Visitors from the Yuan Xin Corp. and Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine visited Encore Rehabilitation in Athens Thursday to learn more about Western medicine — namely, physical therapy.

The visit was designed to educate Chinese delegates on the various kinds of therapy and services available to American patients. Paige Plash, co-owner of Encore, said there has been a call to “Westernize” rehabilitation services in China.

“By the year 2020, they’ll have over 400 million people in China over the age of 60, but right now they only have about 1,700 physical therapists in the entire country,” he said.

Not only is there a demand for more therapists in China, Plash said, but there is also a desire to have more outpatient clinics that are not based in hospitals. To that end, he said, Qixing Lin and Mei Zhen Lin, founders of the Yuan Xin Corp., have opened 76 physical therapy centers in Fuzhou, China, over the last six months, with the hope for more to come in Beijing.

The Lins, along with Yuan Xin’s chief technology officer, Dr. Feng Chen, and SUTCM Assistant Dean Jun Hu, toured the local rehabilitation center to see what can be done to improve not only the care offered to Chinese patients but also the education of the therapists.

“Their therapists are not as highly trained as our therapists, so there are several things they are interested in, in China,” Plash said.

Among those things, he said, were opening physical, occupational and speech therapy schools in China, as well as letting students gain education and clinical experience in Western countries such as the United States.

“We have a huge potential to do this work, but it’s still on a low level,” Hu said. “We need more therapists. We need more physicians working in this area.”

Returning the favor

Seeking to improve physical therapy methods was not a one-sided endeavor during the tour. Plash and Encore Rehabilitation co-owner Paul Henderson each expressed an interest in learning more about traditional Chinese medicine.

“How can we as physical therapists use Chinese massage, Chinese exercise in treatment?” Plash said. “Our therapists and physical therapists of the United States already do a lot of dry needling, which is like acupuncture.”

Acupuncture is a technique in traditional Chinese medicine in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Dry needling is a similar process practiced by physical therapists.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is acupuncture has been around for thousands of years, handed down from one generation to the next as a means of improving the flow of chi or positive energy in a patient, while dry needling is a more modern method that targets specific trigger points to relieve muscular pain or improve function.

“In traditional Chinese medicine, there’s a lot of acupuncture and tai chi exercises,” Henderson said. “We’re hoping to learn some of that from them.”

“There’s also the possibility they will help us train our therapists to be better at Chinese massage, Chinese exercise,” Plash said.

About Encore

Encore Rehabilitation was founded in 1981 by Henderson and Plash. They currently have locations in Alabama and Mississippi. Encore offers industrial rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, sports medicine, athletic training, sports performance enhancement and contract services.

“We’re working with the physicians, we’re working with the industries, and our athletic directors are out at the schools,” said Barri Lenox, physical therapist with Encore Rehab. “We’re trying to reach the whole community and be able to provide the services for them that they need.”

You can reach Encore Rehab of Athens, 22423 U.S. 72 East, at 256-232-1221 or online at http://www.encorerehab.com/.