No surgery. No side effects. No skimpy little hospital gowns that close in the back. It's easy to see why "alternative medicine" lures more and more Americans each year.
And that's why, on a recent afternoon, Dr. Rutian Huang of the Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine was standing on a table projecting his chi.The table was in a classroom at the University of Utah College of Medicine, a lecture hall usually reserved for lessons in anatomy and other staples of Western medicine. Huang and his chi are evidence that times are changing.
Last spring a small group of medical students formed a study group to bring in guest lecturers about alternative medical practices ranging from acupuncture to Rolfing. The group takes up the slack left by the medical school itself, which offers only one four-hour lecture about alternative medicine during the students' four years in medical school.
"We want to understand what our patients will be going to," explains med student Wayne Lamoreaux, group president. Like other students, Lamoreaux can see that many of his future patients will probably someday be frustrated by persistent ailments - chronic fatigue syndrome, maybe, or low back pain - that traditional Western medicine can't always fix.
"We're not endorsing (the alternative practices)," he says. "We just want to be informed."
And that is why Huang is standing on a table, sweeping his arms toward the medical students, nurses and others in the audience. Sit up straight, Huang tells them through an interpreter. Face your palms toward me.
"He will now transmit his energy to us," says the interpreter.
Huang continues to sweep and push his arms. Then he claps three times and begins to move his arms faster.
Huang practices "medical qigong" - exercises designed to balance the chi (vital energy, sometimes spelled `qi') that Eastern medicine believes flows through human bodies and keeps them well. Blocked chi, according to Eastern medicine, leads to disease.
Anyone can practice qigong, says Huang, who taught the medical students a few simple exercises and postures. He wrapped himself up in a tight pretzel shape, similar to the yoga "lotus" posture, and then rolled onto his shoulders. From this position, Huang ate a banana, sipped some water and explained that the posture helps bring chi to the brain.
After he unwrapped himself he showed the students what he said was proof that medical qigong works: a slide detailing his research with 10,544 patients suffering from maladies ranging from sciatica to cancer. The patients ranged in age from 11 to 93, Huang said, and were treated between 1988 and 1995.
Half received qigong treatments and did qigong exercises, but received no other treatment; half were in a control group, receiving Western-style care. The qigong group did between eight and 10 hours of qigong exercise a day for three to six months.
According to Huang, 78.3 percent of the qigong group "completely recovered", compared to 25.1 percent of the control group. Tumors disappeared, as did evidence of heart disease, he said.
Qigong has been a part of traditional Chinese medicine for at least 3,000 years, said Huang, who learned the technique from his grandfather. The exercises combine tai chi-style movement, deep breathing and relaxation.
Huang's visit was also sponsored by the Society for Integrated Health Care, a group of local doctors, nurses and scientists also interested in alternative medicine, particularly mind-body techniques such as qigong.
Last weekend, Huang also presented a qigong workshop. Participants learned to improve their own chi through exercises that included slapping a certain part of the palm onto a certain part of the sole of the foot 100 times.
The exercise balances the body's energy system, increases intelligence and strengthens the immune and circulatory systems, he said. "With this exercise, patients with long-term disease recover totally. Even late-term cancer patients can recover completely."
When the group broke for lunch, Huang announced that he was going to take a walk in the mountains. In the mountains, he explained, the chi is especially good. "If you feel hungry," the interpreter said, "Dr. Huang will feed you with chi."
No surgery. No side effects. No gown that opens in the back. And now no food. Wait until managed care hears about this.