Western Medicine and Acupuncture: Why You Don't Have to Choose

Many people assume they have to pick a side: Western medicine or Chinese medicine. At Seven Medicine, we don't see it that way — and neither do a growing number of clinical guidelines.

Where acupuncture already fits in mainstream care

The American College of Physicians' 2017 guideline lists acupuncture among non-drug options to consider first for chronic low back pain. The Society for Integrative Oncology and ASCO's 2022 guideline recommends acupuncture for certain types of cancer-related pain, such as joint pain from aromatase inhibitors. These are examples of acupuncture being used within evidence-based care — not in opposition to it.

Two frameworks, used for different things

Traditional Chinese Medicine is a coherent diagnostic framework for choosing treatment: it organizes symptoms into patterns and guides point selection, food therapy and lifestyle advice. Biomedicine is how we understand disease mechanisms, run diagnostic tests and evaluate treatments in trials.

Dr. Kristina explains care in both TCM and familiar medical terms. When she describes a TCM pattern, she'll also tell you how — or whether — it relates to what your physician sees. Where TCM concepts are traditional descriptions rather than biomedical facts, we'll say so.

What that looks like in practice

• Keep your physicians informed. We're happy to coordinate.
• Don't stop or change prescribed medications without talking to your prescriber.
• If symptoms suggest you need medical evaluation, we'll tell you.
• Herbs are reviewed against your medications.

The goal

Thoughtful, personalized care that respects what conventional medicine does well — and adds time, attention, whole-person assessment and supportive therapies on top of it.

This article is educational and is not medical advice.