Gua Sha

This is the first English language book on the ancient therapeutic technique 'Gua Sha'. It is a technique commonly used in Asia and Southeast Asia by TCM practitioners, Chinese families and individuals who know and use it as part of their 'health culture'. In Gua Sha, the skin is pressured in strokes i.e. scraped (but not broken) by a blunt edge (Chinese families used a spoon). This, in Western terms, raises extravasated blood and metabolic waste which collects in muscle tissue, and encourages its departure. Gua Sha is often used to counteract muscle strain through athletic injury, back pain, and conditions beyond muscle injury alone. The result, visually, is livid discolouration of the skin which subsides in a few days, considerably faster than a bruise. For this reason practitioners in the West have been afraid of using it. However it can be a very useful technique to know how to use, and will enhance the skills of any practitioner using it while giving them another treatment method to help increase their clinical skills. This book brings the technique alive for Western practitioners, with clear discussion of how to do it - including correct technique, appropriate application, and difficulties to bear in mind - and when to use it, and superb colour illustrations and specially commissioned line drawings to demonstrate the technique. The author is an expert practitioner of 'Gua Sha'.

ISBN 044305181X   Pages 169 ISBN13 9780443051814 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Elsevier Health Sciences   Weight (grammes) 1000 Imprint Churchill Livingstone   Published in London Format Paperback   Height (mm) 276 Publication date 07 Aug 1995   Width (mm) 216 Library of Congress R601.N54 1   Spine width (mm) 14 DEWEY 615.822   Academic level Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC20

		Foreword
		Preface
		Acknowledgements
1		Counteraction: the crisis is the cure		1
2		Path of Qi		17
3		San Jiao		29
4		Gua Sha		43
5		Application of Gua Sha		53
6		Treatment of specific disorders		79
7		Cases		89
		Appendix A: List of acupuncture points by number and name		151
		Appendix B: Directions for adjunct therapies		155
		Appendix C: List of addresses		157
		Glossary of Terms		159
		References		163
		Index		165

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