Gua Sha Therapy (Scraping Therapy) - A Chinese Traditional Folk Medicinal Technique

Scraping therapy ( gua sha therapy ) originated as a folk medicinal technique, and has a very long history. In Effective Formulas Handed Down for Generations, written in 1337 by Wei Yilin, a physician of the Yuan Dynasty, it says, "With wet hemp scrape the surface of the neck, elbow, knee and wrist until there is miliary cutaneous bleeding. Cover the body with thick clothes and quilts. Then, administer oral ly a little rice porridge or decoction of Chinese green onion and fer mented soybean, or fresh Chinese onion tea. After sweating, the ill ness will be healed. This is an effective method of loosening and re laxing the skin. "

The book is a systematic account of scraping thera py. The technique is to scrape the surface (skin) of certain parts of the body to loosen the pores in order to get rid of pathological evils for the purpose of treatment.

After scraping, there should be miliary bleeding under the skin in different degrees. Scraping therapy used as a folk medicine technique without systematic theoretical founda tion is mainly applied in the case of common colds, fever, heat stroke, acute enterogastritis, and pain in the shoulder, back, legs, etc.

The gua sha tools are materials with smooth edges, such as chinaware, silver coins, bamboo plates, jade tool and buffalo horn, lubricated with water, alcohol and vegetable oil.

However, along with the development of modern medical science and accumulation of medical knowledge, this ancient folk medicine technique was gradually forgotten, except in rural ar eas where modem medical care was lacking. There it was still used to relieve uncomplicated ailments.

But while people in modern times are enjoying the comforts of civilization and good health brought about by high techniques and new medical skills, they are experiencing damage caused by environ mental pollution, ecological imbalance and the side-effects of chemi cal drugs.

According to a report from the Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center of China' s Health Ministry, in recent years among hospitalized patients there have been up to 192,000 deaths each year because of adverse drug reactions. Drug-induced deaths are ten times the number of deaths due to infectious diseases.

All these things bring about a new crisis in medical treatment. People are re alizing that the more advanced the techniques are, the more serious the crisis will be. It therefore forces medical workers to search for natural methods from traditional medicine as the new medical thera pies. In this connection, scraping therapy (gua shatherapy) is being welcomed more and more because of its obvious effectiveness, no side-effects, low cost and simple application.