Clinic's treatment is the bee's knees
By Maxim Duncan |
March 23, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BEING stung by a bee is not the most pleasant of experiences, but at one Beijing clinic patients are queuing up to be pricked into good health.
Bee-sting therapy, which involves placing live bees on a patient's body at certain pressure points, dates back more than 3,000 years in China.
It is similar to acupuncture in that it uses bees' stingers instead of needles and the same principles, but the bees' toxin, which doctors say is a natural medicine, is essential, making the treatment like an injection.
Doctors at the Kang Tai Bee Clinic, a traditional Chinese medical facility in Beijing, say the therapy has proved effective in treating diseases such as rheumatism and arthritis, as well as a list of other ailments.
"The bee therapy has an obvious effect on patients with bone and joint diseases," said Wang Jing, a doctor at the clinic.
"This treatment relies mainly on the bees' poison, which can help blood circulation, reduce inflammation and ease pain."
The bees used for the treatment are a hybrid species from Italy and the Gulf, and are kept on the clinic grounds. Their 0.3mm stings, which contain about 0.3mg of toxin, make them suitable for the therapy, doctors say.
For the treatment, doctors use tweezers to pick up bees from the hive, placing them one by one on a pressure point at the painful area.
The bee then instinctively stings its "enemy" and dies. The stinger is then left in the body for several hours, and patients say it helps to ease their discomfort.
The doctors decide how long the stinger should stay in the body, and how many bees should be used in the treatment.
At the most, a patient can be stung more than a hundred times. At the least, four or five times.
The center sees an average of 30 patients daily. The treatment costs around 120 yuan (US$18).
Han Lide, a patient suffering from an inflammation in the veins caused by diabetes, says the results are worth the initial discomfort.
"After I am stung by the bees, the pain is gone by the afternoon. My legs feel lighter. It becomes easier to walk and my legs do not feel swollen," he said.
Bee-sting therapy, which involves placing live bees on a patient's body at certain pressure points, dates back more than 3,000 years in China.
It is similar to acupuncture in that it uses bees' stingers instead of needles and the same principles, but the bees' toxin, which doctors say is a natural medicine, is essential, making the treatment like an injection.
Doctors at the Kang Tai Bee Clinic, a traditional Chinese medical facility in Beijing, say the therapy has proved effective in treating diseases such as rheumatism and arthritis, as well as a list of other ailments.
"The bee therapy has an obvious effect on patients with bone and joint diseases," said Wang Jing, a doctor at the clinic.
"This treatment relies mainly on the bees' poison, which can help blood circulation, reduce inflammation and ease pain."
The bees used for the treatment are a hybrid species from Italy and the Gulf, and are kept on the clinic grounds. Their 0.3mm stings, which contain about 0.3mg of toxin, make them suitable for the therapy, doctors say.
For the treatment, doctors use tweezers to pick up bees from the hive, placing them one by one on a pressure point at the painful area.
The bee then instinctively stings its "enemy" and dies. The stinger is then left in the body for several hours, and patients say it helps to ease their discomfort.
The doctors decide how long the stinger should stay in the body, and how many bees should be used in the treatment.
At the most, a patient can be stung more than a hundred times. At the least, four or five times.
The center sees an average of 30 patients daily. The treatment costs around 120 yuan (US$18).
Han Lide, a patient suffering from an inflammation in the veins caused by diabetes, says the results are worth the initial discomfort.
"After I am stung by the bees, the pain is gone by the afternoon. My legs feel lighter. It becomes easier to walk and my legs do not feel swollen," he said.
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