- How does acupuncture differ from dry-needling offered by other allied health practitioners such as physiotherapists and chiropractors?
- How does The Jade Path CM methods differ from TCM?
- How many treatments do I need?
- How does acupuncture differ from dry-needling offered by other allied health practitioners such as physiotherapists and chiropractors?
Dry-needling has gained popularity among doctors, chiropractors, physiotherapists and massage therapists because of its effectiveness.
Dry-needling is a 2-day certification course with no TCM theory nor supervised practice. A Masters in Applied Science (Acupuncture) is a 1.5 year crash course with under 100 supervised hours. A Bachelor in Health Science (Acupuncture Therapies or Chinese Medicine) is a 3 or 4 year degree with over 500 supervised clinical practice.
Most people think that dry needling is synonymous with acupuncture. Dry-needling is only one type of acupuncture – trigger point acupuncture which releases muscle tightness to relieve pain. However, acupuncture offers much more than muscle release – it is a complete holistic medical system with the capacity to many conditions.
Jade Path CM only employs qualified, licensed and registered acupuncturists with a BHSc (Acupuncture Therapies) or BHSc (Chinese Medicine).
2. How does The Jade Path CM methods differ from TCM?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) refers to the post-Communist (1950s) Chinese medical system. Classical Chinese Medicine refers to classical methods preserved by individual (familial or master-apprentice) lineages, some dating back to 2500 years old.
In short, Communism outlawed the practice of acupuncture in 1929, to modernise medical practices based on western medicine. In 1950, acupuncture was reintroduced, however many acupuncture lineages and styles choose to remained underground; many had already left China. Moreover, the re-introduction was headed by a committee of herbalists which sought to unify the many styles of acupuncture and integrate it into the existing five-element theory used in herbal medicine. The process of unification, left out unique aspects of some styles. Classical channel-based systems are less popular and understood today. In general, modern TCM practitioners use many needles that seek to restore zangfu disorders.
Individual practitioners have varied levels of skills depending on additional professional developments they have pursued beyond the state-sanctioned curriculum studied in China or around the world. The Jade Path practitioners are trained in various classical methods of acupuncture.
3. How many treatments do I need?
- Everyone’s body heals differently and at different rates. While ‘miracles’ can happen, don’t expect miracles. If the pain returns, the body still needs ‘to be trained’ to heal. We often say, at least one month of treatments for one year of pain.
- If your pain returns within a day, you technically need two or three sessions a week – until the pain is intermittent. If you remain pain-free for more than three days, you will need weekly sessions until the body is able to take over.
- Acupuncture is essentially re-training your body (and brain!) to heal itself. It will take time. The pain returns because the body is used to ‘protecting itself’ due to ‘muscle memory’/ ‘nervous system trauma’. Inflammation is …The ‘closing the blood vessels’ 70% of people will experience a ‘healing crisis’ –that it is not worth it. This is a defining moment and you must ‘push over the hill’ for healing.
