Acupuncture for gynaecological conditions: learning through case histories Online

Have you ever had a difficult case where you could not grasp what was really going on with your patient? Do your treatment protocols sometimes resemble long shopping lists trying to address all the different patterns you see? Do you find it hard to move flexibly between different ways of diagnosing and treating? If you answer yes to any of these questions this course is for you. 

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In this workshop, I will discuss cases from my clinical practice on

• amenorrhoea after using the pill for a long time

• endometriosis with fertility problems

• repetitive miscarriage

• leucorrhoea

• menopausal issues

Each case will be analysed in details, explaining the clinical thinking behind the diagnosis, treatment strategy and point combinations. In addition, the action and indications of each acupoint will be explained, and there will be an account of the follow-up treatments. It is a very practical workshop aiming to widen your clinical expertise both in diagnosis and treatment.

Learning from cases, both directly in the clinic and reading the cases of experienced physicians, has long been one of the most important tools of moving from novice towards mastership in acupuncture practice. This is because cases are uniquely suited to revealing the multidimensional aspects of illness that we encounter in clinical practice. They focus on what is really there rather than on what should be there according to theory and force us to make decisions between the often time multiple options available to us. 

To this end, this course is based on cases drawn from my almost forty years of practicing acupuncture and my familiarity with the different ‘styles’ of acupuncture and moxibustion I learned in China, Japan, and Korea. At the heart of this teaching stands what I refer to as a ‘forensic approach’ to diagnosis and treatment.

What do I mean by a ‘forensic approach’? Nothing more and nothing less than finding the key to effect the change that the patient needs right here and now. It means moving from a ‘shopping list’ approach that addresses a collection of patterns to one that seeks out the seminal forces (ji 幾) at the heart of any illness process that generate these patterns in the first place. This work is very much like that of a detective who solves a crime by sifting through many different types of evidence in order to understand why and how a crime was committed, or that of a good judge who must deliver a judgement in situations that are not always clear and transparent. A good acupuncturist likewise must be able to perceive the significance of often subtle clues that reveal why and how surface patterns show up in the way they do and then deliver the right treatment.

Such a forensic approach to acupuncture not only greatly increases our understanding of illness but helps us to select the most appropriate point combinations for an effective treatment drawing on all the different tools available to us.