Visiting the Thai Traditional and Complementary Medicine Center

Sawasdee khràp everyone,

    We had an enjoyable visit to the Thai Traditional and Complementary Medicine Center (TTCM) this week.  This is a center that is attached to the school of pharmacy at Chiang Mai University and helps the community by offering traditional treatments that are not always offered in westernized hospitals.  We first learned about Thai traditional medicine (TTM) from a facility member of the university named Panee Sirisa-ard.  She explained the concept that Thai people believe in four elements (or tard) fire, wind, earth, and water.  She stated that each of these elements must be in balance with each other and with the environment.  She went on to explain that each element represents different aspects of the body.  Fire element in traditional Thai medicine is thought to be what keeps the body warm, growing older, and typically associated with emotions and digestion.  If a patient is emotional it is thought that their fire element is out of equilibrium with their other elements.  Earth element represents structural organs of the body, digested food, and bodily waste.  The water element is associated with a liquid state, and within the body is thought to influence the state of the patients fluid, secretions.  Lastly, wind is what gives you energy to control body movements and is associated with blood circulation, and nerve impulses.  A person who is fatigued or tired is thought to be lacking wind.  Thai typically believe diseases are caused by an imbalance of the elements which are typically fire and wind.  Traditional Thai medicine seeks to keep all of these elements in balance with one another and typically disease is thought to be either in excess, in weakness or deficiency.

The entrance to the TTCM

            The Thai believe in multiple ways to balance the elements.  Meditation and praying are thought to help balance emotions and the body can be balanced by seasoning foods with certain food that contain herbs or other ingredients with properties that help balance the element.  There is extensive knowledge about what plant, herb or ingredient will affect which element.  The Thai also believe that prevention is important and have a particular style called hermit exercises.

            After learning about the medical traditions of the Thai we had the pleasure to visit the TTCM and learn about its founding and actually see what the center does.  The facilities were donated to the TTCM and their goal is to treat but also to teach future generations about this subject.  They have conducted multiple studies that looked at the various treatments and compared westernized medicine to the treatments.  What I found particularly interesting was that they showed Thai massage was equally as effective at relieving pain as ibuprofen in the study without all of the drug-drug interactions.  I enjoyed that fact that they are studying treatments in a manner that provides evidence-based medicine.

Storage of the different ingredients used in TTCM

            So each patient is first checked by a doctor to see if they need to seek westernized medical treatment or if they would benefit from Thai medicine.  I thought that was an excellent way to first screen patients making sure they are getting the appropriate treatment.  I really enjoyed seeing the small pharmacy and herbal storage which contained more products than the pharmacy itself.  It was fascinating to see all of the styles of manipulation.  I was able to see what cupping looks like from the outside and it does look much worse than it felt.

     After visiting the TTCM we went back to Chiang Mai University to make an herbal massage ball.  It is a tradition to use in conjunction with Thai massage and is an herbal mixture that is contained within a cloth that is tied together and steamed before being used to pat on the body to help with the patients' treatment.  I have included a photo that shows the steps to make the Lanna herbal massage ball.  This was a very fun process and I greatly enjoyed making my own.  With the recipe, this is something I can try at home and show my friends and family about.

Directions and the recipe for herbal massage ball

            I enjoyed hearing about the traditional Thai medicine.  I thought it was fascinating to hear about the different plants and herbal products and which element that they can help.  I would love to see this as an elective at the University of New England because there is so much knowledge that the TTCM is able to transfer to the next generation.  I also found there were many similarities and differences between traditional Thai and Chinese medicine.  Both had similar concepts and treatments but there are some major differences the idea of yin-yang in combination with the five elements versus TTM’s four elements.  Though both believe the idea of balance which I find very universal to all healthcare.  We are all striving to find balance although different methods are used to achieve that results.

Thank you for reading!

-IM