What is Chinese Massage?

Chinese massage, also called Tuina, is a traditional Chinese therapeutic practice that uses hands to twist, pull, turn, push, and knead the human body based on demic meridians and acupoints. It is a non-drug natural and physical therapy. The massagists usually practice different skills in different levels of strength on the patient's body, like injured and discomfort area or specific acupoints to dredge the meridians, promote vital energy and blood, and relieve pain, reconcile yin and yang, and prolong life.

What are the techniques?

Pressing (an)

It involves fingertips or palms to press the patient's body rhythmically.

Palpating (mo)

Palpating refer to the message exercise that uses fingertips or palms to massage certain parts of the body gently.

Palpating (mo)

Palpating refer to the message exercise that uses fingertips or palms to massage certain parts of the body gently.

Pushing (tui)

Pushing is pretty easy to understand as using palms or fingertips to push certain areas of the body.

Pulling (na)

It usually refers to the practice that pulls the skins of certain parts of the body.

Kneading (rou)

It refers to the practice that the physicians gently knead certain parts of the patients in a rotating manner.

Malaxate (nie)

It refers to the exercise that malaxates up the skin and muscle from the surface of the bone. It’s similar to kneading, excepting less forced.

Hitting (da)

It refers to the practice that used fists or palms to hit certain body areas to relieve pain.

What are the health benefits?

Dredge the meridians

The first and major benefit of the Chinese Tuina is dredging the meridians. Take Zusanli massaging as an example; digestive juice's secretion function can be significantly improved by pushing the spleen. From modern medicine, massage mainly promotes the metabolic processes between blood, lymphatic circulation, and different tissues by stimulating the peripheral nerves. All the tissues and organs can be better coordinated, and the somatic function's metabolism can be improved.

Reconcile vital energy and blood

Another great benefit of the Chinese message is reconciling the vital energy and blood. The Chinese masseurs can apply gentle force on the meridians and acupoints to regulate the whole body to harmonize qi and blood and enhance the body's health. Modern medicine believes that the mechanical stimulation of Tuina massage techniques can convert the mechanical energy into thermal energy to increase the temperature of regional tissues, promote the expansion of capillaries, improve blood and lymphatic circulation, reduce blood viscosity, and reduce the resistance of peripheral blood vessels to relieve the burden of the heart and prevent cardiovascular disease.

Improve immunity

The clinical practices and the animal experiments proved that the Chinese massage has the effects of anti-inflammatory, abatement of fever, and immunity enhancement. Take infantile dysentery as an example; the symptoms of the children who experienced the Chinese Tuina are reduced or disappeared. Compared to the peering children, the ones who experienced Chinese Tuina practice are less prone to be ill, and their weight, height, and appetite are better than other children.

What are the side effects of Chinese massage?

1.Syncope

If you have the massage under hunger or are nervous, weak, or tiring, you may faint with the long and hard Chinese massage. In this case, the massage has to stop, and you need to lie near the ventilation and keep your head down. You will be fine in a while.

2.Skin abrasion

Sometimes, the hard kneading and malaxating may abrade your skin. Once that happens, the massage on that area of the skin has to stop, and some surgical measures must be taken to prevent infection.

3.Bruising

Most of the bruises are caused by rude massage skills, but in some cases, it’s because the patients have fewer soterocytes, or the soterocytes they have do not function well. In this case, the massage must be stopped immediately. Those bruises can disappear in 2-3 days, but please have your soterocytes checked in the hospital if they don't.

How to prepare for a massage?

1.Wash your hands with warm water and have your fingernails manicured; meanwhile, take off everything on your hand that may hinder practice.
2.Be honest about your health problem and inform your massager of any pain or ailments you have.
3.Be as receptive and open to the massage process as possible.
4.Control your massage duration to be within 20-30 mins, not too long.
5.Do not take a massage under the state of anger, excitement, fear, or sorrow.
6.Take the massage two hours after the meal.
7.Make sure that the indoor air can circulate.
8.Make sure you understand the acupoints about to be massaged and be aware of the used techniques.

How often should you get a Chinese massage?

For the sake of your health, it’s suggested that you have Chinese Tuina two times every day, in the morning and evening. Each time should be 20 mins. It would do you the best if you can plan a treatment course. It’s suggested that one course of treatment should last 12 days, and you can have a week to rest before the next class. If you skip the rest and keep the practice every day, your body will grow dependent on the massage. If you are doing the Chinese Tuina to help recover, please seek advice from your doctor for the course of treatment.

How old do you have to be to get a Chinese Tuina?

In the medical sense, children refer to kids from zero to fourteen years old. In this stage, they are still growing, which requires the Tuina skills to be even, gentle, and lasting. The massage sequence is also different from that of adults. It must behead, arms, chest, back, and last legs.

Can Chinese Tuina help to lose weight?

Some people think that Chinese Tuina must be able to help losing weight since it’s so powerful. True, the Chinese Tuina has some effect in burning the calories as the fat in massaged areas softens with the massage, especially in the waist. However, the Chinese Tuina only has a limited effect, and it’s very slow. To lose weight, you have to do exercises regularly and eat healthily.

Does the Chinese massage involve acupuncture?

Both Chinese massage and acupuncture belong to traditional Chinese medicine, but they are practiced separately. Both of them can help to perform treatment, but acupuncture is better. In Chinese massage, the fingertips are used as a needle to help relieve pain in some acupoints. If Tuina doesn’t help, acupuncture can do better.

Chinese Massage vs. Thai Massage vs. Japanese Massage vs. European Massage vs. South Korean Massage

Chinese massage

Chinese massage is the foundation of all massages. It’s a therapeutic massage based on traditional Chinese medicine principles. Doing the Chinese massage can improve body immunity, dredge the meridians, balance the Yin and Yang, and prolong life span. The massage mainly focuses on six parts: head, arms, chest, abdomen, legs, back, and hip.

Thai Massage

Thai massage is a featured massage modality that popular in Thailand; it’s evolved from Chinese massage. Such massage mainly focuses on joints, and the techniques are quite simple and practical. The Thai masseurs usually start from your toes and end at your head, and you will have some large movements. A Thai massage right after the bath can allay tiredness, recover strength, and enhance joint ligament's resilience and vitality to promote blood circulation.

Japanese Massage

Japanese massage usually applies delicate techniques in a strong sense of rhythm. When applying force, instead of wrist force, the massagists take the limb or the fingertips as support and use their body weight to apply force vertically to the support center. The area of shiatsu is not a specific point, but big. Sometimes, the shiatsu happens to be a meridian point of traditional Chinese medicine, but it is not called acupoint.
In Japanese massage, various plant essential oils are used, making the body comfortable and fragrant after the massage. It is suitable for women who have sagging skin, wrinkles, and bad appetite.

European Massage

European-style massage is gentle, mainly focusing on pushing, pressing, and touching. The European masseurs usually massage along the direction of muscle fiber, lymph, and blood vessel, producing a relaxed, natural, and comfortable feeling. In most European-style massages, various aromatic oils are applied.

South Korean Massage

South Korean massage is evolved from a Korean home massage and is also known as Korean loose bone in the beauty industry. In addition to the bone loosing, push oil and hot compress are classic Korean massages. The usual procedure for masseurs is to loose your bones first and then use maifan stone or hot water bottle to apply heat to the skin. Besides, in South Korean massage, you will also wash your face and hair and pick your ears. After a full set of massages, you will feel more energetic.

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