An acupuncture adventure in Harbin China.

Today we were on the massage ward with Professor Zhang Honkun. This ward and the style of acupuncture felt similar to the way we do things at home. Patients have a variety of MSK problems. They are massaged, have acupuncture, have fire cupping, moxa on needle, infrared lamps, herbal baths. I was fascinated that people can be in hospital for up to a month with a bad back or insomnia. However it appears Chinese employers are happy to give people time off, paid for up to a month. 

Today was an amber pollution warning in the city. You.could see it resting in the air. 

This morning we were with Professor Jin Ze on his ward and this afternoon we were in his outpatient department. He showed us the long needling and fire needle techniques that he showed us in his lecture on friday.  He treated every patient on the ward with acupuncture in an hour an a half. The patients were either post stroke with a variety of hemiplegia, dysphagia and dysphasia, cerebral haemorrhage and facial palsy. He used a combination of scalp acupuncture, body acupuncture, long needling (often 2 needles at once) and fire needling (where a special needle was put into an extremely hot flame and then used to prick the various zones of the head to stimulate movement). The treatment was done in front of the nurses station with the patients that were mobile queueing either side to see him. There was little communication and he worked solidly till all the patients were needled. They then mobilised up and down the ward for the 40 mins that their needles were left in.  The relati...

Today we were in the 2nd affiliated hospital of the Heilongjiang University. This hospital is in another district. We spent the day on the rehabilitation department, the morning on the ward and the afternoon with a physiotherapist on their department.  The ward was mainly for patients who had had stroke or cerebral bleed. They spend their initial period at the western hospital having thrombolysis, surgery or whatever treatment they require and are then discharged to the rehab unit. Here they have daily intensive therapy till they are recovered. In the initial stages they have acupuncture on the wards (often with electrotherapy) and then they begin.a programme of rehabilitation in the physio department. This combines treatment similar to our own in the UK but the physios also use treatments like Chiropractors/Osteopaths whilst Scalp Acupuncture needles are in stimulating the various zones of the brain. Whilst the department is to my eyes chaotic, it seems to incorporate treatment th...

The only downside of the festival is that the temperatures are low. For us it was -21deg. They can be as low as -30deg and add some wind chill and they can feel like -30deg. It all adds to the fun and excitement. My hair froze, my eyelashes froze and I have never had so many layers on....ever!!!