Systems of medicine, Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)

"Traditional Chinese medicine," sometimes shortened to TCM, involves the treatment of patients using the fundamental approaches of healing developed over the last 4000 years in China. The treatments in Chinese medicine include acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and Tui-Na, which resembles massage therapy combined with therapeutic touch. Chinese medicine has the longest history, and the most practical application, of any system of medicine in the world, outdating Western medicine by about 3800 years. In China, doctors were practicing relatively advanced medicine before the birth of Christ. Western medicine, in response, dismisses everything under Chinese medicine, ignoring the long history of safe and effective use of Chinese herbs, acupuncture, and other philosophies espoused by Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Chinese medicine is not limited to China, by the way. It is practiced throughout Asia, including Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and many other countries. The way it is practiced in the United States is not true Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine education has become Westernized in the United States. Just like the Chinese food served in the United States is nothing like Chinese food purchased in China, Chinese medicine in the United States doesn't match the Chinese medicine practiced in China.