）, Atractylodes（白术）, Yam（山藥）, Asparagus（天冬）， Ophiopogon（麥冬）, Adenophora（沙參）, Rehmannia（生地）, Turtle shell（龜 板）, Soft-shelled turtle shell（鱉甲 ）, Trichosanthes root（天花粉 ）, Dried lotus grass（旱蓮草 ）, Privet fruit（女貞子）, Goji berries（枸杞子）, Spatholobus stem（雞血藤）, Angelica（當歸）, Donkey-hide gelatin（阿膠）, Prepared rehmannia（熟地）, Epimedium（淫羊藿）, Eucommia bark（補骨脂）, Eclipta（ 紫河車）, etc.

(III) Treat symptoms and root causes according to urgency（標本緩急）

Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes "treating the symptoms and the root cause according to the urgency", that is, "treat the symptoms in urgent cases, and treat the root cause in non-urgent cases", which summarizes the treatment measures that should be taken in the process of disease development and change.

"Symptoms"（標） refers to phenomena, and "root cause" （本）refers to the essence. Generally speaking, the cause of the disease is the "root cause", and the symptoms produced by the disease are the "symptoms"; in the case of slow and mild disease, the root cause is the key to the disease and the focus of treatment, but in new diseases or severe conditions during the development of the disease, the symptoms become the key to the disease and the focus of treatment.

If the condition is urgent, treat the symptoms first, and then treat the underlying disease after the condition has eased. In some cases, the symptoms are very urgent. If the symptoms are not treated first, it will affect the treatment of the disease and even endanger the patient's life. For example, if someone is injured and bleeding heavily, they need to stop the bleeding first, without considering other injuries; if the bleeding is not severe and the patient is still relatively conscious, then consider whether there is organ damage first.

(IV) Holistic treatment（整體治療）

Traditional Chinese medicine is not simply treating the head for a headache, or the foot for a footache, but emphasizes starting from the whole, paying attention to adjusting the balance of yin and yang, qi and blood, and the balance of the organs, eliminating the impact of the disease on the whole body, and cutting off the chain reaction caused by the mutual transmission of diseases between the organs.

For example, the treatment of tongue ulcers in traditional Chinese medicine starts from clearing the heart fire, because traditional Chinese medicine believes that the heart opens up to the tongue, the tongue is related to the heart, and the method of clearing the heart fire can be used for treatment. Another example is that in clinical practice, patients with hemiplegia are often acupunctured on the healthy side to treat the limb problems on the affected side. Such methods as "treating the left with the right, treating the right with the left"（以右治左、以左治右 ）, "taking the disease from below if it is above, taking it from above if it is below"（病在上者下取之、病在下者高取之）, are all specific manifestations of the holistic treatment of traditional Chinese medicine.

The core of the holistic treatment of traditional Chinese medicine is that the local lesions of the body will naturally affect the physiological functions of the whole body; at the same time, the abnormal physiological functions of the whole body will definitely also manifest as local or systemic lesions. Therefore, in clinical treatment, on the one hand, the local disease can be treated by regulating the whole body, and at the same time, the overall adverse conditions can be improved by treating the local area.

(V) Prevent disease transmission（防病傳變）

After the disease occurs, it has its own transmission rules. It is very important to take early treatment according to its rules and block its further development. For example: a cold patient should seek medical treatment immediately at the initial onset of the cold, and early medication can prevent the cold pathogen from entering the body, leading to a further aggravation of the condition.

(VI) Dietary conditioning（飲食調理）

Traditional Chinese medicine often uses food to assist in the treatment of diseases and nourish the body. Dietary conditioning is a method of preventing and curing diseases and prolonging life. Everyone's dietary preferences should be determined according to their different physical constitutions, and they should also adapt to the changes in the four seasons.

(VII) Mental self-discipline（精神內守）

Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes the relationship between emotions and the onset of disease, believing that if one is in a good mood, the body's qi and blood will naturally be in harmony, resulting in good health; if one's emotions are not smooth, various diseases will arise. Therefore, in treating diseases, traditional Chinese medicine places great importance on regulating a person's mental and emotional state, helping the body to recover healthily.

(January 2022)