Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospitals Forbidden from doing Manipulation? WTF?!!!

[Taiwan_Student]

As of April, I learned, that all Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospitals are forbidden from using manipulation or deep massages.

My wife said that this law was passed by "Western Doctors" trying to protect themselves from competition. But that is only what she heard.

Years ago, I had a small accident and fell off my motorcycle and landed on my back. Things were really messed up I much range of motion in my arms and all of my joints ached and I was getting phantom pains.

Did an MRI scan of my spine and the docs at a leading hospital just said normal deterioration and a slightly curved spine. "Live with it" they said and they gave me a nice bag of whopper size Motrin. This did nothing for me but give me stomach trouble...
To make a long story short.. I was taken to a traditional Chinese Medicine Manipulation Man who gave me the full treatment. Massage, the board scraping, the suction cups and the works...

I was restored to near normal. Perhaps better then I actually was before the accident. It's been over 7 years and I go almost weekly. Sometimes due to schedulign problems I can't go for a month or so, I used to run to the local Chinese Hospital. They would give me the herbal medicine and the massage.

Just yesterday I had a bad episode. I could not get out of bed without much pain. I went to the hospital. The usual guy there said no more massages. It was sad. He knew exactly how to cure me but he could not.

He gave me the acupuncture.. Felt great.. during the treatment. But when it came time to get off the bed. I had great pain. I limped into his office. He took pitty on me and sent me to wait until the place closed. Can't tell you what he did. But I felt like a John waiting for a.....

WTF happened... Who passed this midnight legislation against massage therapy. These guys that I used in both public hospitals and private one room joins all had certification from the County Traditional Chinese Manipulation Society and all had degrees from Prestigious places and all the service of their peers whom they call "Masters".
More impotantly... who can we write to concerning this law and what were all these traditional Chinese doctors doing when the law was passed. The doctors themselves know the art of massage as a secondary thing to the Chinese medicine part. But many therapists were only train in the massage end of things and are out of work.. (legally, that is).

[Formosa Fitness]

Can anyone verify this? If true, this is bad news. I had a pinched nerve that left me unable to straighten my leg and the stupid hospital sent me to do physical therapy but all they did was hook me up to the mild shock machine that did nothing. My TCM massage guy fixed it perfectly in 10:00. Without that aspect, the local TCM loses a lot of its value.

[Zla'od]

If massage helps, then skip the middleman and just get a massage.

Massage may have some medical value. TCM has no value and amounts to one giant medical fraud (like chiropractic). Really, if not for the political clout of Chinese "doctors," TCM would have been banned long ago, much like the Daoist priests who psychically diagnosed people's illnesses.

On that note, Taiwan is just brimming with snake-oil nostrums. I remember from Michael Turton's blog that Ma Ying-jeou even endorsed one on TV at one point. If you can invent a new medical superstition, you'll get rich here.

[the bear]

I read an article on this somewhere but can't find it. As I recall the new law is that TCM clinics are not allowed to offer folk remedies that are not covered in TCM certifications. So 正骨 and tuina for example can no longer be offered. Western chiropractic has never been legal here. However folk doctors (for want of a better word) can still offer their services; they just aren't allowed to wear a white gown, cannot advertise as doctors and cannot share premises with registered TCM doctors. The workaround being discussed is to have separate entrances in the same clinic for folk doctors.

[dan2006]

If massage helps, then skip the middleman and just get a massage.

Massage may have some medical value. TCM has no value and amounts to one giant medical fraud (like chiropractic). Really, if not for the political clout of Chinese "doctors," TCM would have been banned long ago, much like the Daoist priests who psychically diagnosed people's illnesses.

On that note, Taiwan is just brimming with snake-oil nostrums. I remember from Michael Turton's blog that Ma Ying-jeou even endorsed one on TV at one point. If you can invent a new medical superstition, you'll get rich here.

The largest fraud is the medical industry pushing all the drugs they do.

I have had personal experience with TCM both in Taiwan and in Canada, and for a problem I had, it brought it under control within a few months. My doctor didn't wan to believe that and so said that my body dealt with the problem on it's own. (not likely, as it was getting worse before my TCM got it to stop)

TCM has thousands of years of history. From my personal experience, i wholeheartedly believe in it

[Homey]

Sad development in a country where 'special massage' shops appear to operate without problems, but something that can really help long term is banned. I smell money and corruption influencing lawmakers. We are all used to China destroying their culture and heritage, not sure why Taiwan would want to follow. These arts need to be preserved and spread, not outlawed. Let the consumers sort it out. If it helps people, then let them do it.

[Kea]

to the OP. I sympathise about your back, I have been there with continual pain. I used tui nar often. Yet, I found the tui nar only gave temporary relief, while since stopping it and beginning hard hiking and pull ups and stretches, I've had years of improvement.

I encourage you to start a regular routine of stretching, pull ups, and other back exercises. It really helped me. Oh, and leg/hip flexibility, which is one of those things I know I should do, but never do enough of.

Good luck.

[Taiwan_Student]

Kia! Thank you. What you said is exactly what my "tui nar" recomends. Easier said then done. I have a ton of excuses. I'm about ten kilo's over ideal weight. I have some knee and foot problems too. Please PM me. Maybe you can offer me some ideas at stealing more time or what low stress, in the begging exercises I should try.

I should ween myself off. The most I can go with out problems coming back is two to three months.

As for some other posts... Traditional medicine does work! I could not walk! I was in terrible pain! My nerves felt like an electrical storm. The traditional healer/chiropractor tap the wrists. Told me my symptoms, when right to my back. Touched a nerve. Owww what pain. He said this is where the problem is.. .

After treatment.. everything came alive I'll tell you. WIth a big burp, my stomach came alive. I had good digestion. I had full movement, Phantom pain disappeared. I'm running and playing with my kids and students.
All western medicine offered me was a big bag a Motrin. Please!!!
I was dragged down to the Chinese chiropractor kicking and screaming. I really did not believe it.
To the poster who said cut out the middleman. There is no middle man. These practiioners are fully trained in Medicine and manipulation. This is not a red light massage. It's actually quite painful yet, good.. Maybe I'm a masochist. Serioulsy.. no. it helps...
I used the Traditional hospital as my emergency place. When they give me a massage, they usually go too easy on me and give me the Waiguo treatment. I told them, I'm used to it. Give me the works...

[Kea]

np, pm sent

EDIT: My offer is withdrawn as good-hearted PM was ignored. Why did I bother . Bye.

[Belgian Pie]

It's actually quite painful yet, good..

According to Chinese believe ... the more pain the better. While I was in the hospital and just stitched up my wife pushed me to have my back slapped like it was a punch ball, to keep the chi flowing or something ... just ridiculous. Several times a day around the ward people got slapped like mad ...