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| ISSUE 77 : 01-15 August 06 |
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Sen Prathan Sib (Body’s Ten Major lines) Editorial
Sen Prathan Sib is important
body's lines in Thai massage therapy. It is believed that there
are 72,000 "sen" or lines in our body but there are only ten major
lines.
Sen Prathan or major
lines are important in medical treatment for they can tell whether
our body functions properly or not, for example, body malfunction
is caused from the blockage of energy lines. Thus, we can check
if an illness is related to the malfunction of which major line
and can use appropriate massage therapy to suit the malfunction
of such major line.
Sen Prathan
Sib Structure
In an old medical manuscript called "Tamra Roke Nithan Khamchan11" written by Phraya Witchayathipbordi (Glom), described Sen Prathan Sib as follows:
This signifies that Sen Prathan Sib is located two fingers deep around a navel. These lines are arranged neatly out of its navel center. The same medical manuscript also described more about Sen Prathan Sib that
Some may imply from
this poem that Sen Prathan Sib or major lines are blood vessels
because they contain blood inside, while some may think they
are ligaments or lines attaching muscles to bones.
If we carefully
study them, however, Sen Prathan Sib does not refer to blood
vessels or ligaments as we previously believed. After checking
with modern anatomy, we found out that Sen Prathan Sib structure
is not exactly the same as blood vessels or ligaments structures.
In addition, we found that after using pressure-point massage
on the ten major lines located around the navel, patients felt
the flow of energy running in the direction being described
in the manuscript.
Therefore, it is
likely that Sen Prathan Sib is the direction of energy flow
happening when each major line is being pressured.
The Relationship
between Sen Prathan Sib and other fields of Thai medicine
Balavi - Traditional
Thai Medicine explained that Thai medicine treatment includes
medical doctors, pharmacists, maternal caretakers, and massage
practitioners. These four groups of therapists are related in
that medical doctors will diagnose and prescribe medicine, then,
pharmacists will prepare the medicine. Maternal caretakers will
take care of pregnant women, while, massage practitioners massage
patients so that their body effectively receive herbal medicine.
These masseurs are obliged to know well about Sen Prathan Sib.
For example,
when a medical doctor diagnoses that so and so patient has a
muscle pain, a pharmacist has to prepare herbal medicine but
the pain may not go away. Thus, a masseur needs to massage in
order to widen our body lines so that the medicine runs smoothly
along the body and fully cures the pain.
Therefore, the study of Sen Prathan Sib is crucially important in traditional Thai medicine.
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