In my practice of Chinese medicine, I approach each patient with the idea that they present a unique and special manifestation of a more general disharmony. When I decide how to treat the person who has come to me, I can view their situation with the certain therapies in mind. These therapies are a graduated approach to designing a truly holistic treatment plan. These are:

(1) Relaxation
(2) Exercise
(3) Dietary therapy
(4) Massage/Self massage (5) Herbal medicine
(6) Acupuncture

When I form a treatment plan, I always start with the least invasive techniques first. As you can see from the above list, the most invasive treatment is last on the list. I always look at the lifestyle of the person first i.e diet, exercise and relaxation. These, then, form what are called the self applied health regulation therapies, that is, the patient can do these at home or at work for free.
Massage is the first hands-on therapy that is on the list.

Massage can be broken down into two parts. The first is massage that is done by a qualified practitioner and the other can be performed by the patient on themselves. We will look at the first one here.

There are five schools of massage in China

One finger pushing - (Yi Zhir Chan Fa)

Rolling - (Guen Fa)

Nei Gong - literally "internal training", this technique involves the actual external transmission of the practitioners Qi to another person usually through their hand and fingers. It is called internal training because of the lengthy internal training it requires to be able to master one's own Qi to the point of being therapeutically effective. This type of training can be used for oneself or another person in a helpful way and also can be directed in a harmful way to another person such as in the Dim Mak practice. I only study, practice and recommend methods for helping people.

Pointing - this is a type of "acupressure" that originated with Gong Fu schools to revive persons in emergency situations due to martial arts training and combat. This "Hit Medicine" can be looked at as the beginning of Chinese traumatology. Many martial art teachers were also practitioners of Chinese medicine. When some one was injured in training they would be able to treat them there on the spot. As an adjunct to this, herbal formulas were developed both for external application and internal usage to treat martial injuries. The Shao Lin Monastery has a long history of herbal formula development by Buddhist monk doctors to treat injuries and internal pathologies not only to the martial monks but also the local people in the surrounding villages.

Bone setting - this subspecialty of Tui Na is basically Chinese orthopedics. This is used as injury management in such cases as setting broken bones and dislocations.
 
Remedial pediatric - this method is widely used in China for children under two years and children up to five to six years old. This technique has a wonderful effect on children who are too young to have acupuncture or who, along with their parents, are wary of needling. This can also be combined with internal herbal therapy. There are some very excellent practitioners of pediatric Tui Na in the states now.

It promotes structural and locomotive health by regulating the nervous system - the Qi will flow through the body properly. This will increase mobility, range of motion and decrease pain.

It improves resistance to disease by boosting the Defensive and immunological Qi of the body.

It "flushes" metabolic waste out of the body. Rolling is used directly on sprains with bruising and swelling.

The Rolling Method, which is from Shanghai, treats locomotive and structural problems. It was created by Dr. Ting Ji-Feng, the Grandmaster of the Rolling method, and because of political repression, was quietly taught to his students at the time. It went on to become the most popular remedial massage in China. The teachers with whom I studied with at Dechen Yonten Dzo Institute of Buddhist Medicine, studied with Dr. Ting in the 1980's. The rolling method is best used for joint and soft tissue problems such as chronic joint pain, tenosynovitis, peripheral adhesions of the shoulder, contusions, sprains, strains, and impaired movement. It is also indicated for torticollis (wry neck), insomnia, migraine headache and high blood pressure.

The One-Finger Method concentrates on "one finger pushing" to push acupoints along energy channels by concentrating the practitioners force through the tip of the thumb or fingers. It is especially useful for treating internal, pediatric and gynecological diseases. This method arose during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279CE) and most of the original movements are still in use today.

When treating a client I frequently use both methods in the same session. For an example, most of my clients have some sort of upper body tension which manifests as upper back, shoulder and neck tightness. If I am doing just hands on work to those areas, I will use shiatsu methods to loosen the muscles, rolling technique to further loosen the muscles and open the channels and then use one finger pushing to work specific points in the areas. I also use Tui Na in combination with other modalities such as acupuncture, moxa and internal herbal treatments. I find Tui Na especially helpful with patients with "tennis elbow" and heel spurs.

I perform Tui Na with either the patient seated or lying down. Treatment can be supplemented by external therapies such as herbal liniments, plasters or fomentation's. In many patients, Tui Na methods achieve even better results than acupuncture.

Tui Na must be learned from an experienced instructor in person. There is no way to learn this method from a book or just by having it demonstrated to you. My teachers required me to practice on a traditional rice bag daily for many hours over a long period of time and on my fellow students under their supervision before I was allowed to practice on anyone else.

Duration - has to last long enough.
Force or power - has to be applied with enough force.
Gentleness - there should be no pain if you can help it during the procedure.
Evenness of Rhythm -

To be able to achieve the above results one must practice 300 to 500 hours on the rice bag. Also, not only should you be in good physical shape, but you should be practicing some type of internal Qi exercises such as an internal Qi Gong practice.