Chinese medicine uses roughly 1,000 individual herbs and about 300 main herbal formulas.

Chinese herbs work by correcting root physiologic imbalances. The use of Chinese herbal formulas is determined after a thorough evaluation of the patient’s underlying pattern of imbalance, the specific condition to be treated and the individual constitution of the person. Even though Chinese herbs are very effective at relieving the symptoms of a particular condition, the method of Chinese medicine advocates the use of the herbs based on the whole picture of imbalance. Chinese herbal formulas include herbs to both, relieve the symptoms and correct the root imbalance.

The most essential difference in the use of Chinese vs. Western herbs is that Chinese herbs are not used just to treat a particular symptom of disease. Before using herbal formulas the practitioner of Chinese medicine always has to arrive at a differentiation and diagnosis of the pattern of disease.

Another difference is that Chinese medicine rarely uses individuals herbs to treat specific symptoms of a disease. The reason behind this practice is that individual herbs tend to have one-sided actions or effects that seldom address the whole picture of the disease. Chinese medicine combines several herbal ingredients in specific dosages and proportions in order to address the whole picture of the health imbalance. Typically, a Chinese herbal formula contains between four to twelve or more ingredients.

Chinese herbal formulas have been developed through generations of Chinese medicine practitioners that over time have observed and tested the properties of each component in the formulation and the combined effect of the ingredients in the formula in addressing specific patterns of disease.