Chinese acupuncture thrives in Lithuania

A Chinese acupuncture clinic in Lithuania's second largest city currently receives around 100 patients per week, bringing the traditional Chinese medicine skill to more people in the Baltic country.

Owner Dainius Butvilas, a 39-year-old Lithuanian, is the only doctor at the clinic, which has been running since 2009 in Kaunas. He can speak Chinese, practices martial arts, and can kill pain with silver needles in the ancient Chinese way.

When he started his own career, around 20 patients came each week, seven years later, this number had increased five-fold.

His patients come from across Lithuania. "Eighty percent of them are from Kaunas, and the rest are from other places," he said.

"The oldest is 95 years old, and the youngest is just a few months," he continued.

Vaidas, a 32-year-old man from Kaunas, came to the clinic due to back pains.

"I don't know very much about traditional Chinese medicine. It's quite mysterious to me. But it works. Dainius cured my mother's back, and she recommended I come here," Vaidas told Xinhua on his first visit to the clinic.

According to Dainius, it had not been easy to set up an acupuncture clinic in the country.

"I had to prepare lots of documents during registration, and not so many people here had enough trust on traditional Chinese medicine at that time," he said.

In order to improve his skills and enlarge his knowledge about Chinese culture, Dainius has been to China seven times since 2007. He studied and practiced Chinese acupuncture in Tianjin, Liaoning and Hubei.

"Traditional Chinese medicine is very deep. It helps people know their bodies, and helps us know why diseases come up," he said, talking about his reasons for choosing this career.

Besides working in his own clinic, Dainius has also trained 30 people to perform acupuncture.

According to Dainius, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), especially Chinese acupuncture, has seen dramatic development in Lithuania since it entered the country in the 1970s.

"You can find it easily in around 100 clinics here, or even more," he said.

There are four reasons people come for treatment, he said: they didn't receive effective Western medical treatment, they are afraid of the side effects of Western medicine, their disease was not identified, or their disease is untreatable.

Besides treating people with Chinese acupuncture, Dainius also thinks about the future of traditional Chinese medicine.

"About traditional Chinese medicine, the best time is the past. Nowadays, it lacks development. Those books written thousands of years ago are already very deep and good," he said.

"In the future, I think there are several steps to promote traditional Chinese medicine abroad," he said.

"The first is using Western scientific approaches, the second is letting people know more about traditional Chinese medicine, and the third is letting people know more about Chinese culture," Dainius said.

"Only when people know enough about Chinese culture and history, etc. will they better understand traditional Chinese medicine," he continued. "It has a history of thousands of years. It can offer a lot to people nowadays. It nourishes life, and it prevents diseases."

About the future of his clinic, Dainius said candidly that he didn't plan to make it bigger.

"I want to focus on improving my skills and provide better services to patients," he said.

"Patients are my teachers. Their questions and problems always make me keep on acquiring more knowledge," he continued.