Gua Sha 2nd Ed.

Description

By Arya Nielsen, PhD & Ted J. Kaptchuk
Trade paperback book
ISBN 9780702031083
158 pages

“Sometimes called coining, spooning or scraping, Gua sha is defined as “instrument-assisted unidirectional press stroking of a lubricated area of the body surface that intentionally creates ‘transitory therapeutic petechiae’ representing extravasation of blood in the subcutis.”

Gua sha has been used for centuries in Asia, in Asian immigrant communities, and by acupuncturists and practitioners of traditional East Asian medicine worldwide. With the expansion of traditional East Asian medicine, Gua sha has been used over broad geographic areas and by millions of people. Because it stimulates the skin to bring sha rash to the surface, releasing the exterior and resolving Qi and Blood stagnation, it is valuable in the treatment of pain and for functional problems with impaired movement, the prevention and treatment of acute infectious illness, upper respiratory and digestive problems, and many acute or chronic disorders. Research has demonstrated Gua sha radically increases surface microperfusion that stimulates immune and anti-inflammatory responses that persist for days after treatment.

This second edition (2013) expands on the history of Gua sha and similar techniques used in early Western Medicine, detailing traditional theory, purpose and application and illuminated by science that focuses its relevance to modern clinical practice as well as scholarly inquiry.

This book brings the technique alive for practitioners, with clear discussion of how to do it -including correct technique, appropriate application, individualization of treatment – and when to use it, with over 50 case examples, and over 30 superb color photographs and line drawings that demonstrate the technique

New to this edition:

• New chapter on immediate and significant Tongue changes as a direct result of
• Gua sha
• Research and biomechanisms
• Literature review from Chinese language as well as English language medical journal database
• New case studies
• Fully updated and revised throughout
• Over 30 colour photographs

About the Author’s:

Arya Nielsen, Ph.D., is an American acupuncturist taught in the classical lineage of Dr. James Tin Yau So and in practice for over 35 years. She graduated in the first class of the first acupuncture college in the United States in 1977. She is a practitioner, teacher, author, and researcher and is considered the Western authority on the traditional East Asian technique Gua sha. Dr. Nielsen has a faculty appointment at a New York teaching hospital, Beth Israel Medical Center, where se treats patients and also directs the Acupuncture Fellowship for Inpatient Care through the Department of Integrative Medicine.

Ted J. Kaptchuk is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA., He is Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the author of The Web that has no Weaver.