ACTCM student Brenda Hatley on the U.S. Wushu Team

A student at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine has won a spot on the U.S. Wushu team. Her name is Brenda Hatley and you can read all about her at this website.

The U.S. Wushu Team is not super well-funded, so if you can please make a donation so that Brenda can go compete at the Wushu World Games in Turkey this fall!

There is a lot of cross-over between the worlds of martial art and Chinese medicine. Both developed from the same philosophical framework of Yin and Yang, the five phases, bagua, and so on. Many famous martial arts masters were also Chinese medicine doctors. Two that come to mind are Wong Fei Hung and Wang Ziping.

Wong Fei Hung has been portrayed extensively in film and television but is most famous in the U.S. from the Once Upon a time in China film series starring Jet Li. The movies are a lot of fun to geek out to if you are a fan of both martial arts and Chinese medicine - Wong is seen doing martial arts heroics and saving lives with acupuncture. There is even a scene where he educates Western doctors in acupuncture.

Wang Ziping (1881-1973) of Cangzhou in Hebei province, and was an expert in several martial arts including bajiquan, piguaquan and xingyiquan. He was also an expert bone-setter and traumatologist. You can learn more about him at this website. His daughter Wang Jurong also became a well-known martial artist, and his granddaughters are also continuing the family tradition.

My martial arts teacher, Dr. Alex Feng, is also a Chinese medicine doctor, and was my original inspiration for going into the Chinese medicine field. Tom Bisio and Frank Butler are both martial artists with successful Chinese medicine practices, and Tom Bisio wrote a popular book on how to treat martial arts and other sports injuries using Chinese medicine. The list goes on and on.

As a practical matter, knowledge of the body and how it moves is essential in both martial arts and medicine. Observation, timing and sensitivity are all skills that are strengthened and reinforced by cross-training in martial arts and Chinese medicine. If you're studying one, consider studying the other as well.

Herbal Remedies for your Gym Bag

Our poor neglected blog is coming back! Take a look at this article featuring Tom Bisio and Frank Butler's Zheng Gu Tui Na physical medicine: Herbal Remedies for your Gym Bag.

Fat Turtle Herb Company carries most of the products mentioned in the article, so give us a buzz at orders@fatturtleherbs.com or 310-691-5226 if you want to try these in the clinic or for yourself.

Nini and I will be attending the Zheng Gu Tui Na seminar in San Diego in a few weeks. This is excellent stuff to know and will be immediately useful in practice. I actually met Tom Bisio when I was working at Kamwo - he seems like a nice guy.

Dr. Xu Jun Ming of Monterey Park, Die Da Expert

Hey this is Jonah and two days ago I too got a treatment at the hands (literally) of Dr. Xu Jun Ming. Nini previously posted about how we found Dr. Xu and her treatment. Tuesday we were back for a follow-up and I got to thinking about the strained muscle in my back that was bothering me.

Usually pain doesn't stick too closely to me, but this muscle strain wasn't going away for two to three weeks, and thoughts of mortality began creeping in (does this mean I'm "old"? If I had been doing yoga every morning would it not have happened?). So I took the 3 pm appointment.

We all went into the treatment room and Dr. Xu turned to face me.

"So, what's your problem?"

I described it to him - a nagging soreness to the left of my spine in the midback region, difficulty twisting, some sacral pain. After about one minute of questions, he had me lie down and started palpation. Does it hurt here? How about here? More here? Or here?

"Mm," he said. "Muscles problem."

Then the treatment: 20 minutes of continuous intense tui na with hands like iron. Following that, 4-5 stationary cups left on for about 10 minutes - I'm not sure, I dozed off. Then finished with electroacupuncture directly into the affected muscle - six needles in all, all hooked up to leads, pulsing strongly and regularly and making the muscle jump for another 20-30 minutes.

"Is it too strong?"

"Well, it's hard to tell. It feels pretty strong, but it's okay."

"Sometimes it feels strong in the beginning, and then not so bad." He left the room.

The electroacupuncture felt like six strong dwarves punching me in unison. For half an hour. It didn't stop feeling strong, but it wasn't excruciatingly painful either. Afterwards I felt very sore, but good.

The next day, Wednesday, I felt even more sore. Even after graduating from an acupuncture program, I had the same treasonous thoughts most patients have: "my god, what did he do to me? I'm worse than before!"

Oh ye of little faith. Today I feel great. The muscle is noticeably looser, the pain is nearly gone. Go get acupuncture for all your aches and pains. Do it now, don't be afraid.