symptoms including headaches, drug and alcohol
abuse, digestive problems, depression, fatigue, and
anxiety.
ch’i See QI.
Chinese herbalism A segment of ancient Chinese
medicine that focuses on plants and natural sub-
stances as sources of relief for medical and psycho-
logical problems. Because the whole plant contains
the active ingredients, and because various herbs
and other substances may be blended, side effects
are minimized or eliminated and results are often
enhanced. Chinese herbs—which include plant,
mineral, and animal substances—are also meant to
treat the root of one’s condition rather than just
target symptoms or potentially create additional
problems by using one specific drug. Since the
mythic sage Shen Nung experimented with and
codified medicinal herbs 300 years ago, herbalism
has become a highly sophisticated, intricate, and
systematized practice that involves more than 6000
substances prescribed by practitioners. Each sub-
stance has certain qualities and properties that
address the body constituents (qi[ch’i], moisture,
and blood), organ networks, and what are known
as “adverse climates”: wind, heat, cold, dryness,
and dampness. Herbs are categorized according to
their nature (warm, cool, or neutral), taste (sour,
bitter, sweet, salty, spicy, or bland), configuration
(shape, texture, moisture), color, and properties,
that is, their ability to relieve a particular ailment.
An herbal substance may tonify, or strengthen;
consolidate, or condense, astringe, or help concen-
trate energy, and so on; disperse, or help circulate;
or purge, or eliminate, depending upon the diag-
nosis. For example, since ginseng is a “broad-spec-
trum” tonic for any deficiency of qi, codonopsis
augments the qivery specifically in the spleen and
lungs to treat ailments such as anemia, dehydra-
tion, and fatigue. Another herb, scutellaria, which
purges heat from the lungs and liver, is used for the
treatment of jaundice and infections.
Chinese herbalism, which now has entered
mainstream American alternative and complemen-
tary medicine, is often used in conjunction with
conventional Western drugs and treatments. Indi-
viduals with asthma, for example, may be on a reg-
imen of theophylline and other bronchodilators;
rather than extend the intake to steroids when the
bronchodilators are not effective enough to relieve
symptoms, certain Chinese herbs can help reduce
mucus production and strengthen the body’s qiso
the need for other medications may be reduced. A
person with an ulcer who takes traditional antacids
may be further relieved by Chinese herbs that fight
heat and dampness in the stomach, help the liver
to relax, and decongest impaired flow of qi. In gen-
eral, Chinese herbalism recognizes remedies for ill-
ness but interprets illness as an imbalance of body
constituents that may show up as patterns consist-
ing of both physical and emotional symptoms. An
important aspect of Chinese herbalism is correct
diagnosis of a patient’s problem; customized herbal
treatment of the problem can conquer an entire
spectrum of dysfunction. Common Chinese herbs
are astragulus, lotus seed, nutmeg, walnut, ginger,
cinnamon, radish seed, angelica root, schizandra,
poria cocos, licorice, peony, chrysanthemum, ligus-
ticum, honeysuckle, mulberry, raspberry, mustard
seed, dianthus, plantain, motherwort, turmeric,
myrrh resin, hawthorn, red and black dates,
ephedra root, artemisia leaf, agrimony, magnolia,
corn silk, corydalis root, peach seed, salvia root,
fennel seed, coptis root, dandelion, sargassum, mil-
lettia stem, cordyceps, peppermint leaf, sileris root,
gardenia, clove, cardamom seed, and unicaria
stem. Chinese herbal substances also have Chinese
and botanical names.
See also ACUPUNCTURE; CORDYCEPS; EIGHT GUIDING
PRINCIPLES; HOMEOPATHY; JING; QI; WESTERN HERBALISM;
YIN-YANG.chiropractic A widely acclaimed mainstream
alternative discipline, dating back to ancient Egypt
and other early civilizations, which is based on
hands-on manipulations, or “adjustments,” of the
spinal cord. Modern chiropractic took root in the
theory expressed in 1895 by Daniel David Palmer, of
Davenport, Iowa, who advocated the teachings of
Hippocrates and believed that all illnesses had their
sources in the spine and the nervous system.
According to chiropractic, a term derived from the
Greek words cheirand praktikos, meaning “done by
hand,” when vertebrae are subluxated, or dislocated
or misaligned, the person experiences any numberchiropractic 27