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Dr. DING Hong-shan's Experience of Tuina in Treating
Childhood Cerebral Palsy
DING Kai-yun(-F~ : )
Subei People's Hospital, Jiangsu, China, 225001
My late father Dr. DING Hong-shan was a senior
Chinese medical doctor and learnt thumb-massage
therapy from his forefathers. In his decades of years of
clinical practice, upon the physiological nature of the
children's tender constitution, he created a "one-hand
and three-acupoint Tuina" (the thumb, forefinger and
middle finger of one hand simultaneously massaging
three acupoints or three meridians) in combination with
thumb-massage therapy. It is suitable for childhood limb
diseases, especially for infantile cerebral palsy. It is now
introduced as follows.
Treatment Methods
The practitioner sits facing the child on his parent's leg.
The practitioner's thumb, forefinger and middle finger
are respectively placed on the Stomach Meridian, the
Gallbladder Meridian and the Bladder Meridian. Thumb-
massage therapy is begun from acupoints Biguan (ST
31) and Yinmen (BL 37), with three fingers respectively
along the three meridians to Futu (ST 32), Fengshi(GB
31), Yanglingquan (GB 34), Yinlingquan(SP 9), Zusanli
(ST 36), Weizhong(BL 40), Chengshan(BL 57), Jiexi
(ST 41), Xuanzhong(GB 39), Kunlun(BL 60), Bafeng
(Ex-LE I0), Yongquan(KI 1), etc. This treatment is
performed on one lower limb for 10 min. The other lower
limb is also massaged for 10 min.
After the treatment on the lower limbs, the child lies on
his stomach and the practitioner presses the bilateral
Pishu (BL 20), Weishu (BL 21), Shenshu (BL 23),
Mingmen (GV 4), Baliao (BL31-34), Juliao (GB 29),
Huantiao (GB 30), and Chengfu (BL 36) with thumbs
for about 5 min. Subsequently, the child sits with his
side to the practitioner. The practitioner's one hand fixes
Journal of Acupunctureand Tuina Science.2004, Vol. 2. No.
the child's head, and the thumb and middle finger of the
other hand knead acupoints Fengchi (GB 20), Fengfu
(GV 16), Yamen (GV 15), Baihui (GV 20) and
Sishencong (Ex-HN 1) for about 5 rain. All the
manipulations are performed at the frequency of 120
times per minute.
Finally, the child lies on his stomach, and the practitioner
places his palms on the lower back with one palm on
the other and presses rhythmically. Meanwhile, the
external sides of the practitioner's knees respectively
touch the internal sides of the child's knees to make the
hip joints abduce and extorse for 20-30 times. The
performance should be slow and increased gradually to
avoid iatrogenic injury. Again, the child sits with his
knees straightened. The practitioner holds the child's heel
with one hand and grasps the foot back with the other
hand to dorsally flex the ankle for 20-30 times.
Discussion
Infantile cerebral palsy is a non-progressive brain
disease characterized by muscle motion dysfunction in
which the impaired or maldeveloped upper motor
neurons fail to control the lower motor neurons. In
traditional Chinese medicine, infantile cerebral palsy
belongs to the category of "flaccidity syndrome". At
present, there is no cure for it. Surgery is suitable for the
children over 5 years old, however, it just acts to improve
the clinical symptoms. Within 5 years old, active
conservative measures should be taken to discontinue
the formation and progress of some deformity, which is
helpful for future surgery. Thereafter, conservative
treatment is of extreme importance for infantile cerebral
palsy. The conservative treatment is conducted through
Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science. 2004, Vol. 2, No.5
many methods, including Tuina method. Tuina aims to
improve the children's motor function, stabilize the joints
of the lower limbs, correct the line of force, and
ameliorate gaits. After treatment, thought the cerebral
palsy cannot be cured, it can discontinue its progress
and benefit the functional exercises and limb
development. As the children grow to certain age,
relevant surgery is thus given to relieve the symptoms.
Dr. DING Hong-shan's "one-hand and three-acupoint
Tuina" exerts full use of the combination of point, line
and area of one-thumb Tuina. In the treatment, yangming
meridian, shaoyang meridian and taiyang meridian are
treated to manage "flaccidity syndrome". Liver domi-
nates tendons, and shaoyang meridian is externally-
internally paired with jueyin meridian; kidneys control
bone, and taiyang meridian is externally-internallypaired
with shaoyin meridian. Tendons and bone are nourished
and strengthen, so flaccidity syndrome can be cured.
The children with cerebral palsy have lower intelligence
than normal, few children with normal intelligence. Dr.
DING considers that the quicker response and more
fluent speech the children possess, the better prognosis
Aeupoint Illusions of the Fourteen Meridia
Acupoint illusions of the fourteen meridian integrate
acupoints and meridians to locate the acupoint in the
body objectively. Acupoint illusions can also supply
the gap of the description of acupoint location in
letter. Acupoint illusions were mainly used for saving
the study collusion in clinic and as the foundations
in practicing and teaching. A great deal of TCM
doctors have drawn many varied style acupoint
illusions and formed different system. In this issue,
the illusions in the book, Leijingtuyi (((~ ~,k~ ~})),
which was written by ZHANG Jie-bin in Ming
Dynasty, are introduced.
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they will have. Thus, Dr. DING pays great attention to
the manual techniques on the head. Baihui (GV 20),
Sishencong (Ex-HN 1) and Yamen (GV 15) on the head
were used to awaken brain and open orifice, and smooth
speech. Infantile cerebral palsy is usually accompanied
by different degrees of adduction and intorsion of the
hip joints, as well as the convulsion of the heel, making
up 60%. On account of the small ages and deformed
joints, the children cannot actively take exercises. So,
in Dr. DING's Tuina, the limbs and joints were passively
exercised to effectively prevent the deformation of joint
and to improve the gaits. These exercises are easy to do
and the children's parents can learn to perform.
"One-hand and three-acupoint Tuina" is an effective
and convenient therapy for infantile cerebral palsy. In
general, persistent treatment every day for over six
months can produce good results. Long-term clinical
practice has proven that six-month or longer treatment
can bring about satisfactory effects on cerebral palsy,
especially the convulsive one.
Translator: XIAO Yuan-chun ( "h"JLa~)
The acupoint illusion of the Lung Meridian in Leijingtuyi (((~
r ~ ~, ))), cited from the Illustrated Book on the Historical
Development of Chinese Acu-moxibustion Science