As a sphere of practical work and scientific research, manipulation therapy in China is divided at present into six schools, of which the following is a concise description:
1.Digit-paramount Manipulation
The salient feature of this school is its strict observance of the system of main and collateral channels of the human body and accurate choosing of points along the channels for application of force. This kind of manipulation is suitable for internal medicine, gynecology, pediatrics and treatment of miscellaneous diseases.
2.Methodic-rolling Manipulation
The salient feature of this school is that therapists take the theory of main and collateral channels as the foundation and, combining it with the theories of physiology, anatomy and pathology for reliance on when doing practical work, carry out treatment with nimble and flexible hand techniques. Owing to the fact that when this method is used, the contact area is large and the pressing force, although strong, is gentle and comfortable, and therefore conducive to the removal of obstacles from the channels, patients generally feel after receiving treatment that they breathe more comfortably and their blood circulation has been invigorated. This kind of manipulation is suitable principally for the treatment of hemiplegia, infantile paralysis, and sprain or contusion of the soft tissues of joints of neck, shoulder, waist, hip and the four limbs.

   
3.Inner-energy Enhancing Manipulation
The salient feature of this school is the emphasis placed on viewing a treatment in its entirety, whereby the healthy factors are said to be fostered and the evil forces causing diseases dispelled. The patients are additionally taught to take physical exercises, chiefly by engaging in Shaolin boxing, which originated in Shaolin Monastery on a mountain in Henan Province (495AD) and later became famous throughout the country because of its practical value in self-defense and also because of the inner energy which people believe that this form of physical exercise cultivates or helps to enhance in the learner. Another special feature of this school is the employment of wet-hot press and cudgeling by the therapist as two auxiliary means of treatment.
4.Bonesetting Manipulation (also called "Bonesetting Massage" or "Trauma Massage")
This school aims at healing injuries concerned with bones, treatments ranging from remedying bone flaws and bone fractures with dislocations to correcting tangled muscles and skewed tendons. Bonesetting manipulation plays an important role in healing bone injuries and diseases. The bonesetting techniques, when correctly employed, can make a broken bone become continuous again, a sunken bone reemerge, a fractured bone return to its original state, and an unnatural protrusion become flat and even again.
5.Hit-the-vital-point Manipulation (Also called the thumb-pressure manipulation)
The principal clinical feature of this school is the use of thumbs or thumbs and fingers to press on vital points of the network of channels in the human body in order to prevent or cure diseases. The salient feature of this method is: strong reaction with quick effect and minimum damage. The fundamental hand technique consists in pressing with force on a vital point by means of the tip or the skin surface of the distal phalange of one thumb or the tips or the skin surfaces of both thumbs, which may be kept motionless, moving to and fro, stirring or gliding during the required length of time.
6.Paediatric Manipulation (or Paediatric Massage)
The subjects for paediatric manipulation are generally less than six years old. The younger the subject, the better the therapeutic effect. The clinical features of paediatric manipulation are: (1) Emphasis is put on the sequence of hand operations to be performed, i.e. First, on the head and face; then, on the upper limbs; then, on the chest and the abdomen; then, on the waist and the back; and last, on the lower limbs. (2) Great importance is attached to the need of reinforcing the healthy factors and dispelling the evil forces: For example, curvy kneading is said to bring about reinforcement, while straight kneading is thought to be effective only in allaying internal heat; gentle rubbing is taken to be reinforcing in character, while fast rubbing is meant to be done for the purpose of dispelling evil forces. (3) Stress is laid on the application of lubricating media in the course of rubbing. A medium such as onion juice, ginger juice, talcum powder or cool water may be selected on the basis of the season and according to the distinctive nature of the disease as shown by the symptoms, for the purpose not only of protecting the tender skin of the children but also of raising the efficacy of the therapist"s hands.