Winter ills: Strike while weather is hot
Print Edition
The 鈥渄og days,鈥 also known as the hottest and most sultry days of the year, have come and a new fashion has regained popularity among many Chinese who believe the best opportunity to treat diseases that often harass them in cold is sweating through the summer heat.
Sanfutie, a plaster patch using traditional Chinese medicine, has been a welcome treatment as it is believed to soothe the body and help relieve the discomfort of illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and arthritis in winter.
According to China鈥檚 lunar calendar, sanfu refers to the hottest 30 to 40 days in a year, usually from mid-July to mid-August.
鈥淭oday I asked for a day off for sanfutie treatment. This is my second year to have the therapy,鈥 said Shi Xuan, an asthma patient whose condition improved notably last year after first trying the therapy.
During the process, seven medicated patches, each about the size of a credit card, were placed on his back, with another one below his Adam鈥檚 apple.
鈥淢y aunt used to have asthma as well, but she got much better after receiving sanfutie treatment for five years. So, she recommended it to me,鈥 said Shi.
鈥淭he patches are placed on different acupuncture points for different diseases and are kept there for 20 to 30 minutes,鈥 said Liu Guangxia, a TCM specialist at a hospital in Hefei, capital of east China鈥檚 Anhui Province.
A course of treatment often includes three rounds of plasters in summer, which often fall on the beginning, middle and end of sanfu, Liu said.
In the system of TCM, it is believed that the 鈥測ang energy鈥 in the universe reaches its peak in summer, while the 鈥測in energy鈥 is at its lowest ebb, and the same is true for the energy in the human body.
The medicine in sanfutie is thought to be able to mitigate the cold and dampness that lurks in the human body and causes illness during the winter. In the hot summer, the yang in the human body can help enhance the effect of the medicine.
鈥淭he therapy seemed quite effective because he coughed much less last winter. Therefore, we decided to come for a second year,鈥 said Shi鈥檚 wife, who was also taking the therapy in the hope of boosting her immunity.
Treating winter diseases at the height of summer is a notion promoted in TCM, and it reflects the philosophy of preventing disease over treating it, said Wei Fuliang, an acupuncturist.
Though the number of reservations for sanfutie treatment at some hospitals dropped slightly this year due to COVID-19, the traditional treatment is still favored by many and considered a unique way to embrace the dog days.
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