Rubbing Baby the Right Way by Carolin Vesley

Traditional Chinese practice of infant massage comes to Winnipeg
Victoria doesn't exactly have stress-induces muscle knots or shoulder tension, but like most seven month olds, she often gets gas. Really bad gas. Which is why she goes for massage. Baby massage.
Now infants, malleable little moppets that they are, may appear to not even have muscles. But wht they do have, according to Nan Mah, doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, is some 300 baby-specific acupuncture or pressure points (Adults have around 400).
Applying pressure to, or massaging, those points, Mah says, promotes the flow of "chi" or energy. And blood though this meridian system to restore harmay and balance to the baby's body and treat ailments such as colic, constipation, diarrhea, cold and flu and generally boost the immune system- without drugs.
"For colic, I massage the liver points (on the idex finger)," she says, "About 200 rubs."
Baby massage is no New Age health kick, but rather a highly specialized pediatric practice in China with records dating back to 1368.
Still, Mah, who opened her Acupuncture Therapy Centre at 1368 McPhillips St. las January, says it is virtually unknown in the West and just now being rediscovered as a medical specialty in China, Where family members traditionally passed on the skill.
Mah, who came to Canada 10 years ago, set up te first and only baby massage clinic in Guang-don province back in the mid-80s.
Back to Victoria, who, during her half-hour massage, is now looing very relaxed indeed.
The process begins with the diagnosis- checking pulses (on a baby, it's the fingers) and skin colour.
"Chinese medicine is based on balancing head and cold in the body," Mah explains. "I either put heat in or take it out." For example, too much heat results in diarrhea while too much cold causes constipation.
Babies are not massaged with oil like adults, but with baby powder.
Gently tugging the ears aids infant slumber, Mah says, while rubbing pressure points on and around the nostrils treats a runny nose. And rolling the soft folds of fat on a baby's back, like forming a pizza crust, stimulated T-cells and boosts immunity.
Back to Victoria's gas.
Mah demonstrated the gentle, circular massage of a baby's belly - clockwise for constipation; counterclockwise for diarrhea (It apparently works for adults too.)
"You can actually hear the gases coming out while you're doing the massage." She says. Which likely explains Victoria's happy gurgles. Read more about baby massage.

Poking Away the Pain by Shamona Harnett

Shim Goldberg spent a year searching for a way to banish his pain.
After taking a hard bang to the arm, the Winnipeg auto salesman suffered from shrp and agonizing twinges that shot from his elbow all the way down to his fingers. The diagnosis? An injured tendon and ligaments. The cure? None. Medical professionals told him he would have to put up with his injury and hope it would heal itself.
The paid was excruciating. I couldn't imagine living with that," says Goldberg. "It sapped all the strength out of me. It was just constant. I couldn't even sleep."
His life began to turn around last fall when Goldberg spotted a sign for Nan's Acupuncture Therapy Centre.
"I was driving down the street not feeling too well. And the sign caught my eye.
"It was like a sign from God. I just had to go in," he says. "I thought this is the place, this is the time."
Over the next hour, Nan Mah, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, inserted several hair-thin needles int specific pressurepoints on his body. She combined this acupuncture with cupping (when a vacuum cup is placed on soft tissue) and Chinese massage.
By the third treatment, Goldberg said his pain was dissipating. By the fourth or fifth session, he regained use of his arm. He also acquired a new respect for alternative medicine- and for Mah.
[Mah] has got the magic in her," says Goldberg, adding he would have never given alternative medicine a second thought before his injury., " She gives people hope. It's obvious she knows something that lots of conventional doctors don't know.
Mah has practiced traditional Chinese medicine for 18 yeyars, and says she has successfully used acupuncture to treat conditions ranging from overeating and menopause to sciatica and migraine headaches."People are tired of taking Tylenol 3s for their pain," says Mah, adding may new patients limp into her clinic on prescription painkillers.
Three decades ago, most Western doctors shrugged off acupuncture as hocus-pocus. They argue that using needles to redirect the flow of an invisible healing force- classical Chinese acupuncture philosophy- was unscientific fluff. Read More about acupuncture for pain relief.

Sucks Appeal
The ancient Chinese practice of cupping is getting a Hollywood boost, and local practitioners claim it can cure everything from backaches to asthma. by Carolin Vesley

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow set tongues wagging when she showed up at a New York file premiere in a strapless top revaling a back that appeared to be covered with monster hickeys. Hollywood's favorite fashion statement.
Try ancient Chinese secret.
Paltrow's polka dots were caused by cupping, an Eastern healing therapy that uses suction to draw out impurities, boost circulation and reduce pain and illness.
Practitioners attach cups- made of glass, plastic or (originally) bamboo - to specific parts of the body. Skin is sucked into the cup as blood rushes up.
While it may raise eyebrows among the uninitiated - especially for the love-bit bruises it leaves behind - cupping has been used for nearly 3,000 years to treat everything from chronic backache to asthma and even the common cold.
Is is to oriental medicine what Tylenol is to the western world.
But you don't have to visit the Orient, or Hollywood, to experience the ancient practice said to stimulate the flow of blood and life energy in the buy - and subsequently reduce pain and illness.
They may not be wearing their welts with Paltrow's public pride, but a growing number of Winnipeggers are getting cupped, according to local practitioners. …
Nan Mah, TCM doctor and owner of Nan Acupuncture Therapy Centre (1369 McPhillips St.) says certain patients may need a series of treatments
"It depends on energy level," she says. "With some people, you try one treatment and they feel like a million bucks. Some take three or four times to feel different. Older people, their energy level may be lower and they need time to heal." Read More about cupping.