近年来中医小儿推拿逐渐兴起，受到了业内外人士的普遍关注。然而，学界对小儿推拿的研究多集中在临床疗效方面，对小儿推拿的历史脉络、发展现状、兴起背后的原因、推拿实践的图景、消费者的选择等诸多问题关注较少。本文基于科学技术与社会（STS）的视角，采用历史研究和人类学田野研究相结合的方法，对小儿推拿的历史和现状进行了研究，以期对上述问题进行解答。本研究的核心问题是：小儿推拿为何在近年来得以兴起？文章首先考察了小儿推拿的历史发展脉络。其次，文章从宏观和微观两个方面对小儿推拿的发展现状进行了研究。宏观方面，考察了小儿推拿人才教育、人才就业、科学研究以及医疗保健机构的发展现状。微观方面，文章对三种不同类型的小儿推拿机构进行了田野研究，深入到具体的推拿实践中，对小儿推拿的发展现状进行更深入的考察，包括家长的选择，推拿师的角色，推拿机构的发展等等。研究认为，经济发展、观念变革共同促进了小儿推拿的兴起。改革开放以来，经济的快速发展促进了儿推市场的繁荣，这对于理解小儿推拿在当代的发展是至关重要的。观念变革方面，近年来家长乃至全社会对儿童、儿童健康、儿童教育的关注度持续提升。在全方位的竞争性社会里，儿童之间的竞争现象也日益加剧，这些都促进了家长对孩子的投资，包括对孩子身体健康的投资。小儿推拿实践中也存在很多问题。例如，监管方面的疏漏、追责机制的不完善、推拿人才的缺乏等等。这些问题限制了小儿推拿的进一步发展。但是与此同时，儿推行业如今的现状是多方博弈的结果，有其存在的合理性，且能够维持微妙的平衡。然而，进一步发展的需要又要求打破平衡状态。提升小儿推拿人才的专业能力、提高监管力度等，虽然可能会在短时间内造成发展的停滞甚至倒退，但是长久来说，对于整个行业的发展是有利的。随着人们对西方医学的反思，对地方性医药文化、替代性医疗的认识和关注，小儿推拿作为一门非主流的医疗技术，重新获得了快速发展的契机。从本研究的立场出发，作为一门历史悠久的疗法，小儿推拿或将在新的时代，焕发出新的活力。
Pediatric massage of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is gaining in popularity, which has been widely concerned by people inside and outside the industry. However, the academic research on pediatric massage mostly focuses on its clinical efficacy, and less attention is paid to non-technical issues such as its history, development status, the reasons behind its rise, the prospect of its application, consumer choice and so on. In order to answer the above questions, this paper based on the perspective of science, technology and society (STS), combines historical research and anthropological field research to study the history and current situation of pediatric massage.The core question of this study is, why has pediatric massage been gaining in popularity in recent years? The paper first examines the historical development of pediatric massage. Then, the present situation of pediatric massage is studied from both macro and micro aspects. On the macro level, the current situation, in terms of education, employment, scientific research and medical and healthcare institutions of pediatric massage is investigated. On the micro level, field research is conducted on three different types of pediatric massage institutions. and a more in-depth investigation of its development situation is made by penetrating into specific massage practice, including the choice of parents, the role of the massage technician, the development of the massage institutions, etc.This research holds that economic development and concept change have contributed to the increased popularity of pediatric massage. Since the reform and opening up in China, the rapid development of the economy has increased the prosperity of the market for pediatric massage, which is very important to understand the current state of pediatric massage. In terms of concept change, parents, even whole society have begun to pay increasing attention to children, children's health and children’s education in recent years. In an all-round competitive society, competition among children is also increasing, which stimulates parents’ investment in their children, including in their health. There are also many problems in the practice of pediatric massage which hamper its further development, such as the oversight, the imperfect mechanism of accountability, a lack of massage talents, etc. But at the same time, the current status of the pediatric massage industry is the result of a multi-party game, which has its rationality and can maintain a delicate balance. However, the need for further development requires a breaking of this balance. Although the enhancing of professional abilities of pediatric massage talents and strengthening of supervision may cause stagnation or even retrogression in the short term, it is beneficial for the development of the whole industry in the long term.With people's reflection on western medicine, awareness and attention to local medical culture and alternative medicine, pediatric massage, as a non-mainstream medical technology, has regained an opportunity for rapid development. From the standpoint of this research, as a long-established therapy, pediatric massage may radiate new vitality in the new era.
