Handbook of TCM Patterns & Treatments [Paperback]

Bob Flaws (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0936185708 | ISBN-13: 978-0936185705 | Publication Date: June 30, 2008 | Edition: second

This book is the second, revised edition of a practical handbook of Chinese medical patterns with their disease causes and mechanisms, signs and symptoms, treatment principles, guiding formulas, main modifications, and acupuncture treatments. It is meant for both the student and the clinical practitioner. The authors have included numerous patterns previously not described in the English language literature as well as many complex patterns which are commonly seen in real-life practice in the West. It also includes a symptom-sign index and a formula index for easy reference. All medicinal names in this new edition conform to Bensky et al.'s Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica 3rd edition, and all Chinese medical terminology corresponds to Wiseman and Feng's A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine. Ingredients in Chinese medicinal formulas begin with their pinyin names and are listed down for easier reference. In addition, this new edition contains a number of case histories for use in problem-based learning (PBL) along with suggested answers, thus making it even more useful in the classroom.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The purpose of this book is to give the practitioner a detailed worling list of patterns which more closely resembles the cases seen in clinical practice, to complement the use of the primary TCM patterns. Each pattern is well-presented with cause, symptoms, tongue, pulse, treatment principles, suggested herbal formulae and acupuncture point, and comments or key advice. I especially like the key advice sections. It draws on the author's experience and makes some useful suggestions on pattern differentiation. This book could serve as a useful starting point for the new acupuncture/herbal student as a first or second year textbook. Alan Trenarne, The European Journal of Oriental Medicine --Alan Trenarne, The European Journal of Oriental Medicine

From the Author

I compiled this book partly to help a friend of mine who was in Chinese medicine/acupuncture school. Talking with my friend, it was clear that there was a need for a book which A) included all the patterns of Chinese medicine, not just the best known ones, and B) which explained how these patterns actually manifest in real-life Western patients. Most Western patients exhibit the signs and symptoms of 35 patterns concurrently. When this happens, the disease mechanisms underlying these different patterns alter the signs and symptoms from those given in most beginner's textbooks. For instance, when cold and heat exist simultaneously, the tongue and pulse will typically only exhibit the signs of heat, while one must infer the presence of cold from other indicators.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 209 pages
• Publisher: Blue Poppy Press; second edition (June 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936185708
• ISBN-13: 978-0936185705
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #408,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bob Flaws is the most prolific writer on Chinese medicine in the English language. He is author, translator, or editor of over 80 books on Chinese medicine and scores of articles published in both professional journals and the popular press. Among his other credits, Bob is a past president and lifetime fellow of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado, a fellow and director of the National Academy of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine as well as a past editor of that association's quarterly journal, a founder of the Council of Oriental Medical Publishers, and the founder of Blue Poppy Enterprises. Bob is also the co-author and co-director of an NIH-funded research project working with AIDS-related peripheral neuropathy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If you have the Giovanni book, the additional info is not worth the price, August 8, 2008

By 

Lisa W. - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Handbook of TCM Patterns & Treatments (Paperback)

The book description is misleading:

"It includes many of the complicated patterns other English language TCM books leave out but which Western patients typically present. You'll also learn Bob Flaw's personal insights on the discrimination of patterns and their treatment based on his more than 20 years of clinical experience and research."

Based on this description, I was expecting to see many patterns not discussed in the Foundations textbook as well as commentary from a Western viewpoint.

Instead, I found that most of the patterns in the book were the standard zang fu patterns listed in a similar format as the Foundations book, only described more superfluously. In my opinion, there was not enough added value to justify purchasing this book.

I went through the book looking for "Bob Flaw's personal insights" and this amounted to a few pages at the back of the book and a sentence every 5 patterns saying something like, "this pattern is not commonly seen" for something that you already know is not commonly seen.