Three-Edged Needle, Plum-Blossom Needle and Gua Sha

The three-edged needle (TEN), known as a sharp needle in ancient China, has a thicken and round handle, a triangular body and a sharp tip. It is used to prick particular parts of the skin to make it bleed to treat diseases or release symptoms. The plum-blossom needle (PBN), known as skin needle therapy, uses specialized skin needles to release and dredge meridians and collaterals, balance Qi and blood, and normalize dysfunction of internal Zang-Fu organs. Gua Sha (GS), also called scraping, is one of the unique nonmedicinal external therapies in Chinese medicine based on the guidance of the theory of meridians and acupoints. It includes using a smooth-edged Chinese scraper to intentionally raise transitory and gentle damage to shallow capillaries. The chapter will introduce the history of all three treatment methods and their operating methods, indications and precautions.