Chinese Herbal Medicine

Chinese herbal medicine is another branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and like acupuncture it has been tried and tested on millions of people for millennia.

TCM is a comprehensive medical system with its own diagnostic techniques (including tongue and pulse diagnosis) and its own treatment modalities such as acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, moxibustion, and cupping. TCM is one of the most sophisticated medical systems in the world in terms of analysing patterns of ill health and successfully resolving problems.

When prescribing herbs for a patient typically 6 to 12 herbs are used that will treat that patient's problem and 'pattern of disharmony'. A pattern of disharmony means that 10 people could all have a headache but these 10 people will all have different constitutions, symptoms and signs that will allow for a more detailed differentiation. Herbs are then selected based on the patient’s problem as well as their particular pattern of disharmony so that there is rarely one prescription for everyone. It is this that makes it particularly effective and holistic in every sense.

There are no animal or mineral products allowed for use in the UK at the moment so all of the 'herbs' are indeed plant based i.e. roots, barks, seeds, flowers, etc. Dr (TCM) Angelo D’Alberto prescribes the herbs dried, which then need to be prepared into a tea by the patient. Apart from being one of the traditional methods for taking the herbs it is also one of the most effective and allows the herbs to be more easily customised for each patient.