The Traditional Chinese Medicine Concept of Dampness Explained in Terms of Modern Medicine

TCM developed over many centuries but building on many concepts that was of local and foreign origin. The insights that were incorporated into the body of knowledge that we now know as TCM were done without the knowledge of modern day physiology and cell biology. However, those insights are remarkably able to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of human illness. Both observation and empirically derived evidence contributed to treatment of disease in the human population by practitioners of TCM. What worked was retained and what did not was discarded. Those insights were codified by the various factions within the TCM community according to the knowledge and practice of those with outstanding ability and passed on to other select individuals and students. Thus, the various schools of thought were started, developed and progressed within the cultural background of what is now known as mainland China. This information spread to Japan, to Indochina and eventually to Europe and the Americas.