Exploring the Environment of China 2011

Xi'an: Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital

by Cheryl Dusky

I came to China not knowing what to expect. I thought we would visit some businesses and schools and maybe make a few friends, luckily I was mistaken. Although we did visit businesses and schools, we also met a lot of really amazing, interesting people along the way and experienced a lot culturally. The culture in China is totally different from that in America. The way the Chinese drive, eat and act in general may be seen as unusual from a western point-of-view. Chinese medicine is also very different from Western medicine.

While exploring the very famous landmarks of Xi'an, we visited a traditional Chinese medicine hospital. The office was small, but welcoming. They had a sign up that was supposed to say "Warmly Welcome the Duquesne University Delegation to Visit Li Zu Massage" but instead of "warmly," it read, "wabmly."

This was a pretty common occurrence during the trip, many translations were wrong and it was always entertaining to read them.

We were given a tour of their facilities and saw patients get acupuncture treatments and fire-cupping treatments done. After this, the doctor spoke to our delegation and then offered to give some of us massages if we were experiencing any pain. I volunteered to get one done for my back. For the past 6 years or so I've had horrible back pain, causing me to pay frequent visits to the chiropractor, and even the hospital on a few occasions, so I figured, why not go for it, it couldn't hurt. The doctor had me lie down on a table on my stomach for the treatment. He started rubbing my lower back and then he pinched and pulled on certain places of my back. It felt strange, but wasn't painful. Then he pulled out this plastic cup with rubber tubing attaching it to a handle that was squeezed to create suction. He put the cup on my low back and it sucked my skin up; I couldn't see anything, but I could feel the suction. It was a weird feeling, but when he was done with the whole treatment my back felt great! Even now, a few months later, I still don't have back pain like I did before. I'm not completely sure what he did, but whatever it was it absolutely helped.

The whole experience was like nothing I've ever been through before. The doctor didn't speak English, he didn't talk the whole time, but he knew what to do based on my body. He felt where the pain was and he fixed it. My whole outlook on medicine has changed because of this. I think that we should try non-invasive, non-chemical options for pain first before we jump to extreme options, like surgery or medications. If it wasn't so inconvenient to get to, to would love to go back and see him a few more times. Since that's not a practical option, I'm going to try to find a doctor back here in Pittsburgh that practices traditional Chinese medicine.