Medical tourism consists of being treated in a foreign country for the sake of economy or to benefit from care not available in your country of origin. The concept is used more and more by medical players and other specialists linked to tourism associating the medical act, in particular cosmetic surgery, with a tourist approach, often through a strong promotional approach. Another, more clinical definition, medical tourism also concerns sensitive interventions such as organ transplants, support for unwanted pregnancies or the care of people suffering from serious psychological problems. In China, on the island of Hainan, the concept of medical tourism is applied to both definitions through care services of superior professionalism and quality; thanks to the acquisition of the most advanced medical technology in the world and, finally, thanks to a very high-end hotel offer. Extraordinary and exclusive qualities, crowned by the alliance of the best Western medicine with the most authentic and original Chinese medicine. This will be of particular interest to Europeans suffering from chronic or psychosomatic diseases that our allopathic medicine cannot generally treat.
Part 1: Discovering Traditional Chinese Medicine in its country of origin?
BOAO YILING LIFE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT CENTER
Apart from a few large-scale European and Chinese doctors, most often trained in the land of Confucius, Chinese medicine is not practiced by specialists in our regions. The level leaves much to be desired once one seeks to move beyond Tai Chi lessons or relaxation massages. On the island of Hainan, in the far south of China, the classic concept of medical tourism, like dentistry in Hungary for example, has turned into an ode to inner well-being, to body harmony. and the spirit, thanks to the millennial practices of Chinese wisdom taught in the best universities today. Add to these exclusive treatments, a dream stay in a luxury hotel, a few kilometers from the beaches of this tropical island, true Chinese Hawaii, and you will taste this unique cocktail of health and pleasure, invented by Mr. Li, owner of hospitals and hotel complexes whose quality and beauty defy the imagination.
The LHCH team was extremely lucky and honored to have been invited to experience for themselves the quality of treatments at this Chinese medicine center, adjoining the resort hotel, which also welcomed us.
1st day: initiation into the authentic TCM
It all starts with arriving in the huge lobby with contemporary, fluid and refined decoration. The staff can speak French, English German. Arab and Russian. A very brilliant translation team working in 5 languages. You will be taken quickly to the part of the complex that houses your room, passing through wooded courts and ponds. Inside the room: a tea table, perfect bedding and light clothes to dress your first TCM massages of the day. The organization is flawless; the calm staff, available, open to all your questions and specific requests. A local beauty explains the day’s program to you. A little impatient, you put on your casual outfit, your slippers; you empty a cup of tea; and already the ringing to take you to experience the first treatment. A small jeep takes you to the BOAO YILING LIFE CENTER.
TRADITIONAL CHINESE AGARWOOD OIL THERAPY
“Would you like a translation during the first massage or can I explain the course of the treatment to you now?” “. A new hostess welcomes you in your native language. The experienced practitioner is Chinese. I choose privacy (I know Chinese). You are presented with a table topped with a natural wood chest. You lie on your stomach and quickly a warm and beneficial oil is spread over your shoulders and back. First by hand. Then, with a fabric which tightens in a ball which compresses plants of the Chinese pharmacopoeia. A sort of remote moxibustion and an atomization of incense then pleasantly warms your back.
Now is the time for a bath in a large, solid wood tub. A large fabric bag filled with plants serves as an infusion bag. A fairly hot, very fragrant bath envelops you and you surrender yourself completely, while the practitioner leaves you alone, to you oriental reveries.
Once dried, you will take a decoction, sitting in a hall. Everything is very calm. I have time to ask questions about the treatment. What does he care for or maintain?
Agarwood oil, medicinal plants penetrate acupuncture points to purify the blood, open and unblock meridians, relax muscles, rest bones and stimulate the skin. These treasures of China also relax the nervous system: soul and body then come into full harmony.
To be specified, this therapy despite all its fragrances leaves no trace on the body afterwards …
The practitioner explains to me again: “For thousands of years, agarwood, known as chen xiang (沉香) and oud wood oil have been used in traditional Chinese medicine as a curative ingredient. for the physical and the mental, the effect much appreciated for its holistic effects. The large number of diseases that are increasingly being treated with agarwood resin and pure oud oil is impressive and the wood is highly revered in Chinese medicine ”
2nd day :
MOXIBUSTION WITH ARTEMISIA PLANT
I will talk about the amazing hotel in another part. After a soft and deep night, a healthy breakfast, I left very early in the morning with brand new clothes to the BOAO YILING LIFE CENTER.
Lying down and relaxed, I can feel the warmth shower behind my back and the scent of Artemisia sticks (mugwort) or “moxas”. It is a kind of classic acupressure point massage along the lines of the meridians.
The young practitioner calmly explains to me: “Moxibustion involves heating – using moxas – an acupuncture point and making the heat penetrate through the skin. … It is the heat given off by their combustion that stimulates the acupuncture points “.
In fact, moxibustion has a three-thousand-year-old history. It could have preceded acupuncture itself. It was a prestigious treatment for the ancient imperial coup. This legacy, a treasure of China, was collected by the team of brilliant doctors at the center, who reaped the greatest benefits for the diseases of current civilization.
“When we are exhausted from the pressure of work and bemoan the fast and irregular pace of life, various problems have already assaulted the body from that moment on. Its most common therapeutic effects are to warm up when there is a syndrome. ‘Excess of Cold, to invigorate when there is a Yang Void or, in general, to activate and circulate Qi and Blood in the Meridians. Moxibustion helps prevent or treat problems such as rheumatic, joint and muscle pain, certain digestive problems such as diarrhea, and gynecological problems such as painful menstruation and certain infertility; in men, it is used to treat impotence and spontaneous ejaculation. It is frequently used in the treatment of tired people or people suffering from chronic illnesses in order to reinforce their vital energy Finally, “moxas” are also very useful in certain cases of anemia.
3rd day
KHAN BALANCE THERAPY 9TH FIVE-YEAR RECIPE
So many fabulous discoveries! Even in Brussels, the capital of Europe, no treatment equals the traditional sophistication of practices in China. My mind is light, intoxicated with perfumes. My body is rested, relaxed. In the meantime, the new therapy of the day, I prepare a decoction of plants from the Chinese pharmacopoeia.
Doctors have already felt that my body was “hot and humid” on the inside. I will speak in another about the total check up of my body thanks to Chinese medicine and also, without contradiction, to the best Western doctors and machines.
Today, after massages already carried out before but in depth, I visit the areas where the decoctions of the Chinese pharmacopoeia are prepared. Large jars present the 200 plants used in TMC; historical explanations provide context. Then, I observe the very modern way of transforming these plants into capsules or of leaving them intact but collected in cotton sachets for herbal teas or body baths.
I am learning today that the 5 TMC therapies (pharmacopoeia, massage, acupuncture, diet and IQ or respiratory gymnastics) complement each other; treatment for a particular disease will then combine several of these practices. For example, a massage combined with the use of plants that penetrate the acupressure points.
KHAN Balance Therapy combines, as I understand it, external and internal treatment of “internal” diseases. It also combines techniques from the Warring States era with very sophisticated current techniques.
Here we mainly treat the liver, bladder and diseases of aging. We use suction cups, infrared, changes in body temperature, music, gymnastics, and of course, decoctions with very old recipes.
4th day
4-HAND MASSAGE IN ROOM AND TREATMENTS BY THE EAR
I will talk about this in another part, but these therapies and discoveries of TCM are interspersed with tea ceremony sessions, calligraphy sessions, outdoor relaxation, etc.
Today, before discovering Chinese ear medicine, I receive a visit from two doctors in my room. They bring the table and the equipment. Very professional. Today, after three days of massages and treatments, the specialists at BOAO YILING LIFE CENTER will massage the acupressure bridges and meridians corresponding to the organs they diagnose as having potential problems. For me, it’s about the liver and the stomach. It must be admitted, vigorous massage of the areas corresponding to these two organs sometimes hurts a little. But it is a necessary evil. These are therapeutic massages. No “Asian well-being”.
The people who have been accompanying me for 4 days are aware of the progress of the check up. Remember: this is a first voyage of discovery. No therapeutic trip for this or that specific disease yet.
With my colleagues from LHCH, we go to the room dedicated to ear medicine. Yes, our ears have specific points which correspond to all the organs of the body. After a first diagnosis, the specialist fixes small forceps which will automatically massage a particular acupressure point for days or three days. Some areas facilitate sleep for example or digestion!
EPILOGUE: ACUPUNCTURE ?
It is wrongly believed in Europe that acupuncture is the queen of traditional Chinese medicine. No. the pharmacopoeia takes precedence; as well as the different ways of getting these plants into our body.
But of course, acupuncture is present at the TCM center. A brilliant doctor from Beijing passing through the center then asks us what chronic disease we have difficulty generating.
I answer: “Still this pain in the lower back”.
An hour later, an extraordinary feeling of unblocking spreads in my body and, especially, in my back. “It’s magic, doctor! “. “No,” she replies, humbly. It’s an ancient technique of Chinese medicine, quite simply.
Simply ? I still have to tell you about the diagnoses of Western medicine using ultra-sophisticated machines in the second part; to tell you about oriental psychosomatic medicine with a brushstroke, in part 3; finally, to tell you about the enchanting setting that rocked my entire stay: the magnificent hotel-resort, BOAO LECHENG EASEHEAL WELNESS RESORT, in the 4th and last part.
