Tui Na

Tui Na is a form of manual therapy which developed on the battlefields of China. Any part of war-time medicine must address specific injuries or conditions effectively, and efficiently, as there is little time available and no margin for error.  Over the centuries and during peace-time, Tui Na practitioners in China began to expand their protocols to include internal conditions such as asthma and dysmenorrhea.

Most treatment methods of Chinese medicine – acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal therapy, Tui Na, and others – work on the same principle: open the meridians by finding blockages and releasing those blockages, thereby restoring the flow of Qi and Blood to the area. In addition, balancing the body’s overall function during the process of treatment helps the effects of the therapy to hold and become permanent. Acupuncture and Tui Na function on these principles, but used together they become even more effective.

To me, acupuncture without some form of bodywork is an incomplete experience. Furthermore, if an acupuncturist palpates the body carefully through a method such as Tui Na, constrictions become clearer, and a pattern of disharmony emerges. Tui Na is an essential method for me to understand a patient’s body, to track progress through subsequent treatments, and to complement acupuncture’s actions.  For the patient, it is, I hope, a more complete experience.