Do you have a burning desire to lose weight? How about a desire to burn to lose weight? Not exactly the same thing is it, yet a story carried by Australia's SBS network reports on a health spa in Hong Kong that offers just that. Amazing really; I mean, this sounds more like circus than health care.

But no, it seems a Hong Kong health spa has introduced this radical treatment to trim clients' waist lines. Yes, they set them on fire.

This is taking the phrase 'fat burning' to a new level. The owner of Life Healing Spa told the South China Morning Post newspaper that its slimming technique can be used on any part of the body with impressive results. After being massaged, coated in Chinese herbs and wrapped in a wet towel, the client is then set alight. Fire extinguishers are kept close by and the process is repeated three to five times.

"We have someone standing by with a towel to put out the flames if they get too hot," beauty consultant Noel Ho reportedly said. That's certainly comforting.

Winnie Ng, the spa's manager boasted that one female client lost 15 centimetres off her waist after a single session. Another client was said to have shed nine kilograms after two weeks of daily visits.

According to Mr Ng, "It keeps you slim by detoxifying your body and by burning fat. It also eases internal humidity and rheumatism." Perhaps this is a subtle part of TCM with which I am unfamiliar, but I am having some difficulty with the "burning fat" part. So let's review the procedure.

Customers are first tested by a machine that apparently tests a person's aura and energy flows inside the body. They then undergo a full body exfoliation and soak in a 300-jet spa bath before being sprayed down with a high-powered hose to promote lymphatic drainage. This certainly sounds invigorating.

Clients are then massaged with Chinese herbs and lotions, such as ginseng, angelica, crocus, deer antler powder and rhubarb. A wet towel is wrapped around the client's body, followed by a dousing in an alcoholic solution and then finally a lighter is used to set the person on fire.

Ah, I see. The alcohol which is on the wet towel does the burning. No doubt things do get rather hot beneath the towel, especially if it dries out from the heat, but the fat isn't really burned at all.

According to the spa's management, the technique is derived from ancient Chinese herbal medicine. Interestingly, the reporter sought comment from a traditional Chinese doctor named Yiu Yan-man, who stated that his training had never included the direct use of fire for any ailment or condition. "I have never heard of such a thing," Mr Yiu said. "Sometimes people heat up needles in acupuncture, but an open flame I never used."

Well that is interesting. I'm no TCM expert by any means but the procedure does sound very much like a form of generalized moxabustion.

According to the WordWebOnline dictionary, moxabustion is an adjunct to acupuncture characterized by the burning of moxas--preparations of dried leaves from the common mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) or the wormwood tree (Artemisia chinensis)--at acupoints to stimulate chi. Practitioners attach moxas to acupuncture needles, place them directly on the skin in the form of small cones, or place the cones on a layer of ginger.

I have known practitioners to use moxabustion cups over troubled areas of the body, not just acupuncture points, to increase heat (and hence blood flow) and to draw toxins. Traditional and orthodox use of a poultice is designed to achieve a similar effect. So, who knows, even if it does sound strange, it may just work wonders.