One of the questions acupuncturists get asked a lot is ‘what training is involved to learn about acupuncture?’ The answer surprises a lot of people: between 2 – 4 years of full time study. In many countries it is a College degree or equivalent though, to date, there are not well-defined international regulations. We’re seeing a lot of other therapists advertising acupuncture or “dry needling” however this is based on trigger point therapy – not AOM principles or theories we’ve showcased in the Jolt Files. A dry needle practitioner is looking for a muscle twitch response that requires greater stimulation and needle depth which carries a higher risk of injury. If you want to experience what we’ve discussed in the Jolt Files, book in to see a fully trained traditional acupuncturist today.

Ever wondered what those large purple round circles you see people with on their back? It’s an AOM technique called cupping. Where jars or ‘cups’ are applied with either a pump or igniting a flame to create negative pressure which causes a vacuum so they suction onto the skin. Cupping works by breaking up stagnation and drawing blood to blocked areas. Another technique is Gua Sha, or scraping which, according to folk lore, was primarily used by non-acupuncturists to get “Qi flowing” using household implements such as rice spoons. Cupping and Gua Sha can be used in conjunction with acupuncture and moxibustion, or used as an alternative to acupuncture needles such as working with children.

Are you aware that trained acupuncturists offer a range of other techniques? Moxibustion uses thermal heat sources to stimulate points and areas of the body. Contrary to contemporary approaches to use ice or cold therapy to inhibit inflammation, AOM uses heat to promote the circulation of blood and Qi to areas that are blocked or affected by trauma. In addition to injury recovery, AOM heat therapy/ moxa can be applied to boost the immune system. In this episode we take you through how moxa works, what conditions moxa is not good for and provide examples of times when moxa is used instead of acupuncture.

The hourly organ clock provides a framework for understanding the flow of energy through a 24 hour cycle. It has to do with the 12 main energy systems in the body, that relate to the primary organs. Energy flows through each of the 12 organs over a two hour period throughout the day. Whenever we see symptoms occurring at regular times, we can consult with the hourly organ clock to see the correlation with the organs. This information helps a trained acupuncturist to arrive at an accurate diagnosis and formulate a treatment plan specific to your needs.

Our emotional or mental health is often overlooked in western medicine, which focuses more on physical health. Emotions can be a powerful force of health and healing and play an important role in all aspects of health. Based on the five element system, there are five main emotions; fear, anger, joy, sadness and melancholy. We are all born with a tendency to one of these emotions and life events and circumstances will cause the rise and fall of different emotions, which can cause physical blockages or imbalances in the associated organs.

Disease is understood as external, internal and inherited or congenital - what you’re born with. External causes are attributed to the five element environmental factors: wind, cold, damp, dryness and heat/ summer heat. Internal causes are related to food and diet – with Chinese Medicine seeing all foods as fitting within the five element theory of flavours; sweet, sour, salty, bitter and pungent. So a food craving is an important diagnostic tool to an acupuncturist. The “congenital causes of disease” can be understood as your genetic make-up or the constitutional energy you inherited from your parents at conception. While you can’t alter this, good diet, moderate exercise and healthy living can help you to make the most of what you were born with.

In AOM theory, the same yin and yang forces of nature that are seen in the four seasons, influence the body. Yin is attributed to night time, cold temperature and contracting energy so therefore yin time of year is when there are long nights and short days, as in Autumn and Winter. Yang is the opposite, being daytime, hot temperature and expanding energy that we experience in Spring and Summer. Good health is when the body is in perfect balance, however illness and disease occurs when there is too much or not enough heat, cold, dryness, moisture and circulation.

One of the greatest accomplishments of the ancient Chinese was to understand the five phases or cycles within nature and the body. Sometimes known as the five elements, the phases are attributed to wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Accompanying these are organs, senses, emotions, foods, colours and other manifestations that help a trained acupuncturist to tie signs and symptoms together. For this reason, things you may experience that seem unrelated are all interlinked and can be helpful for an acupuncturist to understand how best to treat your condition.

The ancient Chinese, who are credited for founding AOM, focused on the functional ability not the physical make up of the body. For this reason they didn’t look at the organs of the body individually, instead the body was viewed as a whole functioning system – based on the principle of Yin/Yang dynamics. In AOM theory, the primary function of the body is to consume food, air and water and convert it into energy – and efficiently expel the by-products of this refinery process. By understanding the interplay of all of the functioning yin and yang organs, a trained acupuncturist puts together signs and symptoms to ascertain what organs may be involved, and chooses acupuncture points and provides diet and lifestyle advice accordingly.

You may be wondering how does the concept of Qi apply to the human body? According to AOM, Qi circulates through the body in pathways called meridians or channels. The role of an Acupuncturist is to smooth and adjust the transportation of Qi through these pathways. Qi flows in channels like water in a large irrigations system, so by needling certain points, an acupuncturist works to make sure there are no blockages along the irrigation system. We talk you through the process a qualified acupuncturist uses to locate points given people have such different shapes and sizes. And discuss how big is an acupuncture point – answering the questions you might be curious about: How does an acupuncturist locate such a small point? How many acupuncture points are there? How many points would you expect to be needled in an average acupuncture session?