The Beat March 2003

As an M.D., what is your opinion of traditional medicine? How is traditional medicine faring in a rapidly Westernizing Korea? Are there cases in which patients might benefit more from traditional Eastern Medicine than from Western?

In Korea, there are two kinds of doctors licensed to practice medicine: medical doctors (M.D.) and oriental medicine doctors (O.M.D.). Oriental medicine was introduced from China long time ago and has been developed and adapted by ancient Korean O.M.D.'s. Heo Joon and Lee Jae-ma, the two most renowned O.M.D.'s, have been highly respected among both lay people and oriental medicine doctors for their excellent medical and academic achievements and benevolent acts. Heo Joon edited a famous book titled “Donguibogahm”, which means literally a precious book on oriental medicine, and most O.M.D.'s have since relied on it as a prescription standard. Lee Jae-ma invented the Four Constitution Theory, which says that body constitution is classified into four categories; a man's constitution falls into one of the categories, and that all treatments be done in accordance with patient's body constitution.

In general, the majority of Koreans trust in oriental medicine, because they are familiar with or accustomed to the medicine handed down by their ancestors. Practitioners view Oriental medicine as a kind of cosmos in itself, which is integrated into a greater outside cosmos, with continuous communication going on between the two. All symptoms and signs of the body, as with natural phenomena, are interpreted in the terms of yin (positive) and yang (negative). Oriental medicine asserts that bodily health depends on healthy and sufficient Gi (vital energy that maintains functions of internal organs and protects the body against pathogens) flowing through invisible 'meridian channels' spreading all over the body, and circulation of Hyeol (blood with nourishing and moistening functions, propelled by Gi -- a broader concept than “blood”) and other body fluids.

O.M.D.‘s use acupuncture, moxibustion, and oriental herb medicines as the three main treatments. They perform acupuncture to treat various sorts of pain arising from sprains, arthritis, musculoskeletal injuries and diseases by inserting needles into acupoints to improve the flow of Gi around the affected areas and evoke a reparatory response. Acupuncture is also effective in pathologic conditions ranging from neurological and psychiatric disorders such as seizures, paralysis, facial palsy, headache, nervousness and anxiety to gastrointestinal disturbances like indigestion, acute gastroenteritis, and abnormal gastrointestinal motility. In alcoholism, cigarette smoking, and narcotic addictions, acupuncture relieves withdrawal symptoms and suppresses desire to take addictive substances.

Moxibustion acts by giving a thermal stimulation to acupoints and is more effective for chronic pain and 'cold' symptoms: like the sense of coldness in the abdomen in association with GI (frequent abdominal pain or irritated bowels) and gynecological diseases (e.g., leucorrhoea and infertility). An O.M.D. may prescribe herb medicines with specific effects for symptoms after examination and analysis of the patient's constitution and symptoms.

But the sad thing about oriental medicine is that most Korean M.D.‘s do not believe in its therapeutic effectiveness for a lot of the diseases that O.M.D.'s ardently claim it to have, because doctors have scanty knowledge about oriental medicine, and oriental medicine doctors have not made serious efforts to demonstrate their claimed effects convincingly with scientific experiments which are reproducible by their western medicine counterparts.

Recently, a movement is going on among a minority of O.M.D.'s and doctors for unification of the two medicines in order to make a synergistic combination, and some hospitals and clinics are starting to adopt both medicines to give something like a 'balanced' medical care. However, I think it's a long way to unification, because both medicines are different in many respects like methodologies in diagnosis and views on etiology and pathology of diseases.

As a proponent of unified medicine, I think that patients may benefit greatly from it, for the two medicines supplement each other in many ways. For example, paralysis (as a result of a stroke) may be treated first by a neurosurgeon or neurologist with emergency surgical intervention and medical treatments to lower intracranial pressure, and then after the acute phase, an O.M.D. may perform acupuncture to stimulate restoration of compromised nerve function, or prescribe herbal medicines to invigorate the patient's weakened body.

To be frank, my knowledge of oriental medicine is limited, although I have read several books on oriental medicine and gained some knowledge from O.M.D. friends and from my experience of working together with an O.M.D. as a military surgeon for three years. I would advise you to read up on it and consult an O.M.D. near you for further details.

Have a question for the doctor? Send your question to [email protected] with the heading “Ask the Doctor.” Or visit Dr. Choi's Basquiat Clinic for Skin Diseases and Obesity.
Tel: 553-3800, 553-1616