Korean Traditional Medicine Research

Document Type:Research Paper

Subject Area:Anthropology

Document 1

Before the introduction of the western medicinal treatment system into the country, the traditional medicine was the dominant medical system that the Korean citizens used to apply to treat and cure various types of ailments. Therefore this research paper will shed some insight as it analyzes Korean traditional medicinal system as well as Kluckhohn value orientation and finally explains the way Korean culture and value orientation affect their health care and recovery when they migrate to America. Korean traditional medicine Korean medicine is a special type of traditional East Asian medicine. The medicine applies the use of acupuncture herbal in combination with many other good modalities to enhance health and well-being among the populations of humanity particularly in the East Asian regions like Korea, China and Japan.

Sign up to view the full document!

Research shows that Korean medicines share about 80% of the theory with Chinese medicine (Jang et al. Moreover, this treatment does not limit the cause of the ailment to a local illness but it takes time to study the whole body so as to come up with the main reason that gave birth to the problem or the diseases. This type of medication helps to correct the body imbalances by adopting a natural treatment and cure approach instead of executing surgery as well as other unnecessary invasive procedures. Precisely, the Korean traditional medicine plays an important role because it does not only treat the problem created by the body but it also helps to find out the cause of the problem. Korean traditional medicine grouped human body constitution into four types namely • Greater yin • Greater yang • Lesser yin • Lesser yang A person bodily constitution was determined to right from the time of birth based on the size of the body organs as well as their strength and weakness which was expected to remain the same all throughout one’s life.

Sign up to view the full document!

Thus there some differences that were expected between or among the people that will help to demonstrate the dynamism in terms of personality, eating habit and even movement style as well as adaptation to the environment among many other crucial factors in relation to an individual body constituent type. Most of the Korean immigrants especially the old people used to prefer Han-bang as their best alternative to healthcare because it was the system that they were conversant with back in Korea. Most of the Korean immigrants had a lot of challenges adapting to the new country medicinal system. The biggest of their challenges was communication due to poor English, as such, it was difficult for the old Korean patients to communicate with the healthcare providers.

Sign up to view the full document!

Also, most of the Koreans who are conservative were so secretive such that they find it difficult to share their problem with a stranger or even speak their minds to a stranger (Tomlinson & Akerele, 2015). They were also used to same-sex health care providers back in their country particularly when they had cases such as obstetricians or gynecologists. For reason that it was something that they are not used and they don’t believe in its healing power. Most of the Koreans citizens preferred to die at their homes. In fact, some of the Koreans who had migrated to America would want to go back to Korea to die there or even some will instruct that their body is sent back to Korea after their death for burial back in their homeland.

Sign up to view the full document!

Most of the Koreans believed that death was inevitable to progress to a new life and it was also some kind of a virtue to ascend to one’s death (Shin et al. According to the Koreans tradition, it was important for the oldest son to be present when the older people near to the end of their life. Because most of them were adamant to utilize the western medicine yet Korean health care providers were scarce in America by then (Tomlinson & Akerele, 2015). In fact, some of the Korean immigrants end up losing their lives in a foreign land because most of the traditional medicines only served to treat the symptoms and not the actual diseases as expected by the Koreans.

Sign up to view the full document!

Table showing Kluckhohn value orientation Orientation Possible dimension Time Past Present Future Activity Doing Becoming Being Relation Individual Collateral Lineal Personal nature Human dominant In harmony with Nature dominant Human nature Good Mixt Evil The Kluckhohn theory serves to shed insight to the differences that exist between people from distinct cultural backgrounds as well as to comprehend the similarities between people. The similarities could be explained right from physiological, cognitive and social as well as the cultural aspects. Most often human share biological traits that form the basis for the developmental of culture. Natural products and traditional medicine: turning on a paradigm. Journal of natural products, 75(3), 514-525. Jang, H. , Kim, J. , Kim, S. B. (Ed. Traditional medicine: a global perspective. London: Pharmaceutical Press.

Sign up to view the full document!

From $10 to earn access

Only on Studyloop

Original template

Downloadable