This series is based on our reporting on TCM: its history, treatments and growing acceptance around the world. This is the fifth instalment.
A slip of the foot before the start of the 2016 Standard Chartered marathon brought me to a traditional Chinese medical practitioner’s clinic days later.
About 7km (4.3 miles) into the 42km race, I realised that I had pulled a muscle in my buttocks. When the pain began to flare, so did my resolve to finish. When I got home, clenching my finisher’s medal, I could barely walk.
I had agreed to see Dr Ting Hiu Tung for relief from the deep aching pain – but could hardly believe that I was lying face down in the doctor’s clinic in North Point, on Hong Kong Island, with a handful of needles planted in my backside.
They were sending electrical impulses that helped reduce the inflammation, promote blood flow and alleviate the pain.
After that session, and a few more, I understood why acupuncture has a reputation for pain relief, and why people have been willingly subjecting themselves to its precisely placed jabs for thousands of years.
