Young people trying ancient cures(2)

Joint degeneration

TCM practitioner Sheng Feng of the Massage Department at Longhua Hospital said many of his patients were now taking the package of tuina and cupping treatments. "The length for a tuina treatment varies according to a patient's health and the cupping therapy lasts for five minutes." Sheng said he has also found that more of his patients are young people. "We see 100 to 140 patients daily and 60 percent of them are under 50. Many people in their 20s or 30s come for regular treatments for back and neck pains. Less exercise and long periods sitting at work can accelerate joint degeneration."

A simple tuina treatment costs about 20 yuan, but if a practitioner feels a patient needs more - for example a CT scan or Chinese herbs - it will push the bill higher. In the massage department seven practitioners are on duty but even so, on busy days, some patients may have to wait for up to an hour to see someone.

Pei Jian's acupuncture department has a staff of 20 practitioners and 10 have had experience working abroad. Every day they see between 400 and 500 patients. Eighty percent of their patients have a health problem but some 20 percent come for preventative treatments. A basic acupuncture treatment costs between 80 and 100 yuan.

At the Acupuncture Department of the Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture treatments last 20 minutes. Zhang Xueliang is an acupuncturist at the hospital and said that he believed it would be better to allow the practitioners themselves set the treatment times dependent on the disease and the patient's condition. "But there are too many patients and a set time is more practical."

While Zhang Xueliang encourages some patients to practice moxibustion at home - "You just hold the burning moxa stick or mugwort over where you are feeling pain for five to 15 minutes" - others are reluctant to encourage amateur attempts at treatments.

Zhang Xilin, a doctor from the Massage Department of Yueyang Hospital, told the Global Times that he has seen people paralyzed after receiving massage treatments in beauty and healthcare salons. "For TCM massages, the technique is very important. Some people with no medical education offer tuina massages after very little training. We have had patients here with dislocated joints caused by bad massages."

Zhang said that irregular modern lifestyles and staring at computers or mobile phones for long periods have increased the number of spinal problems being diagnosed - "this now affects 70 to 80 percent of the patients in our hospital." In the hospital's Qinghai Road branch, more than 80 percent of the patients attending are young office workers complaining of neck or back pains. "Some people go to ordinary massage salons for relief but I strongly advise anyone diagnosed with a serious problem like cervical spondylosis to go to a hospital, even though it might not be as convenient."

Liang Yan, a doctor from the Acupuncture Department at Yueyang Hospital, said people should only go to licensed hospitals for acupuncture. "Acupuncture is very complicated. There are very many points and inserting a needle at the wrong point can produce the wrong result. Some practitioners might not only not cure the problem but could make it worse."

Extended bruising

Even relatively safe treatments like cupping can cause harm if not administered properly. Zhang Xueliang said that experienced practitioners knew when to reduce the number of cups or when to change the acupuncture points. "Patients have told me that they felt tired after cupping treatments at health centers and some have suffered extended bruising. The practitioners are to blame for this. They haven't modified the treatments to take into account the individual patient. Some of these patients are getting a lot more than they should."

Zhang said that patients seeking treatments at a private salons should make sure they are given a specific diagnosis and treatment plan and they should check that the practitioner has some recognized qualifications.

The surging demand for TCM has helped create a muddled market. A survey conducted by the Shanghai Pudong New Area TCM Association found more than 2,000 healthcare salons offering TCM health care services escaped inspection because they had not applied to be licensed to practice TCM ¬- TCM therapies are not yet on the official business registration list.

As one of 21 national pilot areas designated by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine to regulate the TCM market, the Pudong health authority has now established qualification and operating standards for the area's salons and licensed the first of six private TCM salons in October.