Cupping has been a folk treatment for thousands of years and has been called "coining" in this country.

Therapeutic Massage

Once a diagnosis is made, various treatment modalities are selected based on their harmony with the patient's diagnosis. In Chinese herbal medicine, herbs are placed into the same sorts of categories as the organs, using the five phases and yin and yang. Various Chinese herbs are thought to soften fire or reinforce yang. Herbs are chosen based on their inherent functions, based on Traditional Chinese Medicine theory.

Acupuncture points are selected for similar reasons. They may be on the affected meridian or the appropriately associated meridian from a yin/yang or internal/external point of view as discussed earlier. One also tries to select appropriate acupuncture points that are local to the problem, regional to the problem and that are distant from the problem. A basic tenant of Chinese medicine and acupuncture point selection is if the upper half of the body is affected, points are chosen on the bottom half. If the right side of the body is affected, points on the left side are chosen. This is somewhat counterintuitive to the Western mind.

Moxibustion is the burning of the herb moxa on the skin, to provide local heat over acupuncture points. Moxibustion developed as a medical practice completely separate from acupuncture, although it is now very much a part of current acupuncture practice in China. It is used to treat specific types of disease and is applied over the same body points (acupuncture points) as puncture needles. Some of the acupuncture points, such as those around the eyes, are forbidden to moxa for safety reasons.

Massage therapy may be selected for a variety of reasons, including general relaxation, but also, in Chinese medicine it is believed that massage will help eliminate pernicious influences or toxic influences.

And lastly, energy medicine interventions, such as Chi Gong, may be selected when it is felt that there are significant energy blockages within the major energy centers of the body as defined in traditional Chinese medicine.

An example of a traditional Chinese case history, taken from Alternative Medicine, the Definitive Guide, published by Future Medicine Publishing Inc., Puyallup, WA, is as follows. "What is known as hypertension in the West may be termed liver fire and can be treated by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Dr. Wu, a famous physician from China, was visited by a 42-year old man who had been diagnosed as having hypertension and in the early stages of coronary artery disease. He complained of throbbing temples and soreness at the top of his head. An examination identified the following elements: red (not pink) tongue, deep yellow urine, constipation, poor appetite, painful teeth and eyes, insomnia, pain on the right side of the body and excessive dreaming. His pulse was 'wiry and sinking.' The man was diagnosed with 'constrained liver chi accompanied by liver fire, ascending to disturb the head.' The treatment called for harmonizing the liver, cooling the fire, and transforming mucus. Twelve herbs were given as a tea for three days and another combination for nine additional days. With this treatment, the patient's blood pressure dropped from 180/130 to 130/90, within the normal range, and soon all his symptoms disappeared. A final herbal prescription was then given which was taken for a longer period of time to insure that the patient's blood pressure remained normal."