The Massage Parlor

The Tui Na department is certainly the most fun hospital department I've ever been in, here or in America. Many Chinese medicine and acupuncture doctors are relaxed and joke with their patients, but Dr. Xiao really is a new level of laid back always asking the children to sing or dance, asking me to teach them an English song, and exchanged how to say things in English, Chinese, and Japanese (one of my colleagues is Japanese). Nothing is ever a problem and the most common saying from his mouth is "mei guan xi" which is, something like " don't worry about it" or "no problem." As a result, there are plenty of students hanging out learning his techniques. Patients also end up hanging out all morning, because the department is very much fun. One of the Chinese students asked me if we can call this a massage parlor, I said you'd better not, but now we joke about it being a massage parlor.

Most people come in for back pain and shoulder pain. They come everyday, but it is quite fun and obviously relaxing. Massage has success with both of these diseases, some even without acupuncture. One very friendly patient stays as an inpatient in the hospital, and only receives massage. She also still goes to work, certainly a different situation from America. She was suffering from should pain which is almost gone now, after a few weeks of treatment.

Much of the treatment also focuses on keeping people comfortable, which is a very important goal in the hospital. Certainly, in America, we are trying to adopt it, but perhaps we still have some distance to go. One patient was a miner, who had a spinal cord injury in an accident. He is very nice, comes everyday and is rather jolly. But the goal with him is to keep his joints limber and keep him comfortable in general. Another miner was also injured in an accident, but he now has muscle spasms in his back and a swollen hand which was not healing.

The children in the department are at first a little shy around me, but gradually they get adjusted to the Wai guo shu shu (the foreign uncle, everyone in China is an uncle or an aunt, somethings that call me uncle in English). Dr. Xiao treats a few of the babies for wry neck, when one of the SCM is in spasm, not allowing the child to move his head. The massage treatment for this disease is quite successful, but takes a number of months. Certainly the families must be diligent in bringing their children in at least 4 times per week. I have seen one baby 6 months old, who has gotten much better within the last 2 months. He uses many techniques, but focuses on stretching the muscle and shaking or vibrating it to make the muscle relax. He also treats facial paralysis as well as a teenager for poor vision.

Tui Na Department

The beginning of this week, I began in the Tui Na (Chinese medical massage) department. It is great experience to work on about 20 patients per day as well as watching Dr. Xiao (my wrists were very tired and at first eating lunch was hard because I could not grab my chop sticks). His technique is remarkable, as I suppose it should be working for 30 years, everyday, seeing 20-30 or more patients per day. He is also one of the friendliest and most hospitable people you could ever meet.

His massage focuses a lot on his rolling technique, which he has his own special technique for that I have not seen. Also, Tui Na has a few aspects of physical therapy, keeping muscles loose in those with paralysis and giving those with stroke some exercise and practice standing. He treats a number of different cases, including the neck, shoulder, back pain, knee pain, and even a few bone spurs. Also, he sees a few babies with cerebral palsy or encephalitis as well as congenital wry neck. A few patients come in who are suffering from post stroke.

Cervical Spondylosis

Cervical spondylosis, often referred to as arthritis of the neck, is an extremely common complaint seen in the clinic. The patients come in with varying degrees of severity, some of they have inflammation and swelling in the area, and others just complain of pain.

One woman, 47 years old, came in complaining of headaches and muscle spasms which were very severe. Even her facial muscles began to spasm. The acupuncture treatment was very simple and very effective, she no longer has as much pain, and her facial spasms have disappeared. The acupuncture was mostly local points as well as points releasing the shoulder, focusing on GB 20, and the cervical jia ji, 4 extra points in a row, 1 cun apart below GB 20. In addition, loacl points such as Du 14 or ones to open the channel,LI 4, were used. Face needles were also used if there was facial spasm, needled shallowly. Flashfire cupping was used also for all the patients, on the neck and back.

Another patient, a 59 year old female, also had a great success with acupuncture and tells me about (she also likes to help me practice my Chinese, so I get a detailed account of her problem and the success of acupuncture). Her neck was quite painful and the area around Du 14 was swollen. She also had pre-stroke syndrome for which she is taking Chinese herbal medicine. Acupuncture included GB 20 and cervical jia ji, Du 20, Du 22, Si 3, LI 10, Li4. Also yin tang, tai yang was used for headaches and Sp6 was added for hypertension.