"I can pedal a bicycle!" Zhang Dingyu tries traditional Chinese medicine for results

"If I'm lucky to have 8 to 10 years or only 5 to 6 years in the future, I just want to do more in my limited time." When diagnosed with acromegaly, Zhang Dingyu was well aware of the unknown road ahead of his condition, which step by step violated all the functions of his body. "Can not be cured," "poor prognosis" is the prognosis of many people on the gradual freezing of the disease, with a try attitude, October 14, 2020, Zhang Dingyu into the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine began to try traditional Chinese medicine massage and other therapeutic methods.

Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Tui Na Section / Rehabilitation Medicine is the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine key specialties, the hospital will be the Tui Na Section, Rehabilitation Medicine, Pain Section merged into a department, the traditional Tui Na therapy, the modern rehabilitation medicine of the functional rehabilitation concepts and methods, the minimally invasive techniques of pain medicine organically combined in the treatment of the spine, orthopaedic injuries, pain-like diseases, as well as cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, paraplegia and other diseases of the It is unique in the treatment of spine, orthopedic injury, pain, cerebral palsy, hemiplegia, paraplegia and other diseases, and enjoys a high reputation in the country as a leader in the rehabilitation field of Tuina and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Hubei Province.

Zhao Yan is the department's discipline leader, in 30 years of clinical massage, summed up the "taiji massage" treatment method, in the treatment of various spinal diseases and pain diseases, over the years, harvested a good effect, the rehabilitation of acromegaly is also one of them.

Zhao Yan frankly admitted that in the initial takeover of the treatment, in the face of the "cryosurgery", the cause of this disease is unknown, the treatment means is limited, can not be cured, the pressure is not small. However, after trying to rehabilitate some of the patients with acromegaly, some of them did not continue to develop after treatment and had good results; some of the early patients resumed their normal lives and married wives and had children. This makes Zhao Yan "tui na" patients of Chinese medicine has the bottom line.

"Chinese medicine divides this kind of disease into spasm and atrophy." Zhao Yan said, through the identification of evidence, Zhao Yan analyzed Zhang Dingyu with spasm evidence, focusing on relieving the patient's muscle stiffness in the treatment.

At the beginning of the early stages of treatment, Zhang Dingyu just held the attitude of trying. "How can it be, how can it be so easy", Zhang Dingyu told Zhao Yan.

After repeated studies and discussions, Zhao Yan's team initially developed a set of treatment programs based on traditional Chinese medicine massage, supplemented by heat therapy, electrotherapy, ultrasound and other therapeutic means, as well as a combination of gait training, stretching training, strength training.

"Dean Zhang Dingyu is a doctor who studied anesthesia, and at first, he just held the mood to try to experience." Zhao Yan confessed, "Dean Zhang Dingyu is too busy, there is no time to complete a set of treatment programs initially developed by our team." Afterwards, in order to be more adaptable to the actual treatment of Zhang Dingyu, the streamlined program is based on massage, and some strength training can be completed by Dean Zhang at home.

The first to perceive changes in his body was Zhang Dingyu himself. After five days of Chinese massage therapy, Zhang Dingyu found that his thigh leg circumference increased by 2 centimeters when he measured himself, and he and his wife were very surprised.

"The thigh circumference increased by 2 centimeters in 5 days, which is a good start." This gave Zhao Yan and the team confidence. Zhao Yan continues to patient Zhang Dingyu according to the treatment effect constantly tracing and analyzing to summarize the reasons why the treatment works, and more targeted to put forward the next stage of treatment goals.

"Thickening of the leg circumference is a good start for the patient's treatment, because the leg strength and walking function will gradually improve only after the muscle fibers become full and the muscles increase." Zhao Yan said that President Zhang Dingyu is also very persistent and adheres to the training at home without compromise, and now he walks much smoother than before, and his leg strength is greater than before. At the World Congress of Integrative Medicine in December 2020, Zhang Dingyu also shared his feelings after experiencing TCM Tuina in person.

"He chose our Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine to receive treatment, we strive to have a fundamental breakthrough in the treatment, and strive to push open a window for more patients like Zhang Dingyu." After seeing the initial effect, Zhao Yan thought more is why the treatment of 5 days leg circumference can thicken 2 centimeters, Chinese medicine massage changed what, through what mechanism to play a role?

At present, Zhang Dingyu received Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Tui Na Section treatment has been more than 4 months, want to have a fundamental breakthrough in the treatment, just satisfied with the clinical improvement of the symptoms is far from enough, you must understand the deeper principles behind the symptom change.

"From January this year, we have added the viscera massage, but also with Chinese medicine treatment, but now the progress is slow, did not achieve the desired therapeutic effect." Zhao Yan said that now once again back to the first treatment program.

"This exploration is full of uncertainty. In previous cases, some tachyphylaxis patients have been effectively delayed, but there are also many patients whose disease progressed rapidly after diagnosis and died within a few years from respiratory muscle paralysis or lung infections, for example." Zhao Yan admits, what exactly is the reason why tui na therapy works? What is the deeper principle behind the change in symptoms? Currently according to Zhang Dingyu treatment effect constantly retrospective and analytical summary of the reasons for the effectiveness of treatment, more targeted to propose the next stage of treatment goals.

"Cervical spine massage can improve the patient's posterior circulation. Recently we are using this as a starting point to improve Zhang Dingyu's spinal cord blood supply, hoping to repair its spinal cord function. Although we're not sure yet, we think we can feel our way along this line. Improve the patient's posterior circulation, and then further relax the patient's leg muscles, waist muscles, buttock muscles, and the core muscles of the abdomen, and open up the dushi and bladder meridians for massage therapy." Zhao Yan told Health Times that Chinese massage can be analgesic, better repair and activate the patient's muscle tissue, and relieve the patient's muscle spasms. The team is trying to center the treatment around the patient's dui chi, and achieve the repair of the spinal cord through dui chi treatment.

"The goal I set is that Zhang Dingyu can walk freely." Zhao Yan said that in the next phase he will still focus on functional improvement as the main treatment goal, while continuing to explore in the pathology.

"Acromegaly is a type of motor neuron disease, and it is very easy to be misdiagnosed as cervical spondylosis in the early stages. There is no clear medical basis for the mechanism of the disease, and there is no cure yet." Zhangyu Zou, deputy chief physician of the Department of Neurology at Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, told health reporters that data show that there are about 200,000 patients with acromegaly in China, and this number is increasing year by year, and about 80% of the patients will die within five years after the onset of the disease, which is listed by the World Health Organization as one of the five terminal illnesses on a par with cancer and AIDS.

For patients with acromegaly, the most painful is not the inability to exercise and eventual death, but throughout the course of the disease, the patient always maintains a clear brain and good skin sensory ability, as long as a breath of life, the patient will have perception, have intelligence. Zou Zhangyu said that although acromegaly can not be cured at present, but through medication, rehabilitation, can delay the course of the disease and improve function.

"Acromegaly is highly susceptible to misdiagnosis in its early stages." Zhangyu Zou said that President Zhang Dingyu began to appear double lower limb weakness in 2017, but fortunately by now there is no obvious involvement of both upper limbs and oropharyngeal muscles, which is suspected to be linked leg syndrome or hereditary spastic paraplegia. The flail leg syndrome is a relatively benign form of motor neuron disease, in which patients may present with only bilateral lower extremity weakness for several years after onset of the disease, but most patients develop bilateral upper extremity and oropharyngeal weakness as the disease progresses; hereditary spastic paraplegia is relatively more benign, manifesting mainly as increased muscle tone in both lower extremities without significant muscle atrophy.