Many Australians are embracing traditional treatments based on herbs and energy as these increasingly gain official approval
TRADITIONAL CHINESE Medicine (TCM) is finally evolving from an exotic indulgence to a mainstream health option for many Australians.
Although acupuncture and herbal remedies arrived with the first wave of Chinese migrants in the 1850s, it is only in recent decades that the treatments have begun to gain approval, albeit cautiously.
Australia has two types of health consumer. There is the bohemian for whom acupuncture and Chinese herbal treatments fit into a life already immersed in crystal therapy, chakra healing and dolphin therapy. At the other extreme are people committed to western scientific treatments for whom Chinese medicine is fantasy.
In a country that is young, secular and disconnected from its indigenous population, many Australians would have to make a cultural leap to embrace treatments based on herbs, energy or other ancient notions.
The proof, however, is in the cure, and this is what has convinced an increasing number of Australians to turn to Chinese medicine.