Explaining Chinese medicine to patients

The great strengths of Chinese medicine include its rich theory base, its individualised approach, and the importance given to promoting self-understanding and self-care. Attending to the internal causes of ill health is often a key factor in achieving sustained, long-term improvement. With experience, practitioners learn how to explain aspects of a patient's Chinese medicine diagnosis in ways that patients can understand and use towards self-care. However, explaining Chinese medicine concepts to patients is difficult and practitioners are largely left on their own to develop a repertoire of explanations and metaphors.