From the Back Cover
It is estimated that over 35 million Americans experience some form of arthritis. Chinese medicine has been treating arthritis for more than 2,000 years. In this book, you will learn the Chinese theory for the cause of this and other related diseases. You will also learn a host of safe, simple, low or no cost home therapies to prevent and heal this potentially crippling condition, including: Chinese dietary therapy, exercise, deep relaxation, acupuncture, moxibustion, Chinese self-massage, magnet therapy, Chinese herbs, liniments and plasters, (and) how to find a professional practitioner of Chinese medicine.
About the Author
Doug Frank, Dipl. Ac., is a graduate of the Boulder School of Massage Therapy. He began his study of Chinese medicine with Bob Flaws and Eric Tao (Xi-yu). He then continued his education at the Shanghai College of Chinese medicine. After returning to the United States, Doug practiced acupuncture and taught qi gong and tai ji quan at the Colorado Back School and the Center for the Rehabilitation of the Spine for seven years. During that time, he became an expert in the acupuncture and Chinese medical treatment of low back pain, spinal injuries, and other types of chronic pain conditions. Doug's other credits include authoring Low Back Pain: Care & Prevention with Traditional Chinese Medicine, also published by Blue Poppy Press. He is currently in private practice with offices in Boulder and Westminster, CO. Bob Flaws, Dipl. Ac. & C.H., is one of the most famous Western doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the world today. An internationally known author and lecturer on Chinese medicine, Bob Flaws has been practicing and teaching Chinese medicine for more than 20 years. His other credits include writing, translating, and editing more than 75 books and scores of articles on all aspects of Chinese medicine, being a Governor & Fellow of the National Academy of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, a founder, past president, and Lifetime Fellow of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado, a Fellow of the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine (UK), and a founder of the Council of Oriental Medical Publishers and the National Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Alliance.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"In Chinese medicine, treatment is determined and given on the basis of the patient's pattern and not simply on the basis of their named disease. A Chinese medical pattern is different from the patient's named disease. And, in professionally practiced Chinese medicine, treatment is given primarily based on the pattern and only secondarily on the patient's disease diagnosis. Thus it is said in Chinese: One disease, different treatments.
Different diseases, same treatment.
This means that two patients may receive very different Chinese medical treatments if their Chinese patterns are different, while two patients with different named diseases may receive the same treatment if their Chinese patterns are the same. For example, a patient with rheumatic bi due to wind, cold, and dampness with spleen yang vacuity will receive a completely different treatment from a patient with rheumatic bi with kidney yin vacuity. While both patients could have the identical Western medical diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, each would have two totally different sign and symptom complexes from the Chinese medical point of view. Therefore, each would be treated according to their own particular pattern. Because Chinese medicine treatments are based upon identifying an individual's unique pattern, Chinese medicine causes no side effects or other medically induced problems."
