Bladder Channel Acupuncture

Bladder 10 needled both sides. Remember not to penetrate to the brain Halfway done and each alternate inside Bladder point is needled
Our lowest point needled along the spine was the Bladder 32,in the second sacral foramen, that is a hole in the base of the spine on the sacrum. Sounds horrible but it's all routine now

Acupuncture from almost the very top to almost the very bottom... Thanks for letting me use the pics Michael.

In this class we marked out the Bladder Channel and then needled it. This is done by finding the first thoracic vertebra of the spine and asking the victim to move their head from side to side while gently pinching around the vertebra. On head movement thoracic vertebra 1 will be stationary while the vertebra above, cervical vertebra 7, will move. This becomes the landmark to find all the other vertebra from. Then we marked each vertebra of the spine and associated the acupuncture point with it. You know what? Everybody has a different type of spine. Some people have longer bits, others shorter bits, some with bits missing. It's hilarious or should I say interesting. Anyway it's less hilarious when you have an examiner breathing down your neck (spine related joke) asking you specific questions about what goes where and how. Interestingly this was one of the quietest classes so far. The back being less painful too needle. However when I went for an acupuncture treatment today I was coincidentally needled along the Bladder Channel and I screamed out like a kid who couldn't get his chocolate bar. Was painful. You may also like to note that we cover each other in ink and proceed to needle. Ink poisoning is not an issue as the person doing the needling has to wear gloves...That's the law.

Point Locating Device

Hand held point locating device in action Didn't I see this in Star Trek The Motion Picture?
This semester has been the biggest and busiest so far, so basically I'm updating with little nuggets of information. I'm glad I'm still able to hold your attention though.

This device turned up in clinic today. It's a battery powered point location device. It works on electrical resistance on the skin to find the location of an acupuncture point. Being demonstrated on the Ying Tang point on the forehead in the above pic, thanks Jee. Basically it beeps and lights up when placed on the skin. Anecdotally I remember Peter Meier relating a story about someone who was very deficient in Qi down their legs, lack of sensation and feeling, and no readings coming up with a similar device. Clinically I have never seen them not make a noise when placed anywhere on the skin. If there is no noise, or location of acupuncture point, basically you press harder and you get a result. Also I've seen alcohol swabs used to wet areas to create a result too. Anyway love them or hate them they provide some use for some practitioners. I recall when one day we were unable to get a result with a reading from the device with a patient and we were all very concerned. A simple change of the batteries and the patient was much better ;)

Patent Pill Packaging

I was walking past my local Chinese Medicine establishment on George Street, when I stopped at this sign in its window. Breast Mate pills were being marketed in broad day light. Well thank goodness there wasn't a picture of a pair of Chinese Medicine breasts being displayed as part of the marketing. As Chinese Medicine grows and with China's development I can't wait to see other products with even better names hitting the high streets.

Where is Chinese Medicine?

The TCM Department is nestled within the Faculty of Science. Apparently it missed out on the Nursing Faculty. Before all that there was a an independent school that merged with UTS sometime in the 80's I believe. That's a brief history of TCM here at UTS and here is the sign that proves where it is today. The future, you may ask? Well I should imagine it will stay where it is. Numbers are pretty small for the yearly intakes though, it may be that it could disappear? I hope not and can't imagine people not at least being interested in TCM. It would be great to have a TCM hospital here in Australia. Maybe one day...

Tongue Diagnosis: Front Flip, and Bum Diagnosis Combo

Bum Crack Diagnosis and Tongue Diagnosis Front End Flip Two of my most popular checked out posts are the Bum Diagnosis Post and Front End Tongue Flip Post. When the opportunity presented itself to combine both, well it could not be resisted!!

Must be some sort of Spring, Yang time.