Traditional Chinese medicine is a complete medical system which has been used to prevent, diagnose and treat illness for thousands of years. Since the 1970s, it has been gaining in popularity in the United States . In 1998, a Harvard University study estimated that Americans made more than five million visits per year to acupuncture specialists. Traditional Chinese medicine encompasses many different treatment modalities including acupuncture and acupressure, traditional Chinese herbal medicine , tui na (Chinese medical massage), moxibustion (applying heat from the slow-burning herb mugwort), nutrition, and qi gong (movement and breathing exercises). All of these modalities are effective ways for treating a wide variety of illness with minimal side effects.

The various modalities of traditional Chinese medicine lead qi, or energy of life, to areas where qi is insufficient and drain qi from areas where qi is stuck. If left untreated, these areas of insufficient qi and blood flow or areas of stagnant qi and blood lead to pain and disease. Through nourishing undernourished areas and clearing out stagnant areas, traditional Chinese medicine promotes the normal balanced flow of qi through the body and restores health. It can be used to treat a variety of chronic, acute, and degenerative diseases and conditions . Traditional Chinese medicine is also commonly used as a method of disease prevention because it can correct small imbalances in qi flow before they become the large imbalances characteristic of a disease state.

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