A Full Moon Risin’ at Point Danger, Australia

G’Day from Downunda,

Hope all is well in your world…and what a turbulent and well informed world it is !

A word or 3 in your ear about building a prosperous Traditional Acupuncture practice, if you please or if it pleases you?

I am sure that for each practitioner the definition of a successful acupuncture

practice will vary to some degree.

Keeping this scenario uppermost in my mind, I would like to put forward some of

the possibilities and outcomes that I have experienced during 25 years of clinical

experience.

A successful practice/business will usually take on an energetic life of its own,

requiring our management.

By taking the pulse or managing your Acupuncture practice/business you can stay on top of one of the toughest of games, creating a successful business

Whilst it would be fantastic if we all had a natural inclination to pay sufficient

attention to all the aspects of creating a successful practice, the truth of the

matter is that in most cases it becomes necessary to pay homage in some

degree to the unfamiliar or uncomfortable aspects of creating a successful

practice.

It is all to easy to pursue our favorite endeavors to the detriment of other

essential elements such as book keeping, banking, cleaning and maintenance, all

ensuring a future in the profession.

This is a perfect example of the age old adage,

‘ We are only as strong as our weakest link!’

Whilst we can creatively utilize our passion and enthusiasm for our favored

aspects of developing a practice, it is prudent to devote time to those aspects of

business that don’t necessarily excite us.

At the turn of the century I became acutely aware of how exclusive my focus

on treatment and study has been.

I was continually walking on financial ‘Thin Ice’ and my grasp on matters financial was tenuous at best.

As a practitioner there can be no argument that treatment and study should

always form the nucleus of our core interests.

However, in the past my lackadaisical attitude towards administration, finances

and investment has proven to be markedly detrimental towards realizing my

dreams both within and without the profession.

In essence we are specialists in our therapeutic fields and in many cases

inadequately trained in other areas essential to establishing a successful

acupuncture practice and there may be occasion where it is in our best interests

to seek additional training in areas other than acupuncture e.g.

Book-keeping programs, marketing, advertising, desk top publishing, human

Relations, Internet Marketing etc, etc.

As an alternative to it is possible indeed, advisable to enlist the services of people who specialize in these specific areas.

Regardless, it is vital to have a basic working knowledge of the associated

business skills required to develop a successful practice to ensure that your

consultants are using the most expedient and cost-effective methods on your

behalf without throwing the ‘baby out with the bath water’, compromising the development of your clinical skills and therapeutic integrity in the process.

As the principle of your practice you need $$$ for the assistance of quality consultants, a process that will always come back to consistently producing positive clinical outcomes for your patients, which in turn means finally honing your acupuncture/ moxibustion skills and continually adding to the depth and breadth of your understanding.

This then is the foundation upon which WorldAcupuncture.com is being built to ‘Explore the Art of Acupuncture in the 21^st Century, a project that exemplifies the benefit of enlisting the aid of expert consultants.

‘Virtual Vacuity’ there is nothing quite like it, here one minute gone the next without even the flick of a switch?

I cannot close without thanking joel@altMD.com for his amazing support, generosity of time and expertise in helping to grow http://WorldAcupuncture.com.

http://altMD.com provides a brilliant opportunity to promote your services and build a virtual professional profile. If you are practicing in the States this golden opportunity is too good to be missed, hundreds of thousands of unique visitors since they launched their beta in March.  Joel has made this very special COMPLIMENTARY offer to Acupuncture Practitioners who frequent the pages

http://WorldAcupunctureBlog.com

Grow Your Practice with altMD…

Over 80% of consumers search the Internet for health information and to find local specialists.  While some holistic practitioners have created a website to reach these prospective patients online, the biggest challenge continues to be getting people to see those websites without being a marketing expert or spending thousands of dollars to hire a search engine guru.  If you are interested in growing your practice, altMD may be just what you have been looking for.

Like WebMD for traditional medicine, altMD.com attracts thousands of consumers each month who are interested in complementary and alternative medicine and they are totally focused on connecting with health and wellness practitioners like you.  Best of all, you can list your practice on altMD.com for FREE by contacting my friend, Joel Fellman at joel@altMD.com.

Your listing will include photos, your full contact information, links to your website, contact/appointment form, a map with directions to your office and a blog so you can educate and attract consumers.  If you don’t have a website, you can literally use your altMD listing as your website, totally FREE! Whether you have a website or not, you should definitely check out http://altMD.com

]]> http://worldacupunctureblog.com/the-business-of-acupuncture/feed http://worldacupunctureblog.com/spring-2008-gold-coastaustralia http://worldacupunctureblog.com/spring-2008-gold-coastaustralia#comments Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:06:59 +0000 Alan http://worldacupunctureblog.com/?p=710

G’Day from Downunda,

I have been mentoring acupuncture students in my clinic for almost 15 years and consider achieving positive clinical outcomes for my patients in conjunction with the responsibility of explaining treatments rationally to keen and curious students to be fundamental to my growth as a practitioner of traditional acupuncture.

Acupuncture Students n Teachers gone fishing, Gold Coast,Australia, Spring Break1994

I have been privileged to meet some extraordinarily committed, gifted and talented individuals through this intensely challenging yet rewarding process.

It is satisfying to have played a role, however small, in helping them to establish prosperous, enjoyable careers and in turn helping many people to achieve improved health.

Japanese master acupuncture practitioner Masakazu Ikeda sensei, whose skill, commitment, lucid instruction and explanation over a series of workshops between 1996 – 2006, changed the face of Western acupuncture for ever.

Masakazu Ikeda, enjoying some rare time off, Imabari, Shikoku, Japan late in the 20th century

Slowly but surely, the possibilities of traditional Japanese acupuncture take root at the most essential level of our profession, in clinic and the consumer is becoming increasingly aware of the distinction between traditional Japanese acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) acupuncture, not to mention those allied health professionals who have jumped on the bandwagon having completed ‘quickie’ courses ranging from 47 hours to a couple of weekends.

Genuine Acupuncture students study for 1000,s of hours prior to graduation!!!

The study and practice of traditional Japanese acupuncture requires enormous commitment on behalf of the student.

To learn, then refine the skill-based needling and moxibustion techniques commonly used in traditional Japanese acupuncture is challenging.

To do so whilst studying TCM is seriously challenging!

In my experience that extra effort is definitely rewarded through accelerated clinical outcomes and an increased patient base as a result of the refined/gentle clinical skills and the aforementioned accelerated clinical outcomes, especially relevant in the case of infants, children and needle phobic individuals.

It is a natural consequence of practicing traditional Japanese acupuncture, that as practitioners, the busier we are in clinic the more practice we get.

As a student the commitment and motivation to spend at least an hour per day developing and refining your clinical skills in the absence of patients is a necessary prerequisite to becoming simultaneously competent and confident in the practice of traditional acupuncture.

Meeting Ikeda sensei was definitely a two edged sword, on the one hand demonstrating the incredible subtlety, power and flexibility of traditional Japanese acupuncture in the hands of a master practitioner, on the other hand setting the clinical bar, way high!

My clinical high jump became a pole vault and I continue to refine my run up let alone jump to the rarefied heights of understanding and clinical accomplishment achieved by master practitioners such as Ikeda sensei.

It is with this understanding that I continue to teach and encourage interested students and practitioners to develop their skills and clinical acumen in this incredibly effective and consumer friendly modality.

world acupuncture.com, is all about the learning, growth and integration of skill-based, clinically relevant traditional acupuncture on a global basis.

Adam and those like him through their willingness to practice and develop their clinical skills provide me with essential inspiration to continue on this ever challenging and sometimes virtually vacuous journey.

Students practicing one handed needle loading Brisbane, Australia, Winter 2008

A journey that started almost 15 years ago when some few months after commencing teaching undergraduate students, I met Edward Obaidey, practitioner, teacher, mentor, acupuncture bruvva and alien from Sangenjaya, Tokyo.

Edward Obaidey, Traditional Acupuncture Mentor Extraordinaire,

Sangenjaya,Tokyo, late 20th Century

I will save that story for another day,

Have a good one,

Alan

Here is some very encouraging feedback from undergraduate student and participant in the worldacupuncture mentoring program Adam McIntosh, ‘a bushie in da big smoke’, in his words……

In short, they’ve been absolutely massive for me.

Learning tonetskyu at the first workshop was great.

I had been wanting to learn that skill for ages.

I do tonetskyu almost every day on myself or my partner, my mother etc. God knows when I will become competent at it but I really enjoy doing it.

Second workshop on Ikeda Sensei’s point selection protocol was a revelation.

It really showcased for me what an elegant, logical theory base is at the core of Sensei’s approach to treatment.

It gave me something I could pick up and use straight away, while hinting at the massive depth I could look forward to exploring in the art.

I have certainly had great success using root treatments.

I have already got my mother away from a decade-long dependence on expensive anti-migraine drugs using Liver Root treatments, tonetskyu on KI-1 and back-shu needling.

Third workshop at the GC was an excellent chance to observe your work more internally.

I was not in good shape at the time.

It was quite instructive to feel my body change and begin to heal within seconds of the root tx.

Your treatment of myself and others allowed me to learn more about the way people move in and out of their constitutions, among other things.

Fourth workshop was also huge.

I’ve been chomping at the bit to find an entryway into pulse and abdomen diagnosis.

Now I have a bit of direction in that regard which is very important to me.

The theory portion on lung deficiency/kidney deficiency/liver excess was also very exciting.

Basically I want to tell you that I am enormously grateful for the training you are providing.

You are providing all of your students with a doorway into great depth of understanding and skill.

I had always suspected that such depth existed within the art, but how can it be accessed from a book or a place like ACNM?

It’s very valuable to have time where your attention is focused directly on instructing/correcting technique/explaining theory etc.

For me, it is an important synergist with the clinical observation time, allowing more of it to make sense.

I have a bunch of other questions and ideas I’ll bounce off you later.

Adam McIntosh

Thank you for your patience, back online and ready to roll out more clinically orientated posts about Traditional Japanese Acupuncture.

More soon,

Alan

You may have noticed that all of my previous posts, hundreds of photos and over 40 videos have disappeared from this blog.

Please accept my apologies and be ensured that we are working flat out to rectify the problem.

In the meantime I am heading south to recover from what has been a very challenging week on the virtual front.

We had an awesome skills workshop on the Gold Coast yesterday afternoon focusing on many of the practical aspects of delivering refined and effective traditional acupuncture treatment, skills including, tonifying needling in root treatment, in situ. needling of back shu’s, scatter needling,¬† tonetskyu and chinetskyu moxibustion, pulse taking, comprehesive record taking and diagnosis featured along with discussion regarding unique treatment niches that minimally trained fellow health professionals cannot imitate without 100’s of hours of practice.

I am truly excited with the commitment,  dedication and skills of those enthusiastic students who attended.

Their presence and my practice continue to  provide me with the inspiration to continue to Explore the Art of Acupuncture in the 21st Century.

Thanks for your attention and have a good one,

Alan

I hope all is well in your world today.

This video shows the Japanese Acupuncture treatment I used to relieve the severe Flu symptoms that Efrat had been enduring for the past 72hrs.

Symptoms included overwhelming lethargy, body aches and severe, persistent, debilitating 24/7 headaches from which Efrat had been unable to gain any relief, regardless of pain killing drugs, rest, or attempted sleep.

Efrat was unable to sleep at all due to the severity of the headaches!

Unable to work for 3 days, Efrat was getting desperate to regain some semblance of normality in her life and was becoming increasingly concerned about her inability to resolve the headaches and overwhelming lethargy.

After the first few minutes of her Japanese Acupuncture treatment Efrat commented that her headache was improving, by the end of her treatment her headache had been resolved.

By the next day the headache, lethargy and body aches had completely disappeared and she was able to get back to work.

In my experience judiciously applied Japanese Acupuncture can be an extremely potent and spontaneously effective form of treatment for what is normally a very difficult condition to treat regardless of the modality used.

Kind Regards,

Alan

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It has been yet another ‘full on’ week in the world of Traditional Acupuncture for me.

Still waiting on Adam Gries summary regarding Acupuncture treatment to assist in recovery from Spinal Cord Injury.

Please be patient, Adam is extremely busy but I am sure the summary is not so far away.

It will be worth the wait, the video of treatment has been uploaded and is ready to go.

I will be conducting the next in a series of Saturday afternoon workshops at ”The Gabba’¬† 2pm - 5pm next Saturday,¬† 23rd August to be followed on Saturday 30th August by a workshop on the Gold Coast at the Center for Natural Medicine in Miami.

Last weekend I attended Jane Lyttleton’s final weekend workshop on the treatment of Infertility with Traditional Chinese Medicine.

In this, the second in a 2 part series of workshops, Jane once again excelled, imparting vital information regarding the treatment of Infertility.

I am in awe of Jane’s lucid and authoritative presentation, lot’s of clinical case histories, relevant information from an orthodox medical perspective in conjunction with her extensive clinical experience filled in many of the gaps in my knowledge base regarding treatment of patients utilizing IVF or having difficulty falling pregnant naturally.

Jane has definitely set the bar way high in presenting information and providing inspiration on these extremely relevant topics.

I highly recommend her book, http://www.amazon.com/Treatment-Infertility-Chinese-Medicine-Lyttleton/dp/044306640X and suggest anyone considering working in this field obtain a copy, over 20 years experience using TCM in such an highly specialized field is quite simply, an invaluable adjunct to clinical practice.

Whilst in essence practicing what could be described as General Traditional Acupuncture, I do treat many patients who are receiving IVF or who are looking to fall pregnant naturally as well as many pregnant patients for the various maladies that confront the modern woman.

Jane Lyttleton and Debra Betts  http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/acupuncture-pregnancy-and-childbirth workshops have given me  greater understanding and insight into the physiological and energetic nuances, leaving me feeling more confident and knowledgeable in clinic.

To both of these dedicated and committed practitioners of TCM,  my thanks and gratitude, without doubt  my patients are better off for my attendance at their workshops.

Kind regards,

Alan

Daniel went from suffering from constant performance sapping flu’s and cold’s, to not being unwell at all during the 2 years of intense training and competition it took to swim at his 3rd Olympic Games.

He credits Japanese Acupuncture as a key factor behind his improved health and subsequent selection in the Olympic Swimming Team for Sydney 2000.

Daniel is the poolside interviewer for the Australian TV broadcast from the Beijing Olympics.

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Your post “More On Acupuncture, Pregnancy and Childbirth” is interesting. As you may recall, at Serono we were aware that Acupuncture was quite helpful for infertile couples in many cases. It seems to me that the pregnancy array - from not being pregnant all the way to giving birth is really the place for Acupuncture. Would you say that many women would also benefit from Acupuncture for stress relief plus many other reasons past the birth event? While raising a newborn, infant, child, and teenager – etcetera? Is Acupuncture a missed opportunity for women in general and part of the continuum of care for health and wellness? Or is that saying too much at this point in time and too simplistic??

Thanks again, Alan!

Talk soon… Joel

Thanks heaps for your insightful reply and very relevant questions Joel.

25 years of clinical experience definitely confirms for me that judicious traditional acupuncture can provide huge impetus towards better health in people of all ages.

There are many examples and in some cases video on this blog of positive clinical outcomes for children of all ages and adults of all shapes and sizes.

http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/category/clinical/pre-and-post-natal

http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/category/infant-acupuncture

Your question regarding acupuncture and stress relief for new mothers using Japanese acupuncture is extremely tantalizing, however, I will do my level best to keep the answers relevant and concise.

According to Traditional East Asian medical physiology and philosophy, from conception to birth the child or children require an enormous amount of energy and nourishment from the mother to go from being a twinkle in the eye to a fully mature fetus.

In Traditional East Asian medicine the energetic impetus for this growth is provided by what we call the mothers kidney energy and in some instances, depending upon her constitution, lifestyle and general health this scenario can cause a significant energetic imbalances in new mums.

In Traditional East Asian medical physiology the kidneys provide the energetic basis upon which all metabolic and physiological functions depend.

In addition once the child is born a majority of mothers provide the sole nourishment, keeping production up to speed is the responsibility of spleen/pancreas meridian/organs.

Hence when there is an imbalance as a result of a combination of any of the above factors the affect can be extremely diverse and widespread.

Often appearing to be totally unrelated from an orthodox Western medical perspective, the symptoms are often intimately related when viewed from an Traditional East Asian medical perspective

Keeping in mind that I am doing my level best to keep the answers relevant and concise, I will not extrapolate to the enth degree regarding these functions, suffice to say. that in my experience most mums presenting with post natal health difficulties suffer from a significant imbalance in either or both of these functions, an imbalance reflected by various symptoms .

Including:

Post Natal Depression of varying degrees and severity.

Exhaustion.

Irrational fits of anger and an extremely short fuse.

Lactation difficulties, both quality and quantity.

And the list goes on…………………………

Regarding the suitability of Traditional Japanese Acupuncture for infants and children, my experience has shown that our medicine can provide an extremely effective adjunct to orthodox medical care, in many cases providing essential relief where orthodox medical applications are hamstrung in their ability to do so without the use of powerful and sometimes unsuitable medication.

I am not saying that acupuncture can replace pharmaceuticals only that in many instances there is huge potential to reduce dosage and dependence.

As always I believe all questions are most appropriately answered via clinical outcomes.

The ability to walk the talk not just talk the talk is of the utmost importance.

Certainly any modality that can reduce our culture’s dependence upon long-term medication for behavioral problems has to be a positive!

Sarica’s Story So Far.

Part.1 http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/debilitating-lower-back-dilemmawhat-would-you-suggest-to-this-patient

Part 2. http://www.worldacupunctureblog.com/youve-gotta-know-when-to-hold-and-when-to-fold

Part 3. Japanese Acupuncture Treatment for Post Natal Depression and Spinal Surgery .
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Many thanks to Tatiana Rubio http://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncturist/86301 who specializes in treatment for pregnancy, childbirth and infant acupuncture, for making her clinic space available for this treatment and some excellent camera work!

I recommended Sarica pursue a consistent and committed daily to thrice weekly treatment regime tonifying Ki.3 - Liv.3 – GB.40 plus 7 - 9 cones of Tonetskyu or Rice Grain Moxa on ST.36 for the next 6 months.

Below is an email I recently received from Sarica.

I love her dedication and also the power of gentle traditional acupuncture to significantly help folk in her situation.

hi there, alan,
so good to hear from you…you’ve been big on my mind, as i’m deep
with appreciation for your help, care and guidance, so i appreciate
your checking in on me. i’ve been faithful with the self-treatment,
including the moxa, and the biggest thing i’ve noticed is that my
brain and spirit are returning. i’d really been struggling with
fighting negativity, and that has improved tremendously. also, my
energy is more sustained, though i’m not pushing too hard with
exercise–just doing about half of what i think i can, and that keeps
me from feeling shaky and overdrawn afterward. finally, i feel like
i have a lot more control over my frustration and anger–i’m not
owned by it as i was, and that is improving my relations with and for
the kids day by day. honestly, i can’t thank you enough :).
how are you? so looking forward to seeing you again–that was too
short! and i do hope to practice with you next time around…
you take care, now!
love,
Sarica

Warning!!! Not every Post Natal Depression patient presents with Liver Yang Deficiency Syndrome in the same way that not every Liver Yang Deficiency Patient presents with Post Natal Depression.

Hope all is good with you.

I have spent much of this week uploading, downloading, editing and rendering video of Adam Gries treatment of Joe who is recovering from a severe spinal cord injury.

Stay tuned for that one, both Adam and Joe are writing accompanying pieces to go with the video.

Debra Bett’s http://acupuncture.rhizome.net.nz/ has asked me a few very relevant questions regarding Traditional Japanese Acupuncture for childbirth and I have done my best to answer her questions.

Hi Alan
Thanks for the positive write up !
Have tried to find the breech moxa but stumbling around on your website - would like to put the list your site and how to get to the breech part on a powerpoint slide - if thats ok with you can you send instructions - I did find the nausea moxabustion - very interesting - will try that with the next stubborn case - I take it that its five rice grain moxa’s per foot - or do you diagnostic criteria for when to use or how many rice grain moxas to use ?
Great to meet you and thanks again for the kind words
Debra

Hello Debra,

It appears that I have led you up the garden path re breech moxa video, having 40 odd published videos I can become a little confused about what is published and what is not.

I believe I do have video of the scarring moxibustion for breech babies but will have to search my video library to find it, my apologies.

However the technique is not dissimilar to that used for nausea and morning sickness except we are using BL.67 instead.

Re Nausea I have found the extra point on the sole of the foot below ST-44 to be quite good, however you will notice that in the following excerpt Ikeda sensei recommends alternative points.

I often use up to 20 cones of moxa on this point but that is just my experience.

Re breech rice grain moxa on BL 67 I believe Ikeda sensei is referring to expediting a relatively normal birth when he mentions 3-5 cones of moxibustion.

In clinic I often use many more cones when the baby is in breech position and the Gynecologist is putting the heat on the mother to have a C-section.

I believe it is important for the mum’s psychological well - being to stimulate the movement of the baby ASAP .

Takes a lot of the pressure off, indeed with Megan this was the case especially since she was carrying a big baby weighing in at 10lb 8 oz.

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Here is an excerpt from Ikeda sensei’s brilliant book

THE PRACTICE OF JAPANESE ACUPUNCTURE AND MOXIBUSTION

Classic Principles in Action

IKEDA MASAKAZU

Translated by

EDWARD OBAIDEY

EASTLAND PRESS • SEATTLE

Treatment

It is said that scarring moxibustion at M-LE-1 (ura nai te/li nèi ting) is good for morning sickness, but I have not found it to be particularly useful. I have found that it more effective to treat hard points located just lateral to BL-58 until they soften.

I also personally do not treat points on the upper body if there is nausea, as I believe that these disperse the yang qi, which is a very precious commodity for pregnant women.

However, Fukaya, the master of moxibustion, recommended scarring moxibustion at GV- 11, GV-10, CV-18, and CV-17.

As a preventive measure against miscarriage, salt moxibustion is recommended at CV-8.

This is done by burning moxa cones on a bed of salt that has been packed into the navel until the patient feels the warmth. The treatment can be done either before conception or during the pregnancy.

Edema during pregnancy can be treated by scarring moxibustion at SP-6; however, I find that KI-8 is more effective.

Colds during pregnancy are treated as a pattern of Lung deficiency/yang deficiency/heat.

After the root treatment, contact needling should be administered on the upper back and shoulders.

At the same time, tonifying LU-5 and shunting LI-4 will also deal with the stiff shoulders that develop secondary to a cold during pregnancy.

Applying scarring moxibustion at SP-6 is a well-known technique for nourishing the fetus and encouraging the health of the mother.

To my knowledge, the first person to present this publicly in modern times was Ishino Shinyasu, a doctor who published an article on this subject in the Journal of the Japanese Oriental Medical Society in 1960.

It was also mentioned in Edo period texts.

The technique should begin in the third month of pregnancy. If the mother feels good during the treatment, 30 to 50 moxa cones can be safely burned. However, if the point location is incorrect, the treatment can feel very hot to the mother. This is a sign to stop and relocate the point again.

This is true for moxibustion in general during pregnancy.

Scarring moxibustion at SP-6 is also effective for lower back pain, constipation and hemorrhoids during pregnancy.

If the hemorrhoids do not respond to the treatment, then administer scarring moxibustion on LU-6 instead;

If the constipation does not respond to the treatment, then administer scarring moxibustion on SI-4 instead. The pattern that is commonly seen in cases of lower back pain is Liver deficiency/yin deficiency/heat. In

addition to the root treatment, contact needling and heat perception moxibustion over the

local area, plus needling to BL-58 and BL-59, should be performed.

During pregnancy, I do not retain needles in the lower back.

If the birth looks as if it is going to be delayed, I usually recommend that the mother take leisurely walks, as this helps the fetus to descend and encourages a safe birth.

If this ineffective, the fetus is either in a breach position or this is the mother’s first baby, both of which can result in a difficult birth.

Scarring moxibustion using three to five moxa cones at BL-67 should be administered to facilitate the birth.

I hope this post helps with some of the treatment issues regarding acupuncture and moxibustion during pregnancy and childbirth.

Have a good one,

Alan