Chinese Medicine for Endometriosis

Chinese Medicine for Endometriosis

What is Chinese Herbal Medicine?

If you’ve heard about Chinese Medicine before, you might automatically think about acupuncture, needles, cupping, or even Gua Sha scraping.  But if these treatments aren’t for you, you’ll be relieved to hear that Chinese Medicine also offers herbal medicines.  Living with painful conditions like endometriosis can be difficult if not excruciating, but with Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) our team at Centre of Balance can help you get back to your healthy, vibrant self again.  Read on to find out more about how CHM can help you treat endometriosis.

How Does Chinese Herbal Medicine Treat Endometriosis?

Chinese Medicine for Endometriosis

The first part of Chinese Medicine treatment for most conditions is the diagnosis of your health problems.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine, any symptom that you observe in your body indicates the presence of disease.  Similarly, diseases are understood to be caused by imbalances within your body.  In your first appointment at Centre of Balance, your Chinese Medicine practitioner will discuss all of your symptoms with you and may take your pulse or observe your tongue.  This information helps your practitioner to identify the nature of your condition.

Most conditions can be designated as syndromes, or a group of specific symptoms.  Your practitioner will identify the nature of your syndrome based on a detailed analysis of your symptoms.  In Chinese Medicine, syndromes often indicate imbalances of our organ functions, the flow of Qi (energy) or blood through our body, or between opposite/complementary elements like hot and cold, external and internal, or Yin and Yang. 

Chinese Medicine Endometriosis Syndromes:

So, what syndromes can cause endometriosis?  The main syndrome that causes endometriosis is called “blood (Xue) stasis syndrome” in Chinese Medicine.  This means that endometriosis usually occurs due to your blood not being able to flow properly.  Blood stasis syndromes can be influenced by multiple factors, including:

  • Coldness
  • Liver Qi Stagnation
  • Accumulation of damp heat in the blood (Xue)
  • Qi and blood vacuity

Chinese Herbal Medicines for Endometriosis:

Once your Chinese Medicine practitioner has identified the nature of your syndrome, they can prescribe specific CHMs for you.  According to Chinese Medicine, different herbs can treat different imbalances in your body (hot-natured herbs can combat coldness in the body and so on).  The specific combination of herbs prescribed to you will be based entirely on your individual symptoms and your unique health situation.  Some examples of common Chinese herbs used to treat endometriosis include:

  • Cinnamon twig
  • Angelica root
  • Liquorice root
  • White peony root
  • Corydalis rhizome extract

While Chinese Medicine practitioners traditionally prescribe Chinese herbs on an individual basis, researchers have also found that there are some general benefits from CHMs.  The following statement shows that, “There is growing evidence that medicinal Chinese herbs with anti-inflammatory and pain-alleviating properties may be utilized in the treatment of endometriosis-associated symptoms.”

Why Treat Endometriosis with CHM?

Since mainstream Western medicine offers many treatment options for endometriosis, you might wonder, “why do I need to bother with CHM?” Unfortunately, many of the common treatments for endometriosis can cause harmful side effects, and simply aim to suppress the symptoms of this condition.  Western medicine openly admits that no cure has been found for endometriosis so far.  However, Chinese Herbal Medicine can treat the symptoms of endometriosis by addressing the underlying cause.  There is also a lower risk of side effects from CHM when compared with routine endometriosis medications such as Danazol.

Researchers have found that, “Post-surgical administration of CHM may have comparable benefits to gestrinone but with fewer side effects. Oral CHM may have a better overall treatment effect than danazol; it may be more effective in relieving dysmenorrhoea and shrinking adnexal masses when used in conjunction with a CHM enema.”  Additionally, “…100% of women in all the groups showed some improvement in their symptoms.”

Conclusion:

Treating endometriosis with CHM can be highly effective and beneficial.  This holistic treatment approach works by addressing the underlying syndrome that causes our symptoms and involves taking Chinese herbs based on individual needs.  It is a very easy and natural way to treat endometriosis, and rarely presents the risk of harmful side effects.

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References:

Burks-Wicks, C., Cohen, M., Fallbacher, J., Taylor, R. N., & Wieser, F. (2005). A Western primer of Chinese herbal therapy in endometriosis and infertility. Women’s Health, 447–463. https://doi.org/10.2217/17455057.1.3.447

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2217/17455057.1.3.447

Chen, H. Y., Lin, Y. H., & Chen, Y. C. (2016). Identifying Chinese herbal medicine network for treating acne: Implications from a nationwide database. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 179, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2015.12.032

Flower, A., Liu, J. P., Lewith, G., Little, P., & Li, Q. (2012). Chinese herbal medicine for endometriosis. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (5), CD006568. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006568.pub3

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22592712/

Phua, S. (n.d.). What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine? Centre of Balance: Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine. https://balancetcm.co.nz/traditional-chinese-medicine-hamilton/

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Monica

I am originally from Hebei province in China. I hold a NZ bachelor’s degree of health and science with a major in acupuncture. I am honoured to be an acupuncturist at Centre of Balance. Helping patients to alleviate their pain brings me the greatest joy. Chinese medicine emphasises the unity of human beings and nature. During the treatment, I hope to not only relieve your pain but also help you to understand the principles behind acupuncture’s effectiveness, as well as the significant impact of diet, emotions, lifestyle habits, and living environments on disease recovery. Self-healing is an ability that our bodies are naturally endowed with.

I studied acupuncture in New Zealand and completed one and a half years of supervised clinical internship before graduating. In the early stage of my training, I mainly worked with patients experiencing neck, shoulder, and lower back pain. Under the guidance of senior clinical tutors, I gradually developed hands-on experience and confidence in treating musculoskeletal pain conditions.
As my clinical exposure expanded, I began treating a wider range of internal conditions. Alongside traditional acupuncture, I was introduced to Umbilical Acupuncture and Tungs-acupuncture Points. What interested me most about these approaches is that they often do not require needling directly at the painful area, yet can still achieve very effective results.
I was especially inspired by observing my supervisor use Umbilical Acupuncture to treat common conditions such as insomnia, menstrual irregularities, and even rheumatoid arthritis, with very positive outcomes. Another supervisor was highly skilled in Tungs-acupuncture Points and achieved excellent results in treating pain, infertility, menstrual disorders, and a variety of women’s health conditions. After completing my studies and entering clinical practice, once I observed Dr. Szenan Phua using Tungs-acupuncture points to help cancer patients relieve pain, which further strengthened my trust in this treatment method.
I later completed training in Dr. Tan Balance Acupuncture, which had a strong influence on the way I approach treatment. One of the most noticeable features of this method is how quickly patients often feel improvement, especially with pain conditions. Dr. Szenan Phua’s New Balance Acupuncture combines meridian regulation with structural adjustment and internal organ balancing, including techniques such as pulse balancing and spinal adjustment.
From my clinical experience, pain is rarely just a local issue. It often involves underlying organ weakness or structural imbalance. When these aspects are addressed together, treatment can be more thorough and longer-lasting. I also apply this approach to internal conditions, particularly in fertility and women’s health. This includes supporting natural conception, IVF preparation and embryo transfer, pregnancy support, early-pregnancy nausea, and late-pregnancy labour induction. I combine these treatments with concepts learned from a few additional fertility training, which has given me a broader and more flexible clinical perspective. This has reinforced my belief that acupuncture should be adapted to each individual rather than applied through fixed formulas.
Two other areas of study that have been very helpful in my clinical work are Tongue Diagnosis and Dr. Zhu’s Scalp Acupuncture. Although tongue diagnosis is taught in my standard Chinese medicine training, further study allowed me to deepen and refine my diagnostic skills.
My first formal training was in Li’s Tongue Diagnosis, which looks not only at organ patterns, but also at how different areas of the tongue reflect the body’s structure. This system also explores personality traits and changes during pregnancy, making it both clinically useful and engaging. I later attended online lectures on Yin’s Tongue Diagnosis and studied the related materials independently. this learning has helped me make clearer and more accurate pattern differentiation, allowing my acupuncture treatments to be more targeted. It covers a wide range of conditions, including skin disorders, oncology-related presentations, mental health patterns, and joint or limb problems. In practice, tongue observation often provides valuable insight even before a patient begins describing their symptoms.
In addition to the methods above, I regularly use local bloodletting techniques, which can be very effective for improving circulation, reducing swelling, and relieving pain. I also incorporate auricular (ear) acupressure and stimulation, which I commonly use for allergies, insomnia, headaches, stress management, and various internal conditions.
In my clinical work, I value taking the time to listen carefully to each patient and to understand their overall health, lifestyle, and concerns. Based on each individual’s condition, I also provide personalised dietary guidance and lifestyle or wellness advice to support overall health and long-term wellbeing. I commonly support patients with musculoskeletal pain, such as neck, shoulder, knee, and back pain, as well as stress-related conditions, sleep issues, migraines, digestive concerns, and women’s health and fertility-related conditions.