Treating disease before it arises

1. To prevent disease. Plain Questions (素问 sù wèn, cì fǎ lùn) states, When right qì dwells within, evil cannot interfere, and toxic qì can be avoided. It offers suggestions for oral medication to prevent epidemics.

2. To treat disease in its early stages. It is said that the superior physician nips the bud. For example, recognition of dizzy head and vision, numbness of the thumb and middle finger, or twitching of the eyes and mouth is taken as a portent of wind strokeand allows preventive treatment to be administered.

3. To have a full grasp of the ways in which disease develops. Disease in the five viscera can undergo shifts that can be prevented by early treatment. The Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet (金匮要略 jīn guì yào lüè) states, Treating disease before it arises, means that when liver disease is observed and when it is known that liver disease passes to the spleen, the spleen can be made firm.... So is it with the other viscera.