Chen Shu-Cheng, Fu Qin-Wei, Zhang Qin-Xiu, Yeung Wing-Fai
School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
Med Acupunct. 2024 Aug 21;36(4):173-177. doi: 10.1089/acu.2023.0105. eCollection 2024 Aug.
Pediatric is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) modality that is well-accepted and applied in China currently. As a traditional medicine, it is based on TCM theories and clinical experience. In the TCM area, the "self-healing" system of the human body includes two aspects: self-regulation and adaptation, through which pediatric could rectify dysfunctional states and guide the transition back to homeostasis. Pediatric manipulations sufficiently, specifically, and accurately simulate certain sensory receptors in the skin, which in turn activates the internal self-healing function of the human body. We summarized the main opinions on pediatric mechanism in ancient literature into three minor perspectives and demonstrated them by combining them with modern medical knowledge. First, children at a young age are more responsive to stimulations on the skin surface; second, the sensory receptors and pediatric acupoints on the skin surface have a similar distribution pattern; third, the specific manipulations of pediatric provide multiple stimuli that are detected by a variety of surface sensory receptors for information collection. Each point could be tested via clinical trials with appropriate-designed comparisons.
小儿推拿是一种目前在中国被广泛接受和应用的中医治疗方法。作为一种传统医学，它基于中医理论和临床经验。在中医领域，人体的“自愈”系统包括自我调节和适应两个方面，通过这两个方面，小儿推拿可以纠正功能失调状态并引导身体恢复到平衡状态。小儿推拿手法充分、具体且准确地模拟了皮肤中的某些感觉受体，进而激活人体内部的自愈功能。我们将古代文献中关于小儿推拿作用机制的主要观点归纳为三个小观点，并结合现代医学知识对其进行论证。第一，幼儿对皮肤表面的刺激反应更为敏感；第二，皮肤表面的感觉受体与小儿推拿穴位具有相似的分布模式；第三，小儿推拿的特定手法提供了多种刺激，这些刺激被各种表面感觉受体检测以进行信息收集。每个观点都可以通过设计适当对照的临床试验进行验证。
