Chinese Massage or Tui Na is practiced alongside Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in hospitals in China. As an independent aspect of Chinese medicine, it focuses mainly on treating muscle and joint problems in the body.
A muscle or joint-related problem has a number of potential different causes such as:
- general stress
- poor posture
- repetitive strain
- sports/ impact injuries
Any of these will cause the muscle tissue to shorten and often go into “spasm”. This itself is very uncomfortable, causing immediate symptoms such as localised muscle pain, aching and restriction of movement. If the muscles remain shortened, they can further affect the joints they attach to and start to affect the nerves passing through them.
Tui Na practitioners will first use a number of tests together with a detailed consultation to determine what is causing the problem and what specific muscles, ligaments or joints have been affected. The treatment uses various techniques including rolling, deep-kneading, stretching and static pressure to manipulate the muscle tissue, returning it to its normal resting length. This is used effectively with joint-mobilising techniques and stretching from Thai Massage to strengthen and increase the range of movement around joints.
As opposed to neuromuscular points used in Physio-Therapy, the Acupoints of Chinese Medicine are used as very effective trigger points to reduce pain, spasming and scarring in muscular tissue and to treat tougher connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments.
