The basic theory, diagnostic, and therapeutic system of traditional Chinese medicine and the challenges they bring to statistics

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has an unique theory system and abundant preventative and therapeutic methods. In recent years, TCM has gradually become the hot topic of application and research around the world. This paper introduces how TCM uses the theory of yin-yang and five-phase to explain the mechanism of balancing the function of human body, the methods of diagnosing, abundant therapeutic methods and technologies, and treating principles, analyzes the features of TCM, and points out some of the problems waitiing to be solved in TCM scientific researches and statistical analysis. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.