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Deeply rooted in 5,000 years of history, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been playing an important role in Chinese people's lives. Differing from the western medicine, TCM has its own theories and methods of staying healthy. In this blog, we are going to share with you one of the usual physical therapies in TCM: Gua sha.

Gua sha, meaning to "scrape away illness", involves using tools such as bian stone, jade, or ox horn with lubricant liniment to scrape and rub parts of the patient's skin repeatedly in one direction. The aim is to "activate blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis", based on TCM theory.

Gua sha treatment is not painful. According to practitioners, as the body is scraped it pushes a build-up of fluid ahead of it, and after it passes, it leaves an indention or vacuum behind that draws toxins out to the surface of the skin from deep within the tissue.

The toxic fluid (sha), floods to the surface and can be seen in small red, deep purple or light green pools of blood. It is also often hot on the area where the "toxic heat" is extracted.

This article is extracted from an original text in ChinaDaily, please click on http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2012-03/30/content_14947516.htm to find more information about this physical therapy.