🌿 Traditional Chinese Medicine & Rehabilitation
Acupuncture, tuina and integrated rehabilitation — as an adjunct to conventional care.
What is actually available
- Acupuncture — manual and electroacupuncture, most often used here for post-operative pain, chemotherapy-related nausea and chronic musculoskeletal pain.
- Tuina and manual therapy — Chinese massage and joint mobilisation, usually alongside physiotherapy rather than instead of it.
- Integrated rehabilitation — hospital departments that run Western physiotherapy and TCM side by side, which is the arrangement most foreign patients actually want.
- Post-stroke and post-surgical rehab — structured programmes measured in weeks, with progress reviewed by the treating team.
- Herbal prescriptions — dispensed by the hospital pharmacy and reviewed against whatever else you are taking.
- We will not tell you that TCM treats cancer. It does not replace surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and any clinic that suggests otherwise is one to walk away from.
- We will not claim acupuncture works for everything. The evidence is reasonable for some indications — pain, nausea — and thin for others, and we will say which is which for your case.
- We will not let you stop a prescription you are already on in order to start herbs. Interactions are real and are checked by the hospital, not by us.
- We will not promise a number of sessions will fix a chronic condition that has lasted years.
Published reference ranges
| Item | Reference range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Acupuncture, single session, TCM department | $7–21 (¥50–150) | 30–60 minutes with a licensed physician |
| Electroacupuncture or moxibustion added to a session | $3–10 (¥20–70) | Charged on top of the session fee |
| Course of 10–12 sessions | $100–300 (¥800–2,000) | The usual shape of a rehabilitation course |
| Tuina / manual therapy, single session | $10–35 (¥70–250) | Often combined with physiotherapy |
| Session in a hospital international or VIP clinic | — | Confirm before booking — the multiple varies by hospital |
| Herbal prescription, per week | $15–50 (¥100–350) | Dispensed by the hospital pharmacy |
Reference ranges for planning only. Not bills. A hospital international or VIP clinic charges several times a standard department rate — ask us to confirm which department you would be in before you budget.
How long you would need to stay
- A short course: 1–2 weeks — enough for 10–12 sessions, which is the point at which most patients can tell whether it is helping.
- Rehabilitation programme: 3–6 weeks — for post-stroke or post-surgical rehab, where progress is reviewed weekly.
- Alongside other treatment: sessions are usually fitted around scans, consultations and recovery, so a course can run during a longer medical stay at no extra travel cost.
- Treatment is generally 3–5 sessions a week rather than daily, which leaves room for rest.
What we need from you to get a real answer
- The condition you want treated, and how long you have had it.
- A list of everything you currently take — prescription, over-the-counter and supplements. Herbal prescriptions are checked against this.
- Any relevant imaging or reports, if the problem is musculoskeletal or neurological.
- Whether you are having, or about to have, surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy — timing matters for when a course can start.
- What you have already tried, and what happened.
Tell us the condition and the current treatment plan, and we will say whether a TCM course is likely to help, which department in Chengdu would run it, and what a realistic course would cost.
Questions patients ask
Does acupuncture actually work, or is it a placebo?
For some things the evidence is decent and for others it is thin, and a clinic that claims it works for everything is telling you something about the clinic. The strongest evidence is for chronic pain — particularly back, neck and knee osteoarthritis — and for chemotherapy-induced nausea, which is why major cancer centres elsewhere now offer it alongside standard treatment. The evidence is weak for conditions like infertility or autoimmune disease. Acupuncture is also genuinely useful for one thing people underrate: it gives a patient in a long treatment course something they can actively do. We will tell you which category your condition falls into before you book anything.
Can I treat my cancer with traditional Chinese medicine instead of chemotherapy?
No, and you should be cautious of anyone who says otherwise. TCM has no established role in curing cancer, and delaying or replacing surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy with herbs costs lives. What TCM can legitimately do is sit alongside conventional treatment: managing pain, nausea, fatigue and appetite during chemotherapy, and supporting rehabilitation afterwards. Chinese hospitals generally take the same view — in a Grade 3A hospital the TCM department works with the oncology department rather than competing with it. If a clinic proposes herbs as your primary cancer treatment, walk away.
How do I know a hospital TCM department is legitimate?
Check three things. First, that it is inside a hospital rather than a standalone clinic — hospital departments are regulated as part of the hospital and the physicians hold hospital posts. Second, that the practitioner is a licensed physician and you can see the licence; in China, TCM practitioners in hospitals hold the same medical licence as other doctors. Third, that they ask for your full medication list and check it. Herbs interact with warfarin, some chemotherapy agents and immunosuppressants, and a practitioner who does not ask is not being careful.
Ready to talk through your case?
Start with the free case review. You get an honest assessment and clear next steps — no charge, no obligation.