TCM success story for all to read!!

[cha kuen]

I've been holding off on this but I want to tell about a story. About a month ago I was searching the web for a message board about chinese medicine. I ran into a message board that was moderated by Acupuncturists and regular people often visited the site to ask questions and get advice. Low and behold someone posted a question about his knee ( torn ACL) and he lives in Hong Kong.

I immediately emailed him to go see Choi Sifu. I gave him the directions from memory and here are bits and pieces of our email correspondence:

HI there,
I read your post on acupuncturetoday.com. About your ACL, I used to live in Hong Kong for a bit too. I know a really really good chinese medicine doctor in Yau Ma Tei. Do you still have the problem? I can dig up his info for you if you wish. He's really good, and you have to have someone refer you to him, or else he wont see you, but you can use my name.
Let me know and I'll gladly get you the information.
Peter
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Hello Peter,

Thank you very much for your e-mail.

Yes my knee is still an issue, I have a torn ACL ( anterior cruciate ligament ) and I am seeing my acupuncturist twice a week. It is getting better but we will not know basically until it gives or does not give way again. Everyone says , except my acupuncturist , that acupuncture cannot fix the problem meaning that my ACL is loose now ( not functioning) and acupuncture will not tighten it.

I would be very interested to see your Chinese Medicine Doctor in Yau Ma Tei although I wonder if Chinese Medicine can do anything for such problem.

Thanks for your attention.

Best regards

Pierre Gabison

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Here I emailed Pierre some directions to see Choi Sifu….
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Hello Peter,

I went to see Choi sifu today and it was quite an interesting experience . Fortunately there was another patient who could speak english and who acted as an interpreter . He told me that that my problem was not serious and that he would cure me very quickly. He applied finger pressure on different parts of the body , hit me , slapped me ,laughed with me, then he put a strange poultice , plaster on my knee bandaged it and asked me to go to the chinese herbalist at the corner to drink the most horrible " cappucino" I ever had.

He told me that I could go back now to my routine and that I needed a few sessions with him.


Is he for real?

When surgeons, websites all over the world show that I need surgery , could it be that Choi Si Fu in his little appartment in YaumaTei could cure a torn elongated ligament that is out of reach for western medicine unless they cut.

I would like to believe Choi Si fu but it seems too good to be true, anyway I trust what you say that he is one of the 2 best Chinese doctors in Hong-Kong and I will go again tomorrow. The other patient was also very impressed by him.

If it works I owe you a big one.

I will keep you posted.

Thank you again

Best regards

Pierre Gabison

PS : Choi Sifu remembers you , and, I have been on your website , nice to put a face on a name , looks like you are enjoying life. Are you still practicing Kung Fu? I practice boxing and kick boxing .


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Piere,

Great! I'm glad that you went to see Choi Sifu! He is a great guy, honest and i really admire him and his skills. He is the real deal and I have known him for awhile. In his little office, I would hear many patients come in and say that they have tried everything and only Choi Sifu can bring them relief.

Many times western medicine...when they don't understand something, they just want to open you up w/ surgery.... but Chinese medicine begs to differ. The hard part is finding someone who is really really good at chinese medicine to help you. Notice after your treatment or treatments , you may feel more energy in your body and your hands may feel tingly. Or if you take both of your fists and lightly hit your tummy and up and down your center chest, you will feel energy moving around inside of you.


Don’t' hesitate to ask him to work on other parts of your body as well. That peanut butter plaster is great, keep that on for at least 8 hours. Just keep resting your knee, although choi sifu may say that you can go workout full power. ( I don’t know why he says that)

Anyways, keep me updated. I'm glad that you took the time to go to him. Go see him as often as you can, even everyday for faster progress.


Peter

P.S. Choi sifu likes "iced coffee " . When I go see him, i go to the small cafe across the street and pick up one for him. IT's right across the street from the herbal drink "cappachino" that you had. It's like 10$ hk... heh.

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Hello Peter,

I have seen already Choi sifu 3 times and strangely my knee feels better. Difficult to explain. I am supposed to have a partially torn ligament . How could it heal so quickly, if this is it?.

I will go again next week and do a new assessment test by my orthopedic surgeon who is a good friend. It will be interesting to check if my ACL is functioning or not.

I am curious to know how you came by my message on this acupuncture site , are you in the medical field?

Best regards

Pierre Gabison
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Hi Pierre,

Glad to hear the good news. Many times you cannot compare the western medical point of view with the eastern point of view. That's why a lot of people in western medicine say " that wouldn't make sense" when thinking about how Chinese medicine works. Its two completely different things.

I am very interested in learning Chinese medicine so I sometimes research online for articles, schools and etc, that’s how I came upon your message.


Happy belated thanksgiving.

Peter

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Hello Peter,

I went to see my surgeon on Monday who performed a few tests on my knee and he told me that my ACL is healed or at least is healing. It is functioning now and I do not need surgery anymore.

I tell you , this is quite remarkable . Everyone told me that a torn ACL had very little chance of recovery including my surgeon.

I have been doing acupuncture for 2 months but I have to say that the real progress happened with Choi Sifu.

I would like to thank you very much for your help and I hope to have a chance to treat you (dinner) next time you are in Hong-Kong.

You have not replied to me if you practise any martial art.

Best regards and thank you again.

Pierre Gabison
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Pierre,

it's great to hear from you. I'm very very glad to hear that your ACL is getting better. I recommend that you should still see choi sifu until he says you're all good to go. I don't know when the next time I will be in Hong Kong is... I just graduated college and am looking for a job. If you want to "pay me back"....i suggest you get a gift for choi sifu. I never did buy him a gift all the times that I've seen him. You can get him anything that you think he will like, preferably something that will fit on his little shelves so that he can look at it.

Just , do me the favor, and explain that the gift is from you and I, since I helped you to find him (choi sifu) and since I never really got him a gift, only nagged him day after day to teach me and accept me as a student. That would really really really mean a great deal to me Pierre.

I'm very glad, again, to hear that you are getting better and I"m glad that I was able to help. (Even though it started with a sleepless nite here, random web browsing and a random email to you! =]

Hope all is well and I'll let you know if i'm in HK, We can go get a drink in Lan Kwai Fong or something. Update me if u can later about how choi sifu's gift goes.

Regards,

Peter

[vikinggoddess]

I would like to know the herbs this guy was taking. These stories are nice, but one practitioner is not as skilled as the next. The best herbalists are still often secretive about their formulas as well. Soft tissue injuries are hard to treat. One formula that can be used for tendon and ligament injury is Qi Li San. 2 of the herbs in it are Frankinsence and Myrhh. For sure it looks and tastes like dirt, but it helped a lot with a soft tissue injury to my heel. Wondering if the formula he took was similar or the same.

[cha kuen]

Vikkigoddes,

I don't know what herbs he took because choi sifu just calls the herb store and has it cooking when you are in his office. Then after treatment, you walk over there and drink it.

[ntc]

Originally posted by vikinggoddess
I would like to know the herbs this guy was taking. These stories are nice, but one practitioner is not as skilled as the next. The best herbalists are still often secretive about their formulas as well. Soft tissue injuries are hard to treat. One formula that can be used for tendon and ligament injury is Qi Li San. 2 of the herbs in it are Frankinsence and Myrhh. For sure it looks and tastes like dirt, but it helped a lot with a soft tissue injury to my heel. Wondering if the formula he took was similar or the same.

This art is known ad "Dit Da" (Cantonese, for Falls Hits). It is a very well-known application of very deep massage therapy (that incorporates tui na, an mo, dim mak, and other massage modalities), and was often used for administering treatment to injuries caused by fights by martial artists in China centuries ago. In addition to the physical treatment, it was often accompanied by external application of herbal patches along with an intake of herbal concoctions. Unfortunately, as you had mentioned, most of the herbal formulas are well-guarded within martial arts families (mine include from within my family) and it is difficult for one to find a complete formula. However, if you do a search on "dit da" in this forum, you will find numerous postings on some of the herbs commonly used in these formulas.

Happy new year, by the way.

[cha kuen]

"Dit Da" is actually cantoense for "metal hit" or "steel hit" (I speak, thats' why I know. )

As for as "Dit Da", enlish would be a bonesetter. Choi sifu doesn't seem like a traditional bonesetter that I've seen elsewhere but he does call himself one. Strange, but he does a lot of the dim mak, energy stuff along with that one tuina whipping of the arm move.

I think most of his stuff is kung fu , chi kung, energy stuff, compliemented w/ the dit da herbal plaster thing and herbs...

[ntc]

Cha Kuen:

Just FYI... if you look at the Chinese characters for Dit Da, they are "Fall Hit". It is very commonly erroneously pronounced in Hong Kong as "Teet Da" which would have translated into "Metal Hit". I used to pronounce that as "Teet Da" myself growing up in Macao, until I saw the characters one day.

It generally refers to the treatment of injuries sustained from falling or hitting. In olden China, this would pretty much imply martial injuries as guns did not exist when this art was prevalent centuries ago. Today, it is still pretty much an art practiced by kung fu teachers as part of their training. You learn not only to inflict injury to an opponent, but you also learn to treat the injuries you inflict. That is also why there are so many variations of Dit Da formulas, as each one is specifically formulated towards healing injuries commonly caused by that specific art. Some are more internal, others are more external, and some are both. In addition, some focus on certain parts of the body while others on other parts, and, as you know, some of the herbs regulat where the Qi energy flows in the body, so will be used differently, depending on the art and the injury.

[woliveri]

I agree with vikinggoddess on this. Although it is a good story a better success story would be if Choi Sifu taught others to do this. The days of passing down secrets from one to one should bloom into a new era of sharing so all can benefit.

[pvwingchun]

I just had knee surgery for torn ACL so this is of interest to me, while digging around in there the doctor also discovered that both of the meniscus were torn as well. Do you know how bad the tear was? Was it completely separted or just a partial tear? As someone who has studied TCM some I would believe that acupuncture and herbs could repair a partial tear but not one where there is a complete tear. Due to the architecture of the knee and the ACL I do not believe it possible but I could be wrong, I did alot of preoperative research on this and choose what I believed to be the best course of action for myself.

[cha kuen]

Dit Dat is "fall hit" Wow, i learned something! hehe.

PWwingchun, PM me and I can give you the patients email address , maybe he can tell you more about the ACL.