Acupuncture Point Standardization

From a scholastic standpoint, it means there will be less controversy over point location questions on the national exams, especially with non-TCM trained acupuncturists. From a research perspective, standardizing conflicting acupuncture point location was essential to decrease the amount of limitations in a study. From a practitioner standpoint, I just hope the CEU class I will doubtless be required to take will be someplace tropical.Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006WHO CONFAB FINDS AGREEMENTAcupuncture point standard nailed downBy YUKIKO MAEDAKyodo NewsAcupuncturists from Japan, China and South Korea ironed out long-standing differences over the precise location of acu-points during a recent conference held under the auspices of the World Health Organization.With the successful results of the conference...

Everyone is a acupuncturist

I hope none of our politicians are getting any ideas from this . . .Angry Chinese acupuncturists declare war over billUpdated Thu. Nov. 23 2006 7:23 PM ETCanadian PressTORONTO -- Furious Chinese acupuncturists are threatening to mobilize half-a-million people against Ontario's Liberal government over legislation making their profession self-regulating.The bill, which passed unanimously on Thursday, entrenches "quackery'' and puts the public at risk, critics said."Bill 50 discriminates against the Chinese medicine profession and against the Chinese community and is a second head tax,'' said Stephen Liu, co-chairman of the Canadian Society of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture."We will fight to the last.''The reference to the hated tax once imposed on Chinese immigrants indicates the depth of...

Basketball and Acupuncture

For all you sports fans . . .Pacers' Harrington says he's healedBy Mark Montiethmark.montieth@indystar.comIndiana Pacers forward Al Harrington pronounced himself ready for tonight's game with Milwaukee, thanks to an acupuncture treatment.Harrington, the Pacers' leading scorer (19.2) had missed Saturday's victory at Milwaukee and Monday's practice with back spasms.Harrington had described himself as 70 percent recovered on Monday, but upgraded himself following Tuesday morning's practice at Conseco Fieldhouse."I'm 100 (percent) now," he said. "I'm ready to go."Pacers' center David Harrison said an MRI on his left shoulder Monday revealed no serious injury."Nothing's torn," he said. "They're saying I'll be back pretty soo...

Not relevant, but . . .

My fiance and I started a blog about the fun and frustrations of getting married. If you want a laugh, check it out at:http://gettingmarried.wordpress.c...

What part of the tiger is in tiger balm?

None. (Of course)I remember the contorversy over killing animals for their horns or their bile when I was in school. I don't remember ever coming across any of it. In fact, in our herbal pharmacy, the only animal specimes we would bag up and boil were things like cicada molting (Chan Tui), dried worms (Di Long), and my personal favorite, flying squril feces (Wu Ling Zhi). Yum yum.Wile we are an ocean away from this scandle, it is probably only a matter of time before the next question out a patrients mouth after "what do you do with your needles?" will be, "is there any trafficed endangered specias in this formula?."Chinese medicine interest threatens rare speciesBy Matthew Jones Fri Nov 17, 12:35 PM ETLONDON (Reuters) - Britons are embracing traditional Chinese medicine and unwittingly fuelling...

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

I remember Dr. Huo, one of my TCM instructors, telling me that when his son was sick he reached for antibiotics because it was to hard to force a cranky, ill child to drink cherry-flavored cough syrup let alone an herbal decoction. I also remember Dr. Zhong taking 45 minutes to describe the ingredients and uses of a particular herbal formula by describing the plot of a popular Chinese opera complete with periodic singing. Dr. Hou was all for intergrating into Western society and owned all of the latest technologies while Dr. Zhong intended to return to his home village and still spoke of "Great Leader Chairmen Mao" as though he would walk in the room any moment. I always enjoyed speaking to my various instructors about what China was like, what they thought about America, and how things have...

Schizophrenia, or Phlegm Misting the Heart Orifice?

As both a nurse and an acupuncturist, I specialize in the treatment of people with mental health conditions. I have always been fascinated by the western medical pathologies and the colorful descriptions of the TCM diagnosis. Unfortunately, most people know very little about what an Axis One or Axis Two disorder really means and there is a huge stigma on those who have psychiatric disorders. Just the other day I was relating a story about a patient and was asked "well if they know they are crazy, why can't they just stop being crazy?" I responded with, "if you know you have cancer, can you just stop having cancer?" The treatment of mental illnesses must be holistic to be successful. Gone are the days of the asylum where nurses and doctors routinely kept patients drugged or threw them in quiet...