Etiology of TCM

The human body is endowed with the ability to resist the invasion of various kinds of pathogenic factors so as to keep a relative balance in the interior of the body as well as between the human body and the environmental conditions. This ability is called anti-pathogenic qi (factor). The various pathogenic factors that can break either of the two states of relative balance are called pathogenic qi (factors). The occurrence of a disease is the outcome of a losing struggle by the anti-pathogenic factor against the pathogenic factor. The normal co-ordination of 'yin and yang in the body is destroyed and an abnormal change of preponderance or discomfiture of either 'yin or 'yang results.

Both the anti-pathogenic factor and its pathogenic counterpart are important in the occurrence of a disease. However, traditional Chinese medicine attaches the greater importance to the anti-pathogenic factor. Explained by the relation between the internal and the external cause, the anti-pathogenic factor is the internal cause and the leading factor in the occurrence or non-occurrence of a disease, while the pathogenic factor is the external cause and the conditional factor, the latter becoming operative through the former. When the anti-pathogenic factor is vigorous the invasion of the pathogenic factor is hindered. If the pathogenic factor invades, it means an insufficiency of the anti-pathogenic factor. In prophylaxis and treatment of diseases, therefore, traditional Chinese medicine stresses especially the protection of the anti-pathogenic factor. The efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion in prevention and treatment of disease is due mainly to their regulating and strengthening the defensive function of the anti-pathogenic factor, and their helping to restore the relative balance within the body as well as that between the human body and its environment.