| Tui Na Tui Na as practiced in the United States is a form of massage that many acupuncturists learn in their training. Tui and Na literally mean pushing and pulling and practitioners are pushing and pulling the skin to ease muscle pain. In China, Tui Na practitioners also perform manipulations of bones, rather like chiropractors do in the United States. Because of the differences in licensure, acupuncturists do not learn this type of practice. Instead, we typically have several chiropractors which whom we work when manipulations are needed. Tui na is generally deep tissue work and can ease muscle pain very effectively. Each practitioner has their own style. Many acupuncturists do a lot of body work and incorporate tui na into their practice a lot. Others do very little body work. It depends upon what each practitioner likes. This can be a very effective addition to acupuncture, particularly for those with muscle pain. After the needles are removed from the body, it can be helpful to have tui na across the sore areas to spread out the flow of qi that is now in the area. As a practitioner, I find it helpful to have this sort of hands on therapy to tell me what is going on underneath the skin. Often after needles are removed I can feel things that I couldn't feel earlier on palpation as the muscles are looser. This allows me then to increase the efficacy of my treatments by at least massaging those deeper levels of tension that weren't felt earlier on. If I find that a patient needs a lot of massage, I usually refer out to a massage therapist. This can be very effective. The needles help loosen up the tight superficial muscles allowing the massage therapist to work more deeply in the areas that are actually damaged by the trauma. By doing this, the massage is far less painful and the massage therapist doesn't have to work nearly as hard to achieve the same results. One person in the practice where I work has said that massage and acupuncture together are like making 2 plus 2 equal 5. You don't just get the results of each treatment but they work synergistically together to be even more effective than one treatment can be alone. |
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