Han-era medical physicians believed that the human body was subject to the same forces of nature that governed the greater universe, namely the cosmological cycles of yin and yang and the five phases. Each organ of the body was associated with a particular phase. Illness was viewed as a sign that qi or "vital energy" channels leading to a certain organ had been disrupted. Thus, Han-era physicians prescribed medicine that was believed to counteract this imbalance. For example, since the wood phase was believed to promote the fire phase, medicinal ingredients associated with the wood phase could be used to heal an organ associated with the fire phase. To this end, the physician Zhang Zhongjing (c. 150–c. 219 AD) prescribed regulated diets rich in certain foods that were thought to cure specific illnesses. These are now known to be nutrition disorders caused by the lack of certain vitamins consumed in one's diet. Besides dieting, Han physicians also prescribed moxibustion, acupuncture, and calisthenics as methods of maintaining one's health. When surgery was performed by the physician Hua Tuo (d. 208 AD), he used anesthesia to numb his patients' pain and prescribed a rubbing ointment that allegedly sped the process of healing surgical wounds. COUNT 5
QSN1 Who believed that the same forces that controlled the universe also controlled the human body? ANS1 Han-era medical physicians QSN2 What was used during surgery to relieve patients of their pain? ANS2 anesthesia QSN3 What profession was the individual Zhang Zhongjing involved in? ANS3 physician QSN4 How did Zhang Zhongjing attempt to cure various illnesses? ANS4 prescribed regulated diets QSN5 When did Hua Tuo die? ANS5 208 AD