Articles & Podcasts
Regain & Maintain Your Health
| Past Sightings |
|---|
Ikebana |
The Tao of Health
New York Times
Health Section
Teahouse Experiences
Conscious Connections
Picking an Oriental Medicine Practitioner
As the benefits of Oriental Medicine are becoming widely known, it’s important to understand the process of picking a practitioner of Oriental Medicine that can best meet your needs.
Your health is like an investment account: make regular deposits, you enjoy dividends, withdraw more than you put in, sooner rather than later, there’s nothing left.
In this article I’m going to use my professional experience and training to give you a sense of what it takes to become an Oriental Medicine health provider.
This information can help you prepare for conversations you may have with Oriental Medicine practitioners as you explore additional health care options for yourself and your family.
On this page:
Oriental Medicine works best when you take a ‘preventive’ approach to your own, and your family’s health care.
“A little neglect may breed great mischief: for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost.” – Benjamin Franklin
A Preventive Mindset. When you have a preventative mindset, you know that your health and the amount of energy you have, like everything else in life, ebbs and flows. Understanding this you recognize the need – based on your unique health situation – for a regularly scheduled or an occasional checkup where you health is assessed, and when necessary, rebalanced.
Work Hard and Play Hard. If you ‘work hard and play hard’ and then expect to take something to make the pain or discomfort disappear, then Oriental Medicine is probably not the best approach for maintaining your health.
Dealing With A Health Crisis. If you, or someone you know, is currently experiencing a serious health problem, Oriental Medicine’s gradual process for regenerating health may, or may not, address your immediate needs. Though, once your symptoms have been stabilized, if you decide to take a ‘preventive’ approach to regaining and maintaining your health, then Oriental Medicine can be very effective in helping you rebuild your energy and your health.
Just as good wine, Oriental Medicine practitioners get better with age.
Investing In Your Health. Think of your health like an investment account: by making regular deposits, you earn health dividends, but withdraw more than you put in, then sooner rather than later, there will be nothing left.
My Oriental Medicine training developed along two unique tracks that, over the years, have converged into the what I offer people today at BIOM.
You get added value when an Oriental Medicine practitioner also has a solid understanding of Western medicine.
In 1986 I began learning the Taoist 5 Element Theory tradition of Oriental Medicine. Then in 1999, after transitioning from a successful career as a communication skills consultant for Fortune 500 companies, I received a master’s degree in Oriental Medicine from the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine (SIOM) and a license to practice acupuncture.
Classroom and Clinic. The SIOM master’s degree in Oriental Medicine program requires 3,240 hours of study and practice. It’s accomplished over three years, with 1200 hours devoted to hands-on practice in the school’s public clinic.
Strong communication skills are an important consideration when choosing any type of health practitioner.
East Meets West. In general, you’ll get additional benefit if the person you’re receiving Oriental Medicine treatment from has experience in the ways and means of Western medicine. For example, the years I spent in nursing school enable me to understand the treatments my patients receive from physicians.
Find out who can practice acupuncture in the state you live in.
(Click here.)
In Washington State, where I practice, only licensed acupuncturists (L.Ac.) from an accredited college, and medical doctors (who may, or may not, have specific acupuncture training) are allowed to practice acupuncture.
Prescribing Chinese medical herbs is not a licensed practice, but the top level schools that award a master’s degree in Oriental Medicine (O.M.M.) require over 1000 hours of supervised, clinical practice in prescribing Chinese medical herbs.
Strong communication skills are an important consideration when choosing any type of health practitioner. Clear communication is a cornerstone of the patient-practitioner relationship, because while diagnostic techniques are essential, so is your input about what you’re feeling and your understanding of the treatment being offered.
When you decide to explore the possibilities of Oriental Medicine there are a few things you may want to know about. Here are a few frequently asked questions to help you get started:
Some practitioners of Oriental Medicine are not trained to prescribe and prepare Chinese medical herb formulas, and focus on the benefits of acupuncture and other methods. If you’re interested in having Chinese medical herbs as part of your treatment process, find out if the practitioner you’re considering offers both acupuncture and Chinese medical herbs.
While it’s possible to find two or more health practitioners that work well together, this requires that each practitioner is a good communicator, and has the time and inclination to communicate with the others to discuss your situation. And making this type of team treatment more difficult is the fact that, more often than not, different health professionals have different ideas about how to treat a particular problem. So it’s a good idea to try to find a single practitioner who has the skill-set you need.
(Note: Always get a second opinion when you think or feel you need one.)
There are several different ‘schools’ of acupuncture, and as you’d imagine, some variation in their methods; though all operate on the premise that there is a network of meridians, or channels, that carry energy or ‘Chi’ throughout your body, and how this energy flows affects your health. Beyond that, there are different methods for keeping that energy or ‘Chi’ flowing and balanced. For example there are practitioners that just use needles; some that use needles and their hands to press on specific points along a meridian; others may work with tiny gold beads embedded onto surgical tape and affixed to a point on the meridian. So ask any practitioner you’re considering working with about what their treatment process includes.
If you know which Oriental Medicine school the practitioner you’re interested in working with attended, you can find out how much emphasis the curriculum placed on learning about and prescribing Chinese medical herbs. And because it takes years to become very familiar with the thousands of Chinese medical herb formulas, their uses and effects, you may want to factor in how long a practitioner has been in practice.
To get started you may want to interview a few different practitioners until you find someone whom you feel comfortable working with. This is important because the more you can relax during – and after – a treatment, the more likely it is your body will be able to absorb and integrate its effects.
Related Links
http://www.siom.edu/
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=246-802 – Chapter 246-802 WAC - Acupuncturists
http://www.hmieducation.com/ – Medical Acupuncture For Physicians
.