Did you know that the Chinese practiced preventive medicine 2500 years ago? I’ll bet not! I didn’t know either till I read The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, the oldest book ever written about acupuncture (700 to 500 BC). This book explains how periodic acupuncture treatments were given in ancient times to keep the body fine-tuned and healthy to prevent disease.
Here is what this ancient acupuncture classic says: The superior physician treats disease before symptoms appear. The inferior physician waits until his patients are sick. How is this done? I use the present tense. Today, in 21st century America, we acupuncturists do the same thing.
Subtle diagnostic techniques allow us to determine imbalances in the energy flow of the body. Strategic acupuncture points based on the patient’s constitutional type are used to correct imbalances before disease becomes manifest. I talk more about constitutional types in an earlier article which you can find at the bottom of this one. It is worth reading if you are curious.
We also read in this ancient book that acupuncture doctors were paid to keep patients well and actually lost their salaries when the patient got sick. Quite a revelation!
For preventative medicine of this type to be effective, the patient gets treatments at regular intervals—every 1 to 3 months. Even with this much time between treatments, an enhanced sense of well-being is commonly reported. People who are more out of balance will benefit from weekly treatments for a time, and then can move to a maintenance schedule in which treatment is less frequent.
The original longer article is here.