Center for Health and Healing

<html><head> <title>The Center for Health & Healing</title> <link rel=stylesheet href="../chhstyle.css" type="text/css"> <meta name="keywords" content="kampo,herbal,medicine,health,healing,traditional chinese medicine,taoism,abdominal palpation,yin and yang, meridian theory,theory of the five phases"> <script language="JavaScript">  </script> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"> <base target="_top"> <a name="head"></a> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="98%"> <tr> <td width="149" bgcolor="#ffffff"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="149" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> <td width="95%" bgcolor="#95a920"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="500" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> <td width="5%" bgcolor="#95a920"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="60" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="149" bgcolor="#ffffff" align="left" valign="top"><a name="top"></a><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="149" height="24" border="0" alt=""></td> <td> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="padding:0px 0px 0px 5px"> <tr> <td bgcolor="#95a920" align="left" valign="top"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="274" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> <td align="right"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="123" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> </tr>  <tr> <td bgcolor="#95a920" width="274" align="left" valign="top" class="title">Traditional & Indigenous Healing Systems</td> <td align="right">  <form name="form1" method="post" action=""> <select name="menu1" onChange="MM_jumpMenu('top',this,0)"> <option value="#" selected="selected">Select One</option> <option value='auyrveda_history.asp'>Ayurveda</option> <option value='asian_history.asp'>East Asian Medicine</option> <option value='kampo_history.asp'>Kampo</option> <option value='native_history.asp'>Native American Medicine</option> <option value='tibetan_history.asp'>Tibetan Medicine</option> </select> </form> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td> </td> </tr>  <tr> <td valign="top" width="149" bgcolor="#ffffff"> <table width="120" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px;"> <tr> <td> <p><a class="leftNavOff" href="kampo_history.asp">History & Philosophy</a></p> <p><a class="leftNavOn" href="kampo_treat.asp">Treatment Approaches</a></p> <p><a class="leftNavOff" href="kampo_how.asp">How it works & when to use it</a></p> <p><a class="leftNavOff" href="kampo_train.asp">Training</a></p> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#ffffff">  <table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap" style="padding: 0px 0px 5px 0px;"> <p class="headline"><br> Kampo  Treatment Approaches</p> </td> <td width="100%"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="95a920"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> <td width="100%" bgcolor="ffffff" height="1"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="ffffff" colspan="2"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="10" border="0" alt=""></td> </tr> </table>  <table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr> <td class='content'> <p>A Kampo formula generally consists of four to ten natural substances combined in specific proportions. They are most commonly prescribed and ingested as powders, which are washed down with or dissolved in liquid. Although there is a movement towards using and combining raw substances, most Kampo practitioners use classical formulas that have been refined over centuries of use. Each formula is considered a therapeutic unit, which treats a particular pattern of imbalance. The philosophical framework of Kampo is rooted in Taoism, and the methods of diagnosis are almost all closely related to Traditional Chinese Medicine, but the clinical practice of Kampo is pragmatic, and rooted in empiricism.</p> <p>Kampo medicine is patient-centered; it is designed to treat individuals, not diseases. The heart of Kampo practice is assessing the fit between a pattern of symptoms and signs and a Kampo formula. Like Traditional Chinese Medicine, the focus is not on the causes, anatomy or physiology of a particular disease state, but on an individuals response to a set of environmental conditions.</p> <p>Kampo practitioners, like practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine, use the four methods of diagnosis  looking, listening, questioning and palpating. They pay meticulous attention to subjective complaints in order to understand the reaction of the individual to the imbalance being experienced. One point of difference is that the Japanese developed a system of abdominal palpation, which they rely on and emphasize more than taking the pulse.</p> <p>While the concepts of yin and yang, meridian theory and the theory of the five phases all play a role in Kampo, the loch-and-key correlation between the pattern of disharmony the patient exhibits and the formula needed to restore harmony in that individual always takes precedence over the demands of theory. Clinical effect is primary and paramount.</p> </p> <a href='#head' target='_self' class='disclaimer'>Top</a> <p class="timestamp">Content last modified on Sep 19, 2003</p> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#ffffff"><img src="../images/bg_curve.gif" width="60" height="300" align="right" border="0" vspace="0" hspace="0"></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt=""></td> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"><img src="../images/spacer.gif" width="1" height="200" border="0" alt=""></td> </tr>  <tr> <td width="149" bgcolor="ffffff"> </td> <td colspan="2" bgcolor="ffffff"> <p> </p> <p class="copyright">©2002 Center for Health and Healing</p> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>