🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Massage is a form of external treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine, guided by TCM theory, especially meridian theory, emphasizing the organic connection between the body surface and internal organs via meridians and acupoints. Diseases in internal organs can manifest on the body surface through meridians, and stimulating the body surface via meridians and acupoints can transmit therapeutic "information" to diseased organs, thus exerting treatment effects. Common massage techniques include:
1. Pushing Method
Apply pressure with fingers or palm on a patient’s specific area and push in a single direction. Suitable for head, face, limbs, and chest-abdomen. Functions: dispelling wind-cold, promoting blood circulation, resolving stasis, regulating qi, relieving pain, relaxing tendons and unblocking meridians.
2. Grasping Method
Use the thumb and any one or several of the other four fingers to grasp a specific body part or acupoint, alternating between lifting and releasing. Suitable for neck, shoulders, back, and limbs. Functions: opening orifices to clear mind, expelling wind-cold, relaxing tendons and unblocking meridians.
3. Pressing Method
Apply pressure with fingertip or palm on a specific body area or acupoint, press downward and maintain pressure briefly, followed by slight kneading. Often used in combination with rubbing. Fingertip pressing suitable for all acupoints; palm pressing suitable for back, waist, and limbs. Functions: unblocking meridians, relieving spasm, adjusting joints.
4. Rubbing Method
Place the palm on a specific body area and perform circular, gentle rubbing movements. Commonly used on the abdomen, also applicable to areas with severe bruises or swelling. Functions: relieving pain, harmonizing blood and qi, regulating digestion, eliminating accumulation and promoting bowel movement.
5. Kneading Method
Use fingers, thenar eminence, hypothenar eminence, or palm to gently rotate and knead a specific area or acupoint. Suitable for head, face, chest-abdomen, and limbs. Functions: unblocking meridians, reducing swelling and nodules, resolving stasis and relieving pain, harmonizing stomach and spleen.
6. Rubbing Method (Friction)
Use the base of the palm or the thenar/hypothenar eminence to perform rapid back-and-forth friction along a long section of the body surface. Often used with massage mediums such as honghua oil or ginger-scallion water. Functions: invigorating yang energy, warming and unblocking meridians, promoting qi flow, activating blood, resolving stasis, expelling wind-cold, relieving pain, strengthening spleen and stomach.
7. Chopping Method
Clasp the limb with both palms, apply opposing force for quick rubbing, moving up and down during the motion. Functions: harmonizing blood and qi, relaxing tendons and unblocking meridians. Commonly used on limbs, often serves as a concluding technique in massage.
8. Shaking Method
One hand holds the distal end of the patient’s limb, the other hand supports the joint being shaken (shoulder, wrist, hip). Using the joint as a pivot, perform circular, repetitive movements within the maximum range. Functions: lubricating joints, loosening adhesions, restoring joint function. Commonly used for hemiplegia, limb numbness, and periarthritis.
9. Pinching Method
Use the thumb and index, middle, or index-middle fingers to pinch and rub the patient’s fingers or toes. Functions: unblocking meridians, lubricating joints. Commonly used for hemiplegia, cervical spondylosis, and numbness or pain in extremities.
10. Pointing Method
Press with fingertip, interphalangeal joint, or elbow on a specific body area or acupoint, gradually increasing pressure. Commonly used on abdomen, back, waist, and limbs. Functions: warming meridians, regulating internal organs, activating blood and relieving pain. Suitable for abdominal and limb pain.
11. Shaking Method
Grasp the distal end of the patient’s limb with both hands, apply quick, continuous, small-amplitude vertical tremors. Functions: unblocking meridians, regulating tendons and bones, improving joint mobility. Often used as a concluding technique.
12. Slapping Method
Form a hollow fist with slightly bent fingers, lightly slap the affected area. Commonly used on neck, shoulders, back, and limbs. Functions: regulating qi flow, activating blood and unblocking meridians.