The Practice of Chinese Medicine is a companion volume of theFoundations of Chinese Medicine, illustrating the application of the theories of Chinese medicine to the treatment of various diseases with both acupuncture and Chinese herbs. The book discusses the treatment of 43 common disease symptoms, 13 more than in the first edition.

For each disease, the discussion includes aetiology, pathology, identification of patterns, treatment of each pattern with acupuncture and Chinese herbs, prognosis, and the Western medical differential diagnosis linking Western and Chinese symptomatology. A particular feature of the book is a lengthy appendix discussing the principles of combination of points in a detailed and innovative way. The original chapter on mental-emotional problems has been expanded into four new ones and depression and anxiety are discussed. The chapters on mental emotional problems discuss the nature and clinical application of Shen, Hun, Po,Yi and Zhi in detail.

The diseases discussed are:

1. Headaches
2. Dizziness
3. Breathlessness (Chuan)
4. Wheezing (Xiao)
5. Allergic asthma and atopic eczema
6. Allergic rhinitis
7. Sinusitis (nasal polyps)
8. Cough
9. Depression
10. Anxiety
11. Insomnia
12. Tinnitus
13. Goitre (with hypo- and hyper-thyroidism)
14. Hypertension
15. Tiredness
16. Chest Painful Obstruction Syndrome
17. Epigastric pain
18. Nausea and vomiting
19. Gastro-oesophageal reflux
20. Mouth ulcers
21. Hypochondrial pain
22. Abdominal pain
23. Abdominal masses
24. Diarrhoea
25. Constipation
26. Urinary syndrome
27. Enuresis and incontinence
28. Urinary retention
29. Interstitial cystitis
30. Benign prostatic hyperplasia
31. Prostatitis and prostatodynia
32. Oedema (nephritis)
33. Painful Obstruction Syndrome
34. Lower backache and sciatica
35. Fibromyalgia
36. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
37. Parkinson's disease
38. Wind-stroke
39. Atrophy Syndrome
40. Multiple Sclerosis
41. Bleeding
42. Erectile dysfunction
43. Common cold and influenza

Thirteen new diseases are discussed in the second edition:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Goitre (with hypo- and hyper-thyroidism)
• Hypertension
• Nausea and vomiting
• Gastro-oesophageal reflux
• Fibromyalgia
• Mouth ulcers
• Urinary retention
• Interstitial cystitis
• Benign prostatic hyperplasia
• Prostatitis
• Erectile dysfunction

Particular features of the book are:

• The diagnosis and treatment of modern diseases such as allergic asthma/eczema, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypertension and MS
• Detailed discussion of prognosis and prevention of most diseases
• Over 150 case histories with detailed explanation of the diagnostic process and analysis of treatment
• An 8-page colour plate section with tongue slides to clarify diagnoses.

"The publication of this book will certainly help the integration of Western with Chinese medicine...Giovanni Maciocia has flexibly applied what he has learned in China to the conditions in the West".
-From the foreword by Prof. Zhou Zhong Ying.