It is perhaps a conceit that many Western practitioners feel that acupuncture will best thrive and grow outside the constraints and historical bondage of their home countries. TCM tries to reconcile the two separate branches of acupuncture and herbology in China. Western Medicine has been well entrenched in China since the turn of the century and TCM is very much aware of Western science. This intriguing modality was developed in England. Patients do not take herbs and are discouraged from other modalities while undergoing treatment.
Emphasis is placed on the patient taking responsibility for their own illnesses.
One aspect of it posits that by placing needles in the hand one can treat all of the organs. This is said to be a very powerful treatment modality. Japanese Japanese acupuncture in the west is best known through the energetic teachings of Keiko Matsimoto. She emphasizes physical touching of the body and in particular the abdomen for diagnosis. More than anything Oriental Medicine is a clinical science.