The common cold is one of the most prevalent respiratory illnesses among the children. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) context, it is said that the organs of the children are delicate and are still developing, hence their body systems are yet to be able to adjust accordingly when there is contact with external pathogens. Excessive and repeated use of drugs to help the children cope with common cold may not be ideal as it does no help in boosting their immune system. However, there is one external massage therapy in TCM that can help to boost children’s immunity besides treating the common cold in paediatrics. The therapy is known as paediatric Tuina. 
28 August 2019 – On a Monday evening at the IMU Bukit Jalil campus, it was with great honour to have Jenny Wen – who specialises in acupuncture and paediatric Tuina – to share some insights on the application of paediatric Tuina in managing recurrent common cold in children. The public talk which was conducted in Mandarin, attracted an audience of 50 people ranging from TCM professionals to healthcare students and new mothers. During the two-hour public talk, Jenny shared the benefits, precautions and applications of paediatric Tuina. She highlighted that the characteristics of paediatric Tuina should be gentle but brisk, and soft but stable. Besides that, she also mentioned that this therapy is so handy and easy to learn that even ordinary parents can apply this technique on their children. Parent-child intimacy can be enhanced if paediatric Tuina is done personally by the parents for their own children. Moreover, she also shared her experience on how the paediatric Tuina had helped her patient who had a stuffy nose to sleep soundly throughout the night after the therapy. 
Before wrapping up the talk, Jenny demonstrated several techniques of paediatric Tuina on the face, neck and limbs on one of the participants. In fact, many of the participants volunteered to be the subjects for demonstration but due to time limit, Jenny could only demonstrate on one of the participants. During the demonstration, many of the participants were seen trying to get good spots to record videos of the Sichuanese speaker demonstrating the techniques skilfully. 
“Paediatric is a very challenging field of medicine. Children are more susceptible to common flu because their immune system is still developing. It (is) very hard to convince them to swallow medicine or bitter herbs. Needles, be it of medicinal jab or acupuncture will freak them out. Thus, the options are very limited. Chinese Medicine has a very unique non-invasive solution that can effectively assist the body in fighting off the flu – Paediatric Tuina. As more and more parents realize the negative effects of long-term dependency on chemical medicines, the demand for a more holistic approach is on the rise, but reliable and effective options are very limited. I’m glad to receive this knowledge from a group of passionate professionals who have dedicated a lot of time and effort in sharing the wisdom of holistic healing,” posted Hemen Ee – a father of two – on Facebook after attending the public talk. In summary, it was a fruitful evening for all the participants. As paediatric Tuina is a technique that is not well-known in Malaysia but has already been widely practised in other countries, this talk has provided great exposure to healthcare providers and mothers of new-borns in managing recurrent common cold in children.
Reported by Lim Xin Ying Reviewed by Chep Lee
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