Other Related Therapies

Physiotherapy, or manual therapy, is an important form of treatment within Oriental Medicine. Like massage therapy, the practitioner manipulates muscles, tendons and joints to provide a therapeutic effect. Chinese manual therapy is not only for relaxation or improved circulation. It is a powerful medical therapy with a wide range of uses and effects.

Often manual therapies, sometimes called tui na, shiatsu, or die da are used to treat musculoskeletal disorders such as pain, muscle or joint dysfunction.

Exercise therapy may include any of a wide range of therapeutic exercise systems. In addition to "outer" exercise such as those in the aerobic category, patients may be instructed in how to use inner exercises such as tai qi and qi gong. Each is a highly refined series of health-enhancing movements coordinated with the breath. Exercise therapy may be used as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for a particular condition and also as part of a regular program to promote good health.

Diet therapy utilizes the tremendous fund of knowledge about the healing effects of diet handed down through Chinese history. The characteristics of foods are well understood in Chinese culture and can be used to promote health and as treatment of disease. For Westerners, this does not mean that must learn to prepare and enjoy Chinese food! Instead we can apply these concepts within our own cuisine. Typical examples of food therapy might include cooking with ginger to help a person feel warmer in cold weather, or increasing the use of cucumber or melon to help one feel cooler.

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