Looking for what is down the road in terms of diagnosis and treatment

[John Messmer]

I recognize there are different philosophies and/or approaches to acumpunture and TCM. But I wonder if you could give us an overall view from 30,000 ft of how we will approach someone when we have sufficient experience. We have discussed lots of medical conditions that can be affected with acupuncture. I’m thinking of my own patients with such conditions as fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, tendonitis, and similar pain syndromes or COPD, coronary artery disease, menopausal symptoms, diabetes – on and on. Do we alwways begin with Oketsu, then Immune, then Adrenal and what after that? In other words if we find a problem and treat it, must we identify the problem first?

I bruised my medial meniscus running and at the same time stirred up my L$-5 disc and had an intolerable sciatic pain. Saw ortho, PT but was not willing to stay on narcotics and NSAID’s so I went to an acupunturist in town. He was an RN then obtained a Master’s in acupuncture and has 17 years of experience. He did not do Oketsu. I think he was referring to charts of treatments since over three sessions he needled some Liver and lung points (I did not inquire as I thought it might be rude), probably some stomach and spleen points all on the opposite side and Du Mai 20 in the final two sessions.

So his approach was very different and very effective as all my pain is gone – 90% after the first two sessions.

So, can you help me understand eventually how we will approach patients, what diagnostic steps do we follow? Always the same? Do we adjust according to the presenting problem?

[Allison Bailey]

One of the big differences you are seeing here may be the difference between a relatively sub-acute and chronic problem. For most chronic problems we find that working from the constitutional (Oketsu, Immune, Adrenal) treatment first to a branch/symptomatic treatment will have the greatest likelihood of addressing the problem most deeply and hopefully in a longstanding way, as you are addressing underlying root causes of the patients’ issue(s). We have not delved into most of the symptomatic treatments yet, but we will get there. Starting with a constitutional treatment is not always needed for more acute/sub-acute problems. The reality is, however, that the majority of patients we see for acupuncture have chronic issues and are often coming as a last resort type treatment. We will get into quick fix types of treatments towards the end of the year, even one-needle techniques. These are great when you don’t have a lot of time and the patient’s issue is of a less serious/deep nature. I see many patients who have had TCM style acupuncture in the past and not had much benefit, but really start to see changes with the Kiiko-style palpation technique as it does provide a potentially more individualized approach. That being said we will continue to add to your repertoire as the year progresses giving you different tools and techniques to apply to different patients.

[John Messmer]

Good to know. Thanks. As I consider how to include acupuncture in my practice down the road, I am wondering how to do it and how to evaluate what is needed in terms of treatment. Every day now I see people who could benefit from acupuncture and I an anxious to be able to implement the practice. So I wanted to get an idea of what it will be like. When I entered medical school I already had a concept of how physicians evaluated and treated people but my understanding of how acupuncture was applied was much less so your answer is helpful.

[Author]

Posts