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Tui-Na is the branch of Chinese medicine that treats the patient using only the physician's hands to bring about a change in the patient's condition. Like Chinese medicine itself, Tui-Na can be viewed as a sum of three different styles or systems. It essentially boils down to three main skills - soft tissue treatment, skeletal alignment, and energy issuance. Tui-Na is the least invasive of the 3 modalities of traditional Chinese medicine, with no foreign substance whatsoever penetrating the patient's skin or being ingested. While the casual observer may draw parallels with massage or chiropractic, Tui-Na is a very different science when viewed as a whole, even though there are techniques within Tui-Na that resemble the other two modalities of manual therapy.

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History | Problems/Diseases

History

The roots of Tui-Na (also spelled tuina) were developed long before acupuncture, using manual stimulation of affected areas to bring about pain relief. Primitive man instinctively knew that by rubbing painful areas on the body, discomfort would be lessened. With the discovery and evolution of acupuncture meridian theory, Chinese massage therapy also evolved, first known as An Mo (pushing & kneading) in ancient times. By the Ming Dynasty, the technical and theoretical level had risen dramatically, and the new science of manual therapy was renamed "Tui-Na" (pushing & grasping).

Tui-Na has always had a close relationship to Chinese martial arts, as traumatic injuries (such as dislocations, sprains, fractures, etc.) are commonplace in any combative training environment, and the most readily available treatment tools were right at the fingertips of the school's headmaster. Most of history's most famous Chinese martial artists were also exceptional physicians, most notably Sil Lum Hung Kuen's Wong, Fei-hung, who oversaw the Po Chi Lam clinic in Futshan. Cantonese martial artists developed a special traumatological science known as “Dit Da” or “Tit Dar” in the Cantonese dialect (or “Tie Da” in Mandarin). Dit Da medicine generally combines manipulative therapies with the best internal and external use herbal formulas (commonly referred to under the blanket term of "Dit Da Jow" by foreigners) for traumatic injuries along with Tui-Na manipulations for treatment.

Professor Yu, Da-fang is acknowledged as the father of Modern Orthodox Tui-Na. Professor Yu was the first to establish a separate Tui-Na department at a major TCM university, gaining fame throughout China from his home base in Shanghai. He took three major systems of Tui-Na (One-finger meditation, rolling, and Shaolin planar pushing) and combined them into one, further systematizing and refining them through his years of practice. His research allowed him to verify the effectiveness of the ancient techniques and refine others, giving him unprecedented prowess as a healer and an instructor. Upon Professor Yu's emigration to the USA, his powerful reputation preceded him, and all of the major acupuncture schools in southern California sought him out as part of their faculty in spite of his inability to speak English. Professor Yu was the first to combine traditional Chinese manual medicine with modern Western diagnostic testing methods. His ability to apply traditional Chinese manual medicine in a western diagnostic framework truly set Dr. Yu apart from his contemporaries.

Throughout his many years as a professor and a physician, Dr. Yu taught many thousands of students, yet in keeping with traditional Chinese culture, he only took two disciples: one Chinese and one Korean (Dr. Jae-Man Kim). Dr. Kim soon surpassed the Chinese disciple, having learned to speak fluent Mandarin and distinguishing himself as a dedicated and fast learner. The Yu family took him in as their own, allowing him to live under their roof and serve out his discipleship in the most traditional manner. Like his master, Dr. Kim is also highly sought after as a Tui-Na instructor for all of the major oriental medicine schools in southern California, and he frequently is invited to lecture and travel to give seminars. His practice in Burbank operates at overflow capacity, and he now heads the World Tui-Na Association. Following Professor Yu's untimely passing, the Yu family recognized Dr. Jae-Man Kim as the sole heir to Professor Yu, Da-fang's lineage teachings.

Following a spiral fracture injury to his ankle, Dr. Mark Cheng was fortunate enough to receive treatment from Dr. Kim upon the referral of Mestre' TJ Desch. Dr. Cheng and Dr. Kim developed a close relationship because of their mutual love of martial arts, and Dr. Kim brought about a speedy recovery for Sifu Cheng. As time progressed, Dr. Cheng became part of the Kim family, and he was accepted as disciple candidate and intern to serve directly under Dr. Kim's tutelage with the approval of Professor Yu's widow, Dr. Wu Rong Nan Wan. It was Dr. Kim who constantly taught Dr. Cheng that Tui-Na was a full system of medicine, not merely rubbing some Tiger Balm or scented oil on a sore spot, as some would have the public believe. In fact, scented oils and creams are very rarely used in Dr. Cheng's Tui-Na treatments.

Problems/Diseases Treated by Tui-Na

Starting from his initial exposure to Tui-Na therapy with Master Hong Li-rong, to his time at Emperor's College with Professor Hua Gu, and through his apprenticeship under Dr. Jae-Man Kim, Sifu Cheng had the unique opportunity to see Tui-Na medicine applied to a wide variety of diseases and pain syndromes with amazing success.

Dr. Cheng himself has used Tui-Na successfully to treat a number of internal AND external medical problems, such as: