For the past few years, I have been practicing at the same hospital as Mr. Hong Sugao, former head of the Medical Division of the Bayi Sports Team. Hong’s skill in treating sports injuries with traditional Chinese acupuncture and manual therapy is nothing short of extraordinary — a craft on the verge of being lost. Last month, during a casual chat, the conversation somehow turned to the legendary Old Lady Shuangqiao. To my surprise, it turned out that Hong had actually worked alongside her, so I eagerly pressed him for details.
The story of how Old Lady Shuangqiao came to be associated with the Bayi Team may have had less to do with Premier Zhou Enlai than commonly believed. Hong was unaware of any connection between Deng Yingchao and the old lady. What he did say, quite definitively, was that she had once treated the wife of Li Xiannian and cured her in short order. Li Xiannian was so impressed that he sent his own daughter to study under her. Word of her prowess eventually reached the Bayi Team, who invited her to practice at the Beijing Gymnasium for about a month, treating mainly athletes and sports committee officials. According to Hong, her technique centered on tendon alignment and bone reduction — manually restoring displaced bones and tendons to their proper positions. The results were remarkably effective and often immediate. However, the treatment required patients to rest adequately afterward. Since athletes could rarely afford to rest, their conditions would improve briefly only to relapse quickly.
Old Lady Shuangqiao herself soon recognized this limitation. The National Defense University wanted to keep her on, offering her the rank of associate professor and dedicated facilities to serve the Bayi Team, but she declined. Her reason was refreshingly simple: she believed she could not effectively treat athletes’ injuries given their inability to rest. So she returned to the Shuangqiao Health Center. By any standard, this episode reveals a physician of extraordinary integrity — someone who refused to inflate her own abilities for personal gain and upheld the principle of seeking truth from facts. She is truly a doctor worthy of admiration.
Today, all manner of charlatans parade across the land trading on Old Lady Shuangqiao’s name. I sincerely hope they might honor the remarkable skill of Luo Youming rather than exaggerate their results for petty profit. At the very least, such conduct tarnishes her reputation; at worst, it damages the credibility of the entire profession. Luo Youming was not only gifted — she was fundamentally decent. My greater hope is that her descendants and students will carry forward her spirit of honesty and truthfulness.
中文原文 / Chinese Original
这几年我与原八一体工大队卫生科科长洪苏皋先生在一个医院坐诊，洪老运用中医针灸和推拿手法治疗运动创伤真是一绝，几乎要失传。上个月我们闲聊，不知怎么说起了双桥老太太，没想到洪老和双桥老太太竟然曾经一起共事，赶紧刺探了消息。
双桥老太太和八一队结缘可能与周总理关系不大，洪老不知道邓颖超和她的故事，但是他非常明确地说双桥老太太曾经给李先念的夫人看过病，并且很快就治好了。李先念同志为此还专门让他女儿去双桥老太太处学习。之后八一队知道了双桥老太太在中医骨伤科的造诣，专门请她去北京体育馆坐诊，大概去了一个多月，主要给运动员和体委的干部治病。洪老说，双桥老太太的手法主要是理筋复位，把错位的骨头或者筋按回到原位去，这个手法效果非常好，当时就能见效，但是必须要求病员休息。然而运动员是很难有效休息的，所以当时虽然好了，但是很快就又不行了。
很快，双桥老太太应该也意识到了这个问题，当时国防大学希望老太太能留下，享受副教授待遇，批给专门的场地为八一队服务，但是双桥老太太拒绝了。拒绝的理由很简单，她认为自己治不了运动员的病，然后就回双桥卫生院了。这件事不论放在什么时候，都可以说双桥老太太真的是一位苍生大医，医德高尚，没有为了个人的利益而抬高自己的水平，坚持了实事求是，值得我们学习。
现在，顶着双桥老太太名号的各路妖魔鬼怪在祖国的大地上四处招摇撞骗，真心希望他们能够好好继承罗有明先生的高超技艺，不要为了自己的蝇头小利而夸大疗效，从小了说有损双桥老太太的名誉，往大了说就是损害行业的名声。双桥老太太是有水平的，更是善良的，更希望老太太的后人和学生能将这种实事求是的精神传承下去。
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