Flipping through today's popular wellness books, you may often encounter statements like this: First locate the hardened lumps or tender points, then repeatedly knead and press until they disappear—this will lead to improvement in your condition... Similarly, many massage therapists in street-side foot massage shops share this view, focusing their pressure specifically on painful areas. But do these claims and practices actually hold any merit?
Never Rub Breast Lumps Randomly
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) views hard lumps as blockages in the transverse meridians (localized cords or muscle knots along the body's tendinomuscular pathways) that obstruct qi and blood circulation, leading to meridian stagnation. This stagnation not only causes symptoms along the affected pathway and its vicinity but also disrupts the associated internal organs.Therefore, identifying and massaging away hard lumps is indeed a good method for health preservation. However, hard lumps fall into two categories: one type results from tendon strain, characterized by a harder texture and often appearing around joint and skeletal muscle attachment points, as well as in bursae, fascia, ligaments, and fibrous tubes; the other type stems from deficiency of both qi and blood, featuring a softer texture and appearing in unpredictable locations.
It is crucial not to confuse these hard lumps with benign superficial growths such as sebaceous cysts, lipomas, fibroadenomas, hemangiomas, neurofibromas, or thyroid nodules. These conditions often feel similar to ordinary hard lumps to the touch. Repeatedly massaging them may worsen the condition. Similarly,