Cane Exercise that you can do to relieve joint stiffness and pain

Last Updated on April 5, 2021

From my traffic reports, I’ve noted that some people are genuinely searching about the cane exercise– the type that uses a bamboo stick to beat and clear meridian points.

The exercise is known to be effective especially in relieving stiff joints, arthritis, RA, water retention, headaches, muscleskeletal issues, postural problems. It beats or rubs against the meridian channels of the body.  The more severe the blockages is, the more pain or discomfort one would feel. And when doing the cane exercise, it would be quite painful. If there is no condition or blockages, one would not feel the pain of trying to clear a blocked channel. When one consistently practice these exercises, the paint  would get less and less and the joints and muscles would get more supple and the range of motion would be at better ease. Below you can see from the photos that the founder is a very flexible woman.

Personally, I’ve only participated once or twice a few years ago when the founder (from Taiwan) came to perform a demonstration. And I remembered how tired I felt after the 1.5hour exercise- that I had to rest on the bed the whole day after that and only slowly regain my energy the next afternoon (fortunately the practice was on a Saturday and therefore I had Sunday to ‘recuperate’. I had thought the exercise was not right for me but in rectrospect, I realised that my body had stored too much of toxins then.  I had experienced intense lethargy when these toxins were ‘beaten’ off my muscle store and released into my bloodstream- simutaneously.

Sometimes my lower back felt stiff when I get up from bed or after long hours of sitting in front of the PC. I used the cane to beat lightly around the lower back- felt some pain (due to the beating) and the tensed back relaxing. I believed such condition indicates blocked qi meridian channels- the quick kill would be to relieve the blocked channels. But the long term solution would be to practice it alongside with exercises such as  tai chi, qi gong, wai tan kung that would help to improve the chi/ qi circulation within our body.

If you have been practicing these exercises on your own, your health would gradually improve. Even to clear a case of frozen shoulder, the best treatment was beating with the bamboo stick as shared by a reader when I referred him to the practioner in Singapore.

But caution- you need to listen to your body as you do these exercises. Stop when you know you are overdoing it. If the area is very painful, it indicates the area is blocked- you need to slowly clear the blockage by doing the exercises consistently.

Below is the excerpt snapshots taken from a DVD with exercises done by the founder (published with permission). The DVD is in native Taiwanese (similar to the local Chinese Hokkien dialect). It is a one hour video and very comprehensive- but if you want to understand, you need to at least be able to read the Mandarin subtitles. However, by watching and observing what she does, one can also follow. The exercises  are best done beginning from the head then downwards to the body.

Cane Exercise Practice in Malaysia

Update 2018: I have managed to locate the video of the cane exercise that details the sequence for your better understanding:

Through a few contacts, I’ve manage to locate and speak to Mr Yong, the head of person conducting the cane exercise training in Malaysia. According to him, there are several groups practicing in Klang Valley-

•  SS3 Petaling Jaya at the  Multi Purpose Hall (Dewan Serbaguna MBPJ Jalan SS3/14) (every Wednesday at 8am),
• Damansara Jaya (one of the fields) – every Thursday (7.30am) and Saturday (7am)
• Old Klang Road at OUG
• A group in Penang

Duration of each class is about 1.5 hours.

Mr Yong mentioned that if a group of about 20 students or more can be found, they can send the instructor to the place to teach. This is an informal non profit group who started out to help people. Each member paid a small token to cover the cost of rental. There is no official website on this as I was told by Mr Yong it is an informal group set up to help others.

If you do not stay within the vicinity of the Klang Valley, you may still purchase the DVD and the canes from the group- the fee would be very nominal and more or less to cover cost and postage. The visual illustration in the DVD is quite clear- just that for those who do not understand the native Taiwanese or Hokkien, one would not be able to understand the abundance of advice and tips she had offered. But suffice that by following the exercises, you would be sweating so much- it is even better and more beneficial than an aerobic workout.

Do contact me by leaving me a comment if you are interested. I do not sellthe items myself but I can provide you the relevant contact numbers for you to get in touch with them directly (I do not want to publish their numbers to avoid having spam sms sent to them).

I am promoting about the cane exercise because I personally find it to be beneficial and can be practiced anywhere. A friend of mine staying in overseas now bought the cane with her- she said that it helps to just use the cane to beat around the back lightly when she felt stiff on certain days.