Hi there I have a doctorate in Chinese medicine and I'm a practicing acupuncturist so I can comment on it based on my training and experience. IMO Chinese medicine is generally talking about the same flesh and blood physiology as modern biomedicine, it just uses different language that is effected by translation and cultural differences. Chinese language is very contextual so "Qi" can mean different things in different contexts. In this case "Qi" refers to "circulation/blood/warmth" so "heat accumulates Qi and cold disperses Qi" means that local heat like a heating pad opens the blood vessels and improves circulation in the area, while cold closes down blood vessels and impedes circulation.From what I research with TCM, it looks like heat accumulates Qi and cold disperses Qi. Could anyone comment on this ?
As far as the C's question to Laura's comment, TCM teaches that many "external pathogens" are caused by cold, and the application of heat is generally helpful for treating "cold". Well "external pathogens caused by cold" are usually viruses and modern research has shown that the viral replication process is impeded by heat, which maybe why the body generates a fever in response to many viral infections. The viral vector vaccines like the J&J use a virus to deliver the COVID DNA snip into the cells, so immediate application of heat after the injection could help to deactivate and/or destroy some of the virons. OSIT.