QIAN Jinhua, the general-secretary of the Chinese Association of Sports Medicine, provides some insight into the practice of sports medicine in China.
Does the practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) affect the physical conditioning and treatment of athletes in China?
Athlete selection, bodily function evaluation, training, and preventing and controlling injury and sickness are all important components of the Chinese sports medicine system. In the last few years we have incorporated a good deal of theory, experience, and methodology from the overseas, but we still use many elements of TCM. For instance, we treat chronic and acute soft-tissue damage with TCM massage as well as acupuncture and moxibustion [the burning of herbs on or near the skin to stimulate healing]. Doctors with Western medical training have become more popular with athletes for other types of problems, however. For instance, athletes are tired of using traditional Chinese herbal remedies; they prefer Western prescriptions.
