The Mediterranean Regional Centre for Traditional Chinese Medicine offers herbal medicine, acupuncture and massage treatments. Photos: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Three months ago, Karen Debono used to take six painkillers every day and thought she would never be able to walk again.

But following a visit to the traditional Chinese medicine centre in Paola, she is back at work and is regaining her social life.

“Initially I was extremely sceptical, but nowadays I recommend it to everybody,” the 44-year-old told Times of Malta.

A regular swimmer, Ms Debono did not notice any pain until last September, when she had to stop swimming because of a spell of rough weather.

By the end of October she could not move from the waist down and had unbearable pain when standing up and sitting – she had to stop teaching, driving and other everyday tasks.

Her family doctor suggested going to the Mediterranean Regional Centre for Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Founded in 1994, the MRCTCM is a Sino-Maltese health cooperative project that provides professional medical services at the Paola-based centre, Mater Dei Hospital and Gozo General Hospital.

By the fourth session the pain went away

So far the Chinese government has sent 11 medical teams to Malta, with the latest arriving in July.

Director Xiaolan Wang is one of the four specialised doctors at the centre, which is marking its 20th anniversary this year.

Most patients suffer from neck and shoulder pain, scoliosis and other painful syndromes, poor digestion, insomnia and depression, and all are treated with herbal medicine, acupuncture and massage.

The centre also treats asthma, shingles, eczema and weight loss.

Acupuncture’s best characteristic was that it had no side effects, it enhanced blood circulation and removed dampness from the body, so was also good for arthritis, Dr Wang noted.

Chinese medicine has been around for some 5,000 years and as it was a natural therapy, progress was slow but brought long-term results, he said.

Ms Debono recalled her trip to the centre on October 31.

“I went through hell to get into the car and the three-minute trip was unbearably painful,” she said.

Ms Debono was examined “from head to toe” and told her spine was bent and her shoulders unbalanced. She had probably been suffering a slipped disc for three years.

She stopped taking painkillers that day and – for a nominal fee – started going to the centre for two-hour sessions twice a week for acupuncture and other treatment that required a traction bed and a therapeutic device that had been brought over from China.

The pain started subsiding from the first day and Ms Debono was told to rest in bed for eight weeks.

“By the fourth session the pain had gone away, and by the eighth I celebrated a mini-victory... I put on socks on my own.”

Two months later, she left her house to celebrate New Year’s Eve and she now works three hours a day.

The centre sees thousands of patients. To mark its two decades in Malta, it has launched a photo or writing competition about past experiences with Chinese doctors at the MRCTCM.

Submissions of no more than 1,000 words should be e-mailed to mrctcm@gmail.com by April 1.

Entries must be sent in the body of the e-mail and not as an attachment, and should include a competitor’s name, postal and e-mail addresses, and phone number.

Call 2169 1799 for more details. The centre, near the Kordin Tennis Club in Paola, opens from 8.30am to 12.30pm Monday to Saturday and between 3pm and 6.30pm Monday to Friday.