Tuina-Asian Bodywork

Tuina is usually translated as push-pull or push-grasp. It is a therapeutic modality that has been practiced two thousand-plus years and is characterized by specific massage techniques such as hand rolling, knuckle rolling, grasping, and kneading to name a few. Initially it was developed to set broken and dislocated bones, and restore structural alignment.

In Chinese hospitals, the tuina department offers treatment that resembles the Eastern equivalent of chiropractic. Beyond an education in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Chinese tuina practitioners have an extensive education in musculoskeletal disorders and diagnoses, radiographic examination, massage techniques, and joint manipulation. When I first saw a patient being adjusted in the tuina department I could not believe my eyes. It occurred to me that tuina has been practiced in China for a long time. I didn’t know how long at the time but surely adjusting the spine was not a relatively recent alternative therapy invented in the United States.

Some of the doctors there had never heard of chiropractic. So much for the popular belief of chiropractic being a little over a century old Western born alternative therapy. In fact, the Egyptians have a history of bone manipulation as well and “chiropractic” has had a parallel development throughout history in many different cultures.

Today, in the United States, a practitioner needs a license (chiropractic or osteopathic) to adjust the spine and joints of the extremities leaving just the massage techniques to the tuina practitioners. Fortunately, in this office we have the license to adjust and patients enjoy treatments that may tend toward tuina or chiropractic.