A Tooth from the Tiger's Mouth: How to Treat Your Injuries with Powerful Healing Secrets of the Great Chinese Warrior (Fireside Books (Fireside)) [Paperback]

Tom Bisio (Author)

Book Description

Series: Fireside Books (Fireside) | Publication Date: October 5, 2004

A renowned expert in Chinese sports medicine and martial arts reveals ancient Eastern secrets for healing common injuries, including sprains, bruises, deep cuts, and much more.

For centuries, Chinese martial arts masters have kept their highly prized remedies as carefully guarded secrets, calling such precious and powerful knowledge "a tooth from the tiger's mouth." Now, for the first time, these deeply effective methods are revealed to Westerners who want alternative ways to treat the acute and chronic injuries experienced by any active person.

While many books outline the popular teachings of traditional Chinese medicine, only this one offers step-by-step instructions for treating injuries. Expert practitioner and martial artist Tom Bisio explains the complete range of healing strategies and provides a Chinese first-aid kit to help the reader fully recover from every mishap: cuts, sprains, breaks, dislocations, bruises, muscle tears, tendonitis, and much more.

He teaches readers how to:

• Examine and diagnose injuries

• Prepare and apply herbal formulas

• Assemble a portable kit for emergencies

• Fully recuperate with strengthening exercises and healing dietary advice

Comprehensive and easy to follow, with drawings to illustrate both the treatment strategies and the strengthening exercises, this unique guidebook will give readers complete access to the powerful healing secrets of the great Chinese warriors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Gregory Petaro, M.D. A must for any athlete, whether a weekend warrior or serious competitor. I have used these strategies successfully in my practice.

Kevin V. Ergil, M.A., M.S., L.ac., Director, Graduate Program in Oriental Medicine, Touro College This book should have enormous value to anyone engaged in an active lifestyle or involved in the management of minor trauma, especially as it relates to sports medicine.

About the Author

Tom Bisio is a world-renowned martial artist and a licensed practitioner of Chinese medicine. He heads a clinic in New York City where his unique background in Western and Eastern approaches to healing has helped him create and implement effective rehabilitation programs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (October 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743245512
• ISBN-13: 978-0743245517
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Coaching > Training & Conditioning

More About the Author

Tom Bisio began his study of the martial arts and Oriental medicine studying karate at age 14. A Black Belt in Isshin Kempo at 17, he went on to study Filipino martial arts while completing a BA in East Asian studies at Columbia University. He competed in full-contact Tournaments in New York's Chinatown and tied for first place as Co-Champion in the Senior Instructor Division at the 1st National Arnis Championships in Cebu, Philippines, in 1979.

In 1984 Tom began to study Chinese medicine and the internal styles of Chinese martial arts with Vince Black. Tom took numerous trips to China and South East Asia where he studied both medicine and martial arts with many different masters including his current teachers: Gao Ji Wu (Ba Gua Zhang) and Song Zhi Yong (Xing Yi Quan).

Tom has taught martial arts since 1979. During that time, he apprenticed with Chinese herbalists and experts in acupuncture, qi gong, Chinese massage and bonesetting. He went on to become a licensed practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine and today heads a busy clinic specializing in trauma, Chinese sports medicine, and orthopedic conditions.

Tom Bisio is the co-founder of Zheng Gu Tui Na a company that teaches workshops in Chinese medicine in the USA and internationally. He also the founder of New York Internal Arts www.newyorkinternalarts.com. He is the author of A Tooth From the Tigers Mouth (Simon and Schuster), a book on treating injuries with Chinese medicine, Zheng Gu Tui Na: A Chinese Medical Massage Textbook (by Tom Bisio and Frank Butler) and he collaborated with Gao Ji Wu to write The Essentials of Ba Gua Zhang in 2007.

More recently he has produced a three volume DVD set on Ba Gua Zhang in collaboration with Single Step Productions and written Strategy and Change: An Examination of Military Strategy, the I Ching and Ba Gua Zhang. Tom's latest effort is a dual-language (English-Chinese) book, The Attacking Hands of Ba Gua Zhang written with Gao Ji Wu of Beijing and accompanied by Valerie Ghent's stunning photos.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a gem of a book, October 6, 2004

By 

Stephen Lamade (East Northport, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Tooth from the Tiger's Mouth: How to Treat Your Injuries with Powerful Healing Secrets of the Great Chinese Warrior (Fireside Books (Fireside)) (Paperback)

First a disclaimer: I've been a student of Tom's for over 10 years, both as martial artist and a practitioner of Chinese medicine. (In fact, I became an acupuncturist partly as a result of having had my martial arts injuries sucessfully treated with Chinese medicine.) So, I am most definitely a biassed reviewer!

I'll focus on a small portion of the book, one which is of primary interest to martial artists: the use of herbal training formulas (Die Da formulas) to heal and prevent injuries:

A Tooth From the Tiger's Mouth includes in-depth discussion of the following external formulas:

A basic Die Da Jiu (trauma liniment) for acute injuries
A formula for Tendon Lotion for chronic injuries bothered by damp and cold
U-I Oil - a patent remedy
Chinese Massage Oil - a patent remedy
Black Ghost Oil - a patent remedy
San Huang San - a herbal poultice for acute injuries
Sinew-Bone Poultice - a herbal poultice for healing middle or late stage injuries
Wu Yang Pain Relieving Plaster - a patent remedy
Yunnan Paiyao Plaster - a patent remedy
701 Plaster - a patent remedy
Hua Tuo Anticontusion Rheumatism Plaster - a patent remedy
Gou Pi Plaster - a patent remedy
Tendon Relaxing Soak - an herbal soak
Warming Soak - an herbal soak

The following internal formulas are also discussed in detail:

Trauma pills - an herbal pill made with ground herbs and honey
Resinall K - a patent remedy made from an alchohol extract; similar to Qi Li San
Rib Fracture Formula
Bone Knitting Formula
Tonic formulas such as Ge Jie Da Bu Wan, etc.
Individual herbs for healing sinew and bone injuries
Nutritional and dietary supplements

Certainly there are many Die Da formulas available and several excellent books about Die Da formulae are available to the martial artist. However, Tom's book excells insofar as he provides very concise and accurate information about WHY and WHEN to use different Die Da formulas (based on Chinese medicine theory). Having taken many of Tom's "Kung Fu Traumatology" courses over the past ten years, I can definitively state that A Tooth From the Tiger's Mouth provides the very best, fundamental, and practical information available to the athlete and martial artist about treating sports and martial arts injuries with Chinese medicine. I remember hearing Tom talk about these formulas for the first time, making or buying them, and then trying them out on myself or on friends and training partners as we got injured during our training. The bottom line is - they work.

However, Tom's book is much more than a discussion of Die Da formulas. There are detailed chapters that describe the principles of Chinese sports medicine, injury prevention with respect to excercise, diet and health preservation, the various therapies of Chinese sports medicine, (including the management of cuts and lacerations, cupping and bleeding, acupressure, massage, and moxibustion), and the treatment of common sports injuries (over 30 are described). Moreover, the book is well-written, logical, and easy to follow. This is a gem of a book and would be welcome addition to any martial artist's book shelf. The fact that all of the therapies described in the book can be sucessfully applied to the treatment of sports-related injuries, makes it that more especially valuable.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally an "Eastern" book that's practical!, November 11, 2004

By 

Moonlight - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Tooth from the Tiger's Mouth: How to Treat Your Injuries with Powerful Healing Secrets of the Great Chinese Warrior (Fireside Books (Fireside)) (Paperback)

I had been looking everywhere for a book which is practical and yet espouses the wonderful "goodies" of Chinese medicine, and this is it! I was surfing through Amazon and found this book, bought it, read the entire thing in a single weekend, and I am awestruck by how practical and easy to follow it is. I've already used it as a reference twice for some minor ailments/injuries I had. And now I plan on using it to learn the "internal energy" exercises that are recommended.

Absolutely GET THIS BOOK! It's as necessary for the home as is a first-aid kit and/or a fire extinguisher. Amazing, and that's coming from someone who didn't know squat about Chinese medicine before reading this.

I repeat, GET THIS BOOK!!!!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, November 17, 2004

By 

Rorkie (Glastonbury, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Tooth from the Tiger's Mouth: How to Treat Your Injuries with Powerful Healing Secrets of the Great Chinese Warrior (Fireside Books (Fireside)) (Paperback)

I can tell by the name that "Tom Bisio" is not some Chinese guy writing from Hong Kong somewhere, but even if I didn't see the name, I would know it's someone domestic who wrote this book. I say this because the book is simple to follow.

Most of the books on Chinese medicine are filled with either English I don't understand or flowery language that I do understand but just roll my eyes at. And too many times the books have pencil drawings of acupuncture points which I *know* are NOT in the right place.

Bisio's book is simple to follow, and I really appreciate the anecdotes that are written thoughout the book, both how the author treated his own injuries and/or how he treated his patients.

What I really like is how the book combines remedies for herbs with remedies for diet, as well as explaining how to treat injuries as soon as they happen. All three are important, and this guide is quite excellent at detailing what needs to be done. (Finding places which sell these herbs might be sometimes tricky, but it can still be done.)

Well worth the expense and well worth the time to read it, I recommend this book with my highest enthusiasm.