As a patient eagerly awaits his relaxation session, George Pan grabs a heavy meat cleaver from the rack, sharpens it on a wet stone block, coats it in iodine an then taps the patient's body with the sharp side of a 10-inch blade. Most patients visit Pan's Dao Liao, or Knife Therapy Association, for common aches and pains. Tapping these vital points could help the body heal itself. Blocked energy throughout can create pain and sickness. Pan believes the stainless steel cleavers work better than acupuncture needles to release and transmit the energy.
Static energy is released with the up and down movement of the knife.
We call it self-cure. Pan never strikes heavily enough to break the skin and cause bleeding. But one patient twitches and squints as Pan thumps the sharp end of his polished cleaver inches off the upper groin to treat what he says is a bruised liver. Too much drinking. Chop, chop, chop and the pain will go away.