Acupuncture Practitioners Here

[Ice maiden]

Hi all,

I just wondered what kind of ratios we had as far as acupuncture practitioners was concerned.

How many practise TCM style, or 5 Element style, or any other style?

How many are training to become acupuncturists too?
And what made you go for the particular style you have chosen?


I am a TCM acupuncturist, having just completed my 3 year B.Sc (hons) at Lincoln University. I chose that course as it was local to me, and gave a good balance of theoretical work and practical.

Who else do we have here?

[Indo]

Start training in 5 weeks! already trained in TCM (tuina), just the neeedle application to go.

INDO

[Jenny Sercombe]

Hi Ice Maiden,

I mostly practice TCM, but traditions are wide and varied. I'm really interested in a Daoist acupuncturist called Jeffery Yuen who is the most beautiful teacher, but different classics, different eras, different oral traditions all have huge variations on style and emphasis.

The richness, depth and adaptability are qualities I hold highly within Chinese medicine.

Have you set up practice yet? If so, how are you getting on?

Best wishes,

Jenny

[Ice maiden]

Hi Jenny - yes, set up practise and full of enthusiasm!!
Renting a room at present, one day per week, in a nearby town, and hoping to get my licences for another room in another town.

I have also completed my Facial Enhancement Acupuncture training too - although we were taught facial points, the finer aspects such as intradermal needling were things I felt I wanted more practise in -so hoping that is useful to me!!

Business is slow at present, but I am hoping it picks up once I am working more days in my other location, and once word of mouth starts to spread!

Indo - how is your training going? Enjoying the diagnosis aspect?

[Twohoots]

I am a big fan of acupuncture and for a while have been seriously interested in studying it. It has sorted me out on several occasions, when nothing else did.

It's just the cost!! I recently went to a lady I found through the BAcC and she studied at Lincoln uni and said it was great but beyond that we didn't discuss fees etc.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Indo]

Originally Posted by Ice maiden

Indo - how is your training going? Enjoying the diagnosis aspect?

Training is great! already done around 100 treatments with very good results, some amazing!

Diagnosis is the same as i have been doing for the past 5 years, just now i have to be more precise, as you are dealing with invasive therapy which can be dangerous.

Back spinal points were a bit scary, but the way we are taught makes it very safe with excellent application.

Acupuncture can be very specific, but alone it is no way near as effective as combined with tuina, and i have found it takes nearly double the treatments with just needles!

So glad i did the Tuina first as physical bodywork has a much broader result...for me anyway.

Bodywork for muscles and joints, needles for the energy... a brilliant combination not to be overlooked. You can understnd why it is used this way throughout China.

Half way through course now and just began writing up case studies as the next course is next week.

Lots of Auricular stuff to do which is equally effective.

INDO

[Tylerc]

Hi all

I am a TCM practitioner so I use acupuncture (I trained in TCM but I now integrate elements of Japanese and 5 Element as well as Western Trigger Point), herbal medicine; cupping; moxibustion and Tui-na. I am also a Remedial massage therapist as I found that acupuncture just didn't address musculo-skeletal problems that effectively long-term and I use various styles of bodywork: Tui-Na; Remedial; Direct Myofascial; Active Isolated Stretching which I integrate with the needling.
I work a lot in pregnancy, women's health, musculoskeletal disorders and fertility.
I will start working more with Paediatrics this year as I think this is possible good market due to working with women being & trying to be pregnant...anybody else have experience with this and how do you find it?

[Reiki Pixie]

Hi Tylerc

I'm on the same course at the moment with Indo, and also a massage therapist (Thai-Tuina-Indonesian-Sports-Advanced Western). So far I would say that acupuncture has better long term effects, and massage has better short term effect. My experience is early days of course, but definately will be practising the two together once qualified.

Best Wishes

Rp

P.S. Indo - FEEL THE FORCE! :-))

[David- Maldon]

A long gap on this thread! I just set up a small clinic in Maldon, Essex after graduating from the Acupuncture BSc at UEL. This course is 99% TCM, as the main supervisors are former Professors from Nanjing and Shanghai; the course director was also TCM trained both here and in China. This makes the instruction very similar to what is taught and practiced in China today, so that if you visit China for extra training, what you see will be very familiar. There is only a slight nod towards 5 Elephants (mainly to allow some cross communication); however, the Chinese teachers look at it as a poor relation to TCM, probably due to cultural differences.

Setting up a new practice has been a massive (and expensive!) learning curve, but the rewards are definitely worth it, as it's the best job in the world! Been getting really good results using a combination of massage and acupuncture, with lots of positive feedback. Been seeing a lot of knees, shoulders and backs, probably due to a shift in the weather recently, that and the 16 week wait for physiotherapy at the local hospital.