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I had succumbed an unfortunate accident in Shanghai falling out of a shop. Yes, most of my friends had the same reaction: “falling out of a shop??!!” Well, if you are familiar with old Chinese buildings you will know about the raised wooden threshold at the bottom of the door which one needs to step over. Only on this occasion in the old area of Shanghai I stepped backwards chatting to the shop owner while exiting the shop and. . .there I went sprawling onto the footpath and spilling onto the road stopped by a passing cyclist I almost dismounted. Nearby police rushed not to my aid but to attend to what seemed to them to be a Westerner “thrown” out of a shop. Fortunately the shop owner explained my predicament and after negotiating with the cyclist about straightening his handle bars I wobbled off only to find my back was in excruciating pain. Any traveller’s nightmare is to be faced with entering a foreign medical system.

My wife is a Shanghainese so with a little working the networks I was soon in a Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital near Nanjing Road being treated for back pain. The only problem was that in two days time I was to travel to Zaoxi to a remote mountain village where we facilitate a Mindfulness training program.

The journey to Hangzhou and Lin’an went smooth enough. Then the long winding drive up into the mountains near Tianmushan. The temperature dropped as we climbed. It was about 3c when we arrived in our village training house.

It was about 2:00am that night the pain in my back was so intense I could not move in bed without a sharp electric-shock-like spasm in my back. I tried to get out of bed but to no avail. Nudging my wife I explained my predicament and for the first time felt I needed to use every mindfulness skill in the book. “I need acupuncture or pain killers desperately, darling.” “Great”, came JJ’s reply. “Do you have an old sewing needle?” she asked sarcastically. I looked across at the old table and spotted a Phillips head screw driver. “No, but I have the next best thing.” Here we were in a remote mountain village far from any semblance of Western medical treatment. The traveller’s nightmare had become a reality. Fortunately I had trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine in Melbourne so guided my wife as to points to massage the Phillips head screw driver into after wiping it with alcohol swabs. After about half an hour of painful acupressure the sharp spasms in my back had subsided and I was able to have a sort of a reasonable sleep.

The following day after facilitating the morning group, we made our way down to the town of Zaoxi to find a medical station. After inquiring in the town we were directed to a small shop which displayed an array of herbal medicines. JJ briefly spoke with the “doctor” who carefully surveyed me in a look I could not determine was compassion or “you-don’t-know-what-you’re- in -for”. My Chinese was enough to understand that Acupuncture was the treatment plan. Only, I could not see an examination couch or massage table. The treatment room had paint pealing off the wall, a bicycle in the corner, an increasing audience of locals who offered opinions in between demanding scripts be filled. The doctor asked me to put my hands on the table. Fearing there was a mis-translation along the way I explained it was my back that needed treatment not my hands. My comment was seemingly dismissed as acupuncture needles were promptly inserted into my hands. A dull ache spread quickly to my finger tips as I resigned quietly to my fate. The doctor’s “assistant” stood guard beside me (as if I was going to go anywhere with needles protruding out of my hands!!).

About half an hour went by before the doctor returned, took the needles out and asked me to wiggle my back. With complete dismay I realized the back pain was gone! The doctor seemed pleased at his work then promptly told me I would have to pay foreigners’ rates. I wondered how on earth travel insurance was going to pay this as I would have donkey’s hope of getting a proper receipt off him. “Thirty Yuan” he asked sternly. I had to hold back the smile as he may have upped the price. This is only six Australian dollars. I didn’t bother asking for a receipt happy that I was now relatively pain free. We purchased some herbal medicine (rice wine and who- knows- what!). I think the rice wine simply knocked me out that night so a pain-free night.

Traditional Chinese Medicine? It works! Oh! And the Phillips head screw driver is a necessary part of any traveller’s tool (medical) kit.

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