Tui na (Chinese: 推拏[citation needed] or 推拿; pinyin: tuī ná), is a form of Chinese manipulative therapy often used in conjunction with acupuncture, moxibustion, fire cupping, Chinese herbalism, t'ai chi, and qigong. It is a hands-on body treatment that uses Chinese taoist and martial art principles in an attempt to bring into balance the eight principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The practitioner may brush, knead, roll/press and rub the areas between each of the joints (known as the eight gates) to open the body's defensive (wei) chi and get the energy moving in the meridians as well as the muscles. The practitioner can then use range of motion, traction, massage, with the stimulation of acupressure points; this is claimed to treat both acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions, as well as many non-musculoskeletal conditions. Tui na is an integral part of TCM and is taught in TCM schools as part of formal training in Oriental medicine. Many East Asian martial arts schools also teach tui na to their advanced students for the treatment and management of injury and pain due to training. As with many other traditional Chinese medical practices, there are several different schools with greater or smaller differences in their approach to the discipline. It is related also to Chinese massage or anma (按摩)
In ancient China, medical therapy was often classified as either "external" or "internal" treatment. Tui na was one of the external methods, thought to be especially suitable for use on the elderly population and on infants. Today it is subdivided into specialized treatment for infants, adults, orthopedics, traumatology, cosmetology, rehabilitation, sports medicine, etc.
History Similar techniques date back at least as far as the Shang Dynasty, around 1700 BC. Ancient inscriptions on oracle bones show that massage was used to treat infants and adult digestive conditions. In his book Jin Gui Yao Lue, Zhang Zhongjing, a famous physician in the Han Dynasty (206 BC), wrote: "As soon as the heavy sensation of the limbs is felt, "Daoyin", "Tui na", "Zhenjiu" and "Gaomo", all of which are therapeutic methods, are carried out in order to prevent [...] the disease from gaining a start." Around AD 700, Tui na had developed into a separate study in the Imperial Medical College. The first reference to this type of external treatment was called "anwu", then the more common name became "anmo". It was subsequently popularized and spread to many other countries such as Korea and Japan. As the art of massage continued to develop and gain structure, it merged (around 1600 AD) with another technique called tui na, which was the specialty of bone-setting using deep manipulation. It was also around this time that the different systems of tui na became popular, each with its own sets of rules and methods. Today, the term Tui na has replaced anmo within China and in the West. The term anmo is still used in some surrounding countries such as Japan. Naprapathy is also called Tui na massage.
