East Meets West

By Carl A. Powell, DO, FACS, FAACS

Ayruvedic medicine is the most ancient system of medicine known today.  It was developed somewhere around 6000 BC in India, the term derived from “Ayu” meaning Life and “Veda” meaning Knowledge.  Ayurveda sees health as balance and disease as imbalance. Its treatments are designed to restore optimal function and balance.  It uses nutrition, yoga, exercise, herbal formulas and surgical techniques to treat the whole person.  In the 16th Century in Europe, Paracelsus, known as the father of modern Western medicine, practiced and taught a system of medicine which borrowed heavily from Ayruveda.

In 210 AD, Zhang Ji, a highly revered Chinese physician, considered the “Sage of Medicine,” contributed significantly to the development of Chinese medicine.  The early philosophy of Chinese medicine was largely Taoist and Naturalist, with roots linked to the Ayruvedic Medicine of India.  Out of its early Ayruvedic beginnings came a distinctive Chinese system of medicine called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) or Oriental Medicine. A concept that became central to Chinese Medicine refers to an internal substance that the Chinese named “Qi” (pronounced chee and sometimes called “Chi”).  Western Medicine might describe this concept as bio-electric energy—the flow of electricity within the body.

Traditional Chinese Medicine also sees health as balance and disease as imbalance and strives to restore function and balance.  The concept of balance is seen in the context of Yin and Yang as follows:

Yin                     Yang
Passive              Active
Dark                  Light
Inside                Outside
Anatomy           Physiology
Blood                Energy (Qi)

TCM uses nutrition, herbal medicine, acupuncture, Tui na, Shiatsu massage, Qigong and Taiji to treat the whole person and restore balance.  Acupuncture is the modality of TCM that seeks to restore balance and restore health on the level of Qi.

Acupuncture is used in TCM to restore normal bio-electric energy within the body.  Over many years Chinese physicians and acupuncture practitioners have identified pathways in the human body wherein Qi (bioelectric energy) flows.  These pathways are called meridians or channels.  Based upon signs and symptoms, acupuncture needles are inserted along these meridians to influence the Qi that flows to the internal organs.  It is well established that these needles, placed along the proper meridian, can affect both the structure and function of each meridian’s organ or organ system.  Why acupuncture works is unclear; however, it works.

Dr. Rheinhold Voll, a German Medical Doctor and Homeopathic physician, spent his life working on electrical conduction along the TCM acupuncture meridians.  He measures the flow of a small, imperceptible radiofrequency current along each of the TCM acupuncture meridians.  He found that radiofrequency flow along the each meridian was twenty times greater than on the surrounding skin.  He developed a database whereby he could measure each organ’s meridian as having either normal, decreased or increased resistance to electrical flow.  Dr. Voll’s research lead to what is called Electro Acupuncture Diagnosis (EAD) or Electro-Acupuncture according to Voll (EAV), which can be used to detect problems in specific organs before disease (signs and symptoms) are ever present.  This story of East meeting West has actually progressed one step further.

Dr. Hans Heinrich, another German Doctor and a conventional Homeopathic physician, believed that there is a progression in the way the body becomes diseased, regains vitality and gets well.  He thought of disease as a process that takes place over time rather than a single event leading to a specific condition.  His life’s work was dedicated to systematically identifying over 597 symptoms of diseases and establishing the order in which the systems of the body deteriorate toward the development of a specific disease. 

Dr. Heinrich created a priority for each system of the body and placed the diseases in appropriate phases according to the functional health of the body.  Dr. Heinrich’s concepts of disease, including disease representing a progression away from balance, are in line with the teachings of Ayruvedic and TCM and provide a model for preventing and treating chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, skin disease, arthritis, cancer, depression, and Alzheimers disease.

Eastern and Western medicine have come together in the development of medical equipment that will detect changes within specific organ systems of the body before disease has developed.  Computer software has been added that is able to analyze acupuncture meridian readings, identify organ systems of concern, and make recommendations for nutritional [and other] interventions that will allow the body to regain balance and avoid disease.

Western medicine has done a magnificent job of conquering acute disease (trauma and acute infections); however, it has not done well with chronic diseases.  The meeting of Eastern and Western medicine, as illustrated by these latest developments, will lead us to the conquering of chronic disease and will become the medicine of the future.

Dr. Powell is the owner of Cardiff Medical Spa, 2187 Newcastle Ave, Suite 102
Cardiff, California 92007. He can be reached at