Traditional Chinese Medicine is an ancient method of health care that combines the use of medicinal herbs, acupuncture, food therapy, massage, and therapeutic exercise. It has proven effective for many conditions, including chronic degenerative disease, cancer, infectious disease, allergies, childhood ailments, heart disease, and AIDS.

  Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been practiced for over three thousand years and, at present, one-quarter of the world's population makes use of one or more of its therapies. A complete system of medicine, it has been selected by the World Health Organization for worldwide propagation to meet the health care needs of the twenty-first century.

  TCM's approach to health and curing is very different from modern Western medicine. TCM looks for the underlying causes of imbalances and patterns of disharmony in the body, and views each patient as being unique. Western medicine generally provides treatment for a specific illness, whereas Traditional Chinese Medicine addresses how the illness manifests in a particular patient and treats the patient, not just the disease. Roger Hirsh, O.M.D., L.Ac., Dipl. NCCA, of Santa Monica, California, explains that the conventional Western physician focuses predominantly on the pathogenic factor (the disease), rather than the response of the patient to the factor.