Children with stomach problems? ‘Tui na’ can help, lecturer from Hong Kong’s Baptist University says
Traditional Chinese form of massage therapy aided 65 out of 66 young patients observed over two years, according to therapist Sun Suming
Children suffering from chronic stomach and intestine problems could recover completely through traditional Chinese tui na therapy, according to the Baptist University’s School of Chinese Medicine.
Chinese medicine lecturer and therapist Sun Suming found that 65 out of 66 children he observed over the past two years showed significant improvements when it came to their stomach problems, with 45 of them completely recovering.
“There are many side illnesses that come with functional disorders in the spleen and stomach. Many parents think their children eat too slowly, are too skinny or easy to get sick in general. But they are unaware that these problems are interrelated,” Sun said.
Among these 66 children, aged two months to 13 years old, 58 suffered from chronic cough, asthma, and bed-wetting problems that stemmed from stomach and intestinal disorders.
Use of tui na, which translates as “push and grasp”, to treat patients’ illnesses with manual techniques similar to massage dates back as early as the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644). But Sun said the technique became popular as a means for treating children only in the last decade in mainland China.