13/03/2024
Whilst I welcome any holistic approaches towards health, as a Chinese Medicine Practitioner is must admit I had a bit of a Bart Simpson moment reading this article titled "Constitution & Fitness" In the Journal of the American Medicine Association.
An excerpt from the article states:
"It is commendable boldness to attempt to interpret the “clinical hunch” or unconscious skill of the older clinicians in terms of anthropometric data; yet the recently secured statistics already indicate that the incidence of gallbladder disease and that of gastric ulcer fall into unlike categories of anatomic “constitution,” with which physiologic contributory factors may, of course, be naturally associated."
Is this a case of Contemporary Medicine attitudes coming full circle? An enlightenment of sorts? The trend of western medicine leaning into ancient medicine is happening because the "OMIOCS" age of science has revolutionised systems based/holistic health care and continues to validate "patterns". I wonder if the authors realise they have just summarised the essence of Traditional Chinese Medicine; only a clinical hunch is far more than just experience and "unconscious skill" (the word intuition may have been used in a different publication). TCM treats patterns, not symptoms.
I welcome the sentiment of this article and commend the authors for sharing what may seem like a progressive idea in an allopathic context in a conservative publication. I invite them to Visit an Acupuncturist to understand why removing a gall bladder is rarely EVER the cure for a gall bladder disease or dysfunction. And to test this hypothesis, see a first year TCM graduate, no "older clinician" needed; Just one who knows their craft.
The equipment of man to combat adverse influences that may confront him from time to time is evidently made up of various factors, some of which are inborn, whereas others are the product of environmental influences. To what extent these factors enter into what is popularly termed human constitution...
