Many people wonder how to improve the immune system. Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, cupping therapy (dry cupping), gua sha are all capable of boosting immunity. While each of these modalities is capable of strengthening the weak immune system, being part of traditional Chinese medicine, they work well in combination with each other. But if you wonder how to boost your immune system as much as possible, then the latest research has shown that traditional Chinese and western medical methods work even better when they are integrated into one treatment strategy designed for individual patients. Considering that western medicine relies heavily on its pharmacologic component, Chinese herbal medicine presents certain limitations that arise from possible interactions with drugs. Due to the large selection of traditional Chinese medical methods, other modalities, such as acupuncture, cupping therapy, gua sha, and therapeutic exercises provide a wide range of effective alternatives, whose potency becomes even greater in combination with other approaches.
Immune Boost
Acupuncture
Physical Therapy
Chinese Medicine
Cupping Therapy
Gua Sha
Moxibustion
Manual Therapy
Therapeutic Exercises
Herbal Medicine
Meditation
Facial Acupuncture
Bio-Well Energy Test
Nutrition
Western Medical Approach to Immune Boost
There are significant differences among the ways the immune system can be improved in western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. In western medicine, improvement in the immune response is achieved through vaccinations (Li et al., 2017) or vitamins and dietary supplements (Yoshii et al., 2019). Vaccinations help organisms develop specialized immunity to certain pathogens and have been important in fighting a number of debilitating diseases, such as Polio, Mumps, Measles, or tetanus. Dietary supplements and vitamins for the immune system help maintain the best immune response, in general. Theoretically, most vitamins come from the food that we eat, but the modern lifestyle, more so in urban environments, has many physiological ramifications, and immune system booster vitamins and food supplements, in theory, should restore health to its chemical norm (Hazari, 2019). The problem is that when patients have vitamin deficiency—blood tests can show which vitamin is deficient—they can take additional vitamins, but oftentimes their bodies do not retain the supplements. If that’s the case, then how can you boost your immune system? The reasons why the body maintains certain vitamin deficiencies are unclear—but they are likely to be psychological as well as environmental (Hazari, 2019)—and this is where traditional Chinese medicine can be very helpful.
Traditional Chinese Medical Approach to Immune Boost
If you wonder how to boost the immune system naturally, then traditional Chinese medicine is a perfect choice. Chinese herbs, for example, can improve immunity and even may strengthen the immune system in HIV patients, but this is where the issue of herbs’ and drugs’ interactions can be beneficial or adverse (Zou, Wang, & Liu, 2016). Luckily, traditional Chinese medicine has a number of different tools in its arsenal, each of which can provide ways to boost the immune system. Cupping therapy, for example, has beneficial immunological effects as well as hormonal adjustments to boost your immune system, and scientists attribute its effects to “Activation of immune system theory” (Al-Bedah et al., 2019). What’s more important to the integration of the traditional Chinese approach and modern western medicine is that there are no chemical interactions between these two modalities, because cupping therapy does not involve any chemical additives. Tui na and gua sha have effects similar to those of cupping, as well as similar benefits (Nielsen, 2018). Research has shown that qigong therapeutic exercises have “immunomodulatory effects on components of both innate as well as an adaptive immune response” (Vera et al., 2016). While tai chi exercises bear similarities with qigong, its benefits in addition to improvement of immune function also have a reduction in intestinal inflammation. Acupuncture also has beneficial effects on the immune system, but its mechanism is different. While it does not eliminate the pathogen directly, its goal is to restore the optimal homeostasis in the body, thus offering an additional solution to how to have a strong immune system (Xu et al., 2018). This means that acupuncture is perfect not only for back pain relief or neck pain but also for integration with other methods of immune-boosting techniques, pharmacological or not. And for those people who look for natural ways to boost the immune system, traditional Chinese medicine offers a comprehensive natural and time-tested solution to build up the immune system.