Festering moxibustion therapy
Creates an infection to relieve chronic conditions such as asthma, bronchitis
Suppuration or festering cause by infection is usually a bad sign but not for retired TCM doctor Yan Hua. A sixth generation inheritor of her family's festering moxibustion therapy, Yan says numerous people have been cured or found relief when a festering sore is deliberately created by burning over an acupuncture point.
According to TCM, festering of the skin after burning moxa directly on the skin is a sign that moxibustion is taking effect.
Yan's family improved the moxa piles or cones placed on the skin by compressing them so they burn longer. Only about seven to nine pieces of moxa are needed, compared with dozens in the old days. To accelerate the festering process and protect the wound from infection, the wound is sealed with an herbal plaster that creates humidity and raises the temperature.
A course of treatment involves three to five acupuncture points; one course a year is usually sufficient. July and August are the best months because the weather is already warm.
Yan says the treatment is especially effective in relieving chronic problems such as asthma, bronchitis and diarrhea.
Her reputation has been spread by word of mouth but Yan retired 20 years and doesn't have an inheritor to carry on. Her only apprentice left for overseas study when TCM was not popular, back in the early 90s.
"Festering moxibustion is much more difficult to master, compared with other methods and we didn't promote it over the years," says Yan. "But I hope the wisdom of our ancestor's doesn't disappear."
Ear acupuncture with herbal plaster
Eliminates needles, makes treatment painless
Ear acupuncture is widely accepted as an effective therapy but some people avoid it because they fear possible pain.
The pain problem was solved 20 years ago by an elderly self-taught practitioner - Wang Genfa.
Instead of sharp needles, he uses tiny square herbal plasters on acupuncture points in the ears, usually on the elevated areas.
He says it's as effective as needles to relieve problems such as high blood pressure, gallstones, enlarged prostate, symptoms of menopause, insomnia, constipation, diarrhea, abscessed finger and toenails.
The plasters are those commonly used on joints to relieve pain and inflammation, by unblocking energy channels and improving energy flow.
He uses common patent plasters.
They should not be placed on broken skin and should be used with caution for pregnant women, since some ingredients may cause miscarriage.
Trying to ease the pain of his father who had liver cancer in the 1970s, Wang read widely and practiced on his father.
Though it had no impact on the terminal cancer, it helped his father regain appetite and strength while he was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Wang offered free treatment to friends and neighbors who were delighted with results. His fame spread and he became known as Hua Tuo, a legendary surgeon in the late Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).
Though he is in his 70s, Wang now still provides free services around his community three times a week. He has four assistants who are carrying on the treatment.
Breast massage for blocked ducts
Eliminates needles, makes treatment painless
The technique is used to relieve pain and inflammation caused by too much accumulated milk, usually caused by blocked milk ducts (galatophores). The pain is excruciating for many young mothers and surgery is usually needed in severe cases. But Dr Zhao Chunying uses her hands.
"Many mothers today prefer emptying their breasts using breast bumps, which leads to more milk secretion and endocrine disruption.
But pumps may also suppress galatophors (milk ducts) and cause blockage and milk build up." Dr Zhao believes the problem is more common today than in ancient times.
Trained in Western medicine, Dr Zhao is always trying to find ways to relieve mothers' pain without surgery. Inspired by her grandmother's non-mainstream therapy of "massaging breasts with iron comb," Zhao developed her own massage therapy. It's based on the TCM theory of energy channels and on Western anatomy.
It involves only tuina (TCM massage) on breasts and nipples, which helps expand the milk ducts, unblock energy channels and expel accumulated milk.
Dr Zhao says she has successfully treated more than 9,000 cases in the past eight years, with a cure rate of almost 99 percent.
"It is safe, cheap and very effective," says Dr Zhao.
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