Disease Prevention and Health Preservation

Laozi wrote in Tao Te Ching: "What is at peace is easy to maintain; what shows no signs is easy to plan for; what is fragile is easy to shatter; what is minute is easy to disperse." This means that a stable situation is easy to sustain; a crisis without warning is easy to address; a fragile thing is easy to break; and a tiny matter is easy to eliminate. Thus, Laozi believed that one should "act before a problem arises and manage before chaos begins."

In Laozi’s view, all great things develop from small ones. Every phenomenon has its own process of formation, change, and development. People should understand this process, pay special attention to factors that may lead to misfortune, and prevent their occurrence.

Laozi’s idea of "acting before a problem arises and managing before chaos begins" emphasizes the word "prevention." From the perspective of health preservation, this aligns with the concept of "treating the untreatable" in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

TCM’s "treating the untreatable" refers to taking preventive measures in advance to stop diseases from occurring, progressing, or deteriorating. As early as Huangdi Neijing (The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon), the concept of "sages treat the untreatable" was proposed. This medical philosophy in TCM mainly includes three aspects: "preventing disease before it occurs," "stopping disease progression once it arises," and "preventing recurrence after recovery."

Preventing disease before it occurs involves taking health-preserving measures when the body is healthy or in a sub-healthy state, before any illness develops. Its goal is to strengthen vital qi, enhance physical fitness, and avoid pathogenic invasions. Wind, cold, summer heat, dampness, dryness, and fire—known as the "six excesses"—are normal climatic changes in nature, but they also serve as key causes of external diseases. Therefore, one must adapt to seasonal climatic changes, follow nature’s laws, nurture one’s inherent nature, achieve harmony between humans and nature, balance the body’s zang-fu organs and tissues, and improve quality of life. As Qian Jin Fang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold) states: "Superior physicians treat diseases that have not yet occurred; average physicians treat diseases that are about to occur; inferior physicians treat diseases that have already occurred."

This refers to early diagnosis and treatment. By monitoring dynamic changes in yin-yang imbalance and zang-fu dysfunction, physicians grasp the laws of disease occurrence, progression, and transmission to prevent further deterioration or spread. Generally, diseases develop in a predictable pattern: initially affecting the skin and hair, then gradually invading muscles, tendons, meridians, and bones. For example, cold-induced diseases (shanghan) follow the six-channel differentiation, progressing from Taiyang to Jueyin; warm diseases (wenbing) follow the defense-qi-nutrient-blood differentiation, advancing from the defense level to the blood level. Some diseases, due to aggressive pathogens attacking zang-fu organs or meridians, or due to trauma, can cause physical impairment.

Huangdi Neijing · Suwen · Yuji Zhenzang Lun (The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon · Plain Questions · Treatise on the Jade Mechanism and True Viscera) notes: "Pathogenic wind strikes as swiftly as wind and rain. Thus, skilled healers treat diseases at the skin level; next, at the muscle level; then at the tendons and meridians; then at the six fu-organs; and finally at the five zang-organs. Treating diseases at the zang-organs level leaves the patient in a life-or-death state." This highlights the importance of preventing disease transmission in preventive medicine. When pathogens first invade, the body’s vital qi is still strong—treatment at this stage not only eliminates pathogens easily but also helps strengthen the body’s resistance.

Preventing recurrence after recovery applies to the rehabilitation phase, where pathogens are mostly eliminated but vital qi remains weakened. Though symptoms may have disappeared, residual pathogens, unrestored vital qi, unstable qi and blood, and unbalanced yin and yang require careful regulate to achieve full recovery. Thus, after illness, appropriate medications can be used to consolidate effects, combined with dietary adjustments, balanced work and rest, and regular daily routines. These measures help speed recovery and prevent relapse.

In summary, health preservation can prevent diseases, and disease prevention can also achieve the goal of health preservation. "Treating the untreatable" is a systematic project of health preservation, disease prevention, and health management. It still effectively guides clinical practice today and serves as the theoretical foundation of TCM health care.