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Background material by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. for Year 1 Semester 2 PPSD session on Wednesday 06th February 2008
1. Explain the theory underlying Chinese traditional medicine (harmonious interaction among parts of the body and with the external environment. Disease is due to disharmony).
2. Explain the philosophical basis of traditional Chinese medicine (the theory of Yin-yang, the Five Elements, the human body Meridian system, Zang Fu organ theory, Taoism philosophy on human-environment interaction, Budhism, Confucianism).
3. Give a brief history of the development of Chinese traditional medicine (during the golden age of his reign from 2698 to 2596 B.C, as a result of a dialogue with his minister Ch'i Pai the Yellow Emperor is supposed by Chinese tradition to have composed his Neijing Suwen or Basic Questions of Internal Medicine, also known as the Huangdi Neijing. Modern scholarly opinion holds that the extant text of this title was compiled by an anonymous scholar no earlier than the Han dynasty just over two-thousand years ago. During the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing the Hippocrates of China, who was mayor of Chang-sha toward the end of the 2nd century AD, wrote a Treatise on Cold Damage, which contains the earliest known reference to Neijing Suwen. The Jin dynasty practitioner and advocate of acupuncture and moxibustion, Huang-fu Mi (215 - 282 AD), also quoted the Yellow Emperor in his Jia Yi Jing, ca. 265 AD. During the Tang dynasty, Wang Ping claimed to have located a copy of the originals of the Neijing Suwen, which he expanded and edited substantially. This work was revisited by an imperial commission during the 11th century AD. The Communist government in China recognized and systematically developed traditional Chinese medicine. Modern scientific methods have also been applied to the medicine).
4. Describe diagnostic techniques in Chinese Traditional Medicine (Palpation of the patient's radial artery pulse (Pulse diagnosis) in six positions, Observation of the appearance of the patient's tongue, Observation of the patient's face, Palpation of the patient's body (especially the abdomen) for tenderness, Observation of the sound of the patient's voice, Observation of the surface of the ear, Observation of the vein on the index finger on small children, Comparisons of the relative warmth or coolness of different parts of the body, Observation of the patient's various odors, Asking the patient about the effects of his problem, Anything else that can be observed without instruments and without harming the patient).
5. Describe treatment approaches in Chinese traditional medicine (Chinese herbal medicine, Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Die-da or Tieh Ta, Chinese food therapy, Tui na - massage therapy, Qigong and related breathing and meditation exercise, Physical exercise such as T'ai Chi Ch'uan and other Chinese martial arts, Mental health therapy such as Feng shui and Chinese astrology).
6. Discuss evidence-based efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine with focus on acupuncture.
7. Describe modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine in its relationship to European medicine.