Gua sha: A Traditional Technique for Modern Practice

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 theirclinical 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'.

• There is no other book on the market which covers this very useful technique
• Practitioners will be able to learn a new technique and enhance their skills with the aid of this thorough, reliable and clear guide
• Covers aspects of the subject relevant to a wide range of professionals, particularly any 'hands-on' practitioners
• Clear, colour photographs show the practitioner exactly what to expect in the way of clinical results
• Written by an expert practitioner who has carried out much research in this area and has experience of using Gua Sha in a wide variety of cases
• Includes an introduction by Ted Kaptchuk - one of the very top names in international TCM

Professor of East Asian Medicine, Adjunct Faculty and Senior Acupuncture Specialist, Beth Israel Medical Center's Continuum Center for Health and Healing, New York.