So, are the above behaviors in these places suspected of illegal medical practice? First of all, we should clarify two concepts, health massage and medical physiotherapy. Health massage is to squeeze and massage the skin of human joints, meridians and acupoints by artificial force, so as to relieve mental stress and promote health care. Medical physiotherapy is to use artificial or physical factors to act on the human body, directly acting on the local area and indirectly acting on neurohumors to cause human reactions, so as to regulate blood circulation and nervous system function, improve nutritional metabolism, improve immune function, promote tissue repair, eliminate pathogenic factors, improve pathological process and achieve the purpose of treating diseases. Both health massage and medical physiotherapy are supported by the theoretical basis of traditional Chinese medicine, and the operation methods are quite similar. However, medical physiotherapy units need to obtain the practice license of medical institutions, and professional and technical personnel need to obtain the doctor qualification certificate and doctor practice certificate before they can take up their posts. Health massage has no strict qualification requirements, and practitioners can only take up their posts through vocational training in the labor department.
In 2005, the Ministry of Health and state administration of traditional chinese medicine issued the Notice on Issues Related to the Management of Chinese Medicine Massage, stipulating that non-medical institutions should not use medical terms such as Chinese medicine, medical treatment, treatment and disease names in the name of the institution, business projects and project introduction, and should not publicize the therapeutic effect.