Business scope of traditional Chinese medicine health and wellness center

Currently, the core business scope of TCM health and wellness centers operating in compliance with domestic regulations can be summarized into three categories: basic health care, special physiotherapy and conditioning, and supporting derivative services. The core boundary is that disease diagnosis and medical treatment projects are absolutely not allowed. All services and product promotions cannot involve medical-related expressions such as "treatment", "cure", and "efficacy."

What everyone comes into contact with most every day is basic health care items, such as shoulder, neck, waist and back massage, ordinary cupping and scraping, conventional moxibustion, and foot fumigation. Basically, any clinic can do it. As long as the practitioners hold relevant skill certificates as health care practitioners, they will basically not step on the red line of supervision. Just like the community restaurant downstairs in the office building, it is crowded with young people who have been sitting in front of the computer for eight or nine hours after get off work every day. For forty minutes, you can rub your shoulders and neck, and walk with a can to remove the hardness on your back. When you walk, you can feel relaxed. In fact, there are differences between schools in this part of the program. Most of the old-school practitioners adhere to the ancient method of hanging moxibustion and manual massage. They feel that the penetration is sufficient and the experience is better. ； Young entrepreneurs are more willing to use smokeless moxibustion devices and relaxing massage aids because they think they are clean, hygienic and efficient. Both routes have a large audience, and it is hard to say who is right or wrong.

What many people easily get into trouble is actually the boundary issue of business scope. Two years ago, I met the owner of a massage parlor in an old community. The business was doing pretty well, but because he casually said to the massage girl, "I can massage your waist a few times, it will heal." He was reported for operating outside the scope and was fined 20,000 yuan. To put it bluntly, you can say that your services can "relieve waist muscle stiffness" and "improve waist discomfort caused by prolonged sitting", but you must not use medical statements such as "treating lumbar disc herniation", including acupuncture, scar moxibustion, and drug acupoint injection. As long as there is no registered medical practitioner in the clinic, it is 100% untouchable. Supervision standards may vary slightly from place to place, but this red line is basically unified across the country.

Many restaurants that follow a differentiated approach will also add a lot of special treatment programs. Yao baths and special medicinal baths are common in restaurants in the Yunnan-Guizhou region. Many restaurants in the north will do Sanfu Tie and Sanjiu Tie, and some specialize in more targeted services such as spinal combing and joint relaxation. Here I want to mention the highly controversial bone setting project. Most physiotherapists with professional backgrounds will clearly say that if you have not systematically studied clinical anatomy and are not qualified as a doctor, you must not perform bone setting reduction because the risk is too high. ； However, there are also many private practitioners who have been doing joint conditioning for more than ten years. They use gentle techniques and only do muscle relaxation and small-angle joint alignment. They do not claim any therapeutic effect, and they have been doing it for many years without any problems. Most of the gym owners around me choose a compromise method, only doing "spinal relaxation and conditioning". Customers who really need to be reset can be directly recommended to the orthopedics department of regular hospitals, without stepping on the red line or delaying the customer's work.

In addition to providing services, many restaurants now also sell some compliant peripheral products, such as Shizihao’s jujube seed ointment, chrysanthemum and wolfberry substitute tea, as well as individually packaged moxibustion sticks and foot soaking medicine packets. Some also hold small Baduanjin and Zhanzhuang experience classes on weekends, charging some public welfare fees to attract new customers. What should be noted here is that the products sold must be of compliant food or consumer brands, and drugs must not be sold with medicinal brands. When promoting, you cannot say "This ointment can cure insomnia". At most, you can mention "It is suitable for daily conditioning of people with poor sleep." Otherwise, it is easy to be complained about false advertising.

In fact, if you really want to open a store, don't just copy someone else's business scope after checking it online. It's better to go to the local market supervision bureau and health department first and ask about the specific local requirements. For example, Guangdong has a relatively wide range of local specialties such as herbal tea and Lingnan medicinal compresses. Some northern cities have much stricter inspections for dressing-type items. Asking questions in advance is much better than being fined for stepping into the trap later. After all, the business of a traditional Chinese medicine health and wellness center is about daily conditioning. Everyone comes here to relieve the soreness and pain caused by being tired from work, and to treat minor problems such as being afraid of the cold and prone to getting angry. If you provide solid service and stick to the red line of not touching medical treatment, the business will naturally last for a long time.