[cdf]

The fundamental problem is TCM acknowledges individual differences that cannot be measured or even dont exist in the eyes of modern medicine, eg identical twins with different diets will have different responses to the same treatment, so going double blind will mean the results will be inconsistent.

[IAmBroom]

Ah, the old "if you try to test for results, the results won't show up" problem.

Ghosts and ESP suffer from the same issue.

[BigGreenJorts]

This is why sample size is important tho. With a large enough sample size, you can ignore differences in individuals bc the trend of the control will be smaller than the experiment (or not)

[cdf]

That's the fundamental problem right there.

You have no problem accepting eg a treatment can only work on a man, but not on a woman. But modern medicine have no concept of a yin body type and a yang body type, which may or may not be male and female.

The whole idea of TCM is balance, and it varies with the individual, unlike modern medicine, where there is a right and wrong answer to everything. Bacteria bad, antibiotic good. Fever bad, paracetamol good.

Take fecal transplants for example. I dont think it is well understood how it works or it will be a pill by now, and is a last resort when all else fails. And it doesnt involve killing all the bacteria, but restoring balance to the bacterial ecosystem.