Traditional Chinese medicine takes root in Palestine

Suheir Subhi finally gets some relief from her chronic shoulder and neck pain, thanks to help originated thousands of miles away and dates back many centuries.

Subhi, a 40-year-old professional who commutes daily to and from work at an advertising company, is one of the patients receiving care from Ousama Habiballah, the first and only Palestinian in the West Bank city of Ramallah to have had formal training in traditional Chinese medicine.

For almost two months, Dr. Habiballah has been providing Subhi with weekly 40-minute sessions of acupuncture, cupping and therapeutic massage at his one-room practice within an alternative medicine clinic inside an office tower in downtown Ramallah.

The combination treatment helps stimulate blood circulation and the flow of "qi," or vital energy, and restore balance in the body, thereby reducing pain and fatigue, Habiballah said, applying heated cupping and acupuncture on Subhi.

"I feel more relaxed and feel the tension greatly reduced. The muscles are more relaxed; the shoulders are more relaxed; the neck is more flexible," Subhi said after the procedures. "There's a big difference."

Habiballah, in his early 30s, graduated from the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing in 2011. He takes an average of six patients a day at his practice, which has been in business for almost three years and opens from about 10 a.m. through 7:30 p.m., most of the week.

Some days, he would travel to East Jerusalem to work at a clinic dedicated to traditional medicine.

Leafing through a slightly dog-eared Chinese-language booklet containing a gist of Compendium of Materia Medica, a classic in traditional Chinese medicine, at a desk inside his tiny practice, Habiballah said his dream is to open a comprehensive center in Palestine for Chinese philosophy and medicine.

"I think that this center can promote the Chinese methods of therapy to heal problems," Habiballah said. "It can be a center for healthy people as well, offering courses in martial arts, de-stressing techniques and even herbal remedies."

His practice currently does not prescribe herbal medicine for its patients.

Habiballah blames the tense political situation and poor economic conditions for the high incidence of stress and hypertension among Palestinians.

He also points to some of the poor lifestyles in modern societies due to the increase in technology use worldwide.

"People are spending more time on computers and smartphones working through the life's stresses," he said, adding that the lack of exercise among some Palestinians could also aggravate their health problems.

And Habiballah's services could help relieve many of these problems.

Acupuncture, he said, relieves pain and fatigue for the patient to regain balance in the body. Inserting small needles into as many as 350 acupuncture points in the body can stimulate the nerves, muscles and connective tissue.

Unfamiliar to many locals, acupuncture can also be used for cosmetic purposes such as skin lifting, and for weight loss, which makes the summer the busiest season for Habiballah.

Although the term Chinese medicine could be a new concept to some Palestinians, the older Palestinian generations have been using some similar methods at home for decades.

Arab culture has always believed and practiced healing with natural remedies similar to Chinese medicine. Some practices, such as cupping and the use of herbs, have been passed on from one generation to another in the Arab world.

"The cupping method is used in both Chinese and Arab medicine," Habiballah said. "The doctor places cups in specific areas on the body, and assesses the patient's condition by observing the skin color of the cupped area to judge blood circulation and the flow of "qi," or vital energy, in the body."

"The color can tell us more about the muscles," he said, referring to subcutaneous bleeding resulted from the procedure.

While the younger generation might be skeptical about these methods, some local villagers still try to avoid the intrusive methods of Western medicine and rely on herbs to treat health problems.

Many have embraced Chinese medicine, Habiballah said, since it does not have any side effects and that it takes the entire human body into account.

"We see the body as a whole unit, and when there is disease, we look to cure the main problem, rather than symptom-relieving," he said.