Understanding traditional Chinese medicine from a systems theory perspective

Abstract

The theory of the five elements, the yin-yang theory, the theory of qi and the meridian theory are the core components of traditional Chinese medicine. This paper attempts to integrate all of these theories under the framework of systems theory: the flow of the dynamical system is interpreted as the flow of qi; the structure of the dynamical system is understood as the structure of inter-promotion and inter-restraint of the five subsystems; the state space of the dynamical system is decomposed into two invariant sets which are similar to yin qi and yang qi; and the information system resembles that which controls the circulation of qi and regulates yin-yang. The result of integrating systems theory with traditional Chinese medicine is a more modern interpretation and understanding of traditional Chinese medicine.