Magical traditional Chinese medicine: Orthopedic doctors restore bone injuries with just their fingers

A series of video programs on traditional Chinese medicine produced by People's Daily Online documents how traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is being practiced and promoted in China and the United States. The videos also showcase how TCM has been used to improve the health of those living in different communities. In this episode, we will introduce TCM orthopedics.

An old Chinese proverb says that if a person injures one of their bones, they will need to spend 100 days to restore it. Western medicine treats bone dislocation or other ailments with either an immediate surgery or resting with bandages and ice compresses. However, in the hands of TCM practitioners, in just several minutes the bones can be restored, the tendons relieved, and with the body feeling lightened.

A patient suffering from a stiff knee went to the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in China’s Guangdong Province. The patient was treated by Director Physician Lin Dingkun, who was unaided by any equipment or auxiliary medicine, using just his finger to press, knead, rotate, and shake the patient's ailing knee. The patient felt more relaxed and could gradually bend his knee again in only a short time after treatment.

Lin believes that the source of pain originates from where the tendons and bones are connected. As a result, one suffers from bone dislocation and other ailments when one's tendon is out of balance.

The most distinctive practice of TCM orthopedics is manual treatment. It relies on only the hands, experience with manipulation, and the theories of TCM, such as human meridians, bones, joints, and reflex zones. The practitioner helps patients with chronic orthopedic injuries to clear their meridians, adjust their Qi and blood, heal lesions, treat chronic muscle and bone diseases, and relieve pain.

More and more people have been troubled by lumbar and cervical spondylosis in modern society. Ms. Yang is a typical patient suffering from such a problem. As a result of the pain in her cervical spine, she feels sore and dizzy. After palpations, Lin concluded that some lumps and joints were misaligned. Then, a series of simple manipulations—such as pressing the acupressure points, smoothing out the meridians, and joint reduction manipulation, restored the balance of the tendons and bones.

Dr. Zhao Guangwei treated a patient suffering from misaligned fourth and fifth thoracic vertebrae in California. First, Dr. Zhao loosened the patient's backbones by rotating, rubbing, and manipulating the back, then pushed with the patient's exhalation, "snapping" the bone back.

Dr. Liu Hao, a famous TCM practitioner in California, said that traditional Chinese medicine relies on just three fingers, a few needles, and a pen to cure disease. This method, used by practitioners for thousands of years, gets at the heart and essence of traditional Chinese medicine. 

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