Evaluating the Chinese Medicine treatment of Physical trauma: a systematic literature review
By Ben Haugh - MSc in Chinese Herbal Medicine
Abstract
Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has long been used to treat physical trauma and injuries, however there is little correlated evidence to support the mechanics of this or to compare it to the traditional western approach to traumatology i.e. drugs and ice therapy.
It is the aim of this review to gain a deeper understanding of CHM in the treatment of trauma care and ascertain whether there could be an alternative approach to conventional Western methods.
A literature review was undertaken to assess 27 herbs that were reported to have trauma applications and that fell into an accepted CHM protocol to treat trauma. It found that the Western approach to trauma (with the application of anti inflammatory and analgesic drugs, as well as the application of ice to injuries) could potentially hinder and harm the healing process in terms of healing time and healing strength, as well as often causing unwanted side effects. CHM showed a range of appropriate beneficial attributes such as anti inflammatory and analgesic activities. They not only demonstrated a potentially increased healing effect, but they were also shown to alleviate or avoid the reported side effects found when using Western drugs.
While problems continue to arise from the Western treatment modalities, an alternative approach which helps rather than hinders the healing process could be extremely valuable for the quick and full recovery of injuries. There is potentially a lot more research that can be done about the use of CHM in the treatment on injuries and there seems to be enough evidence to justify this in the need to integrate a more efficient approach to trauma management.
