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Click here to download the transcript.
Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors. Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Click here to download the transcript.
Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors. Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Today we’re gonna look at a little bit of the anatomy of the bladder sinew channel, and specifically in relationship to bladder 60, like a sphere of influence of bladder 60.
Click here to download the transcript.
Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors. Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Hi, I’m Brian Lau. I’m with Accu Sport Education sports medicine acupuncture program. And I always appreciate coming in with the American Acupuncture Council, so thanks for having me. Today we’re gonna look at a little bit of the anatomy of the bladder sinew channel, and specifically in relationship to bladder 60, like a sphere of influence of bladder 60.
So we’ll look at using that point of course, but then applying it or at least syncing it, linking it with other points in the sinews. So something that would be along what you would think of as the bladder channel, but then we’ll draw out the full sinew channel course and look at how it relates to some of the other structures off the primary channel, but more along the sinew channel.
Let’s start with that. We’ll go to the slide and we’ll start looking at the first bit of information. So this is a image of bladder 60. So it’s just showing, of course everyone knows the location of bladder 60 between the lateral malleolus and the Achilles tendon halfway. But just a summary of some of its actions.
It clears heat and lowers yang, so particularly when there’s tension rising up the bladder channel, and you think of stress and being at work and everything, shoulder’s rising and the whole back line rising. Pacifies wind and leads down excess. That’s pretty similar to the first action in some ways in terms of how it plays out in this situation.
It activa- activates the entire bladder channel and alleviates pain. A lot of pain indications for this point. Relaxes the sinews and strengthens the lumbar spine, and then it promotes labor. So just a quick note while we’re on this image is you can note the course of the sural nerve. So this point would be in a location that would stimulate the sural nerve.
The sural nerve is branches off of both the tibial branch of the sciatic nerve and the common fibular branch. They come back together, but then it travels down, pretty much down the midline along the bladder channel shifts over to the lateral side. So when you, when needle bladder 58, you’d be stimulating that and then down along the course of the bladder channel.
So this would be stimulating that. It’s nice to know the target tissue and some expectations of where that qi sensation would go. Because this is a cutaneous nerve, it would supply sensation down the foot, so you could expect to see some traveling sensation along the bladder channel from that But if we look at the bladder sinew channel, that k- helps us draw out some of those actions and indications.
This illustration is showing sort of two levels, or two layers of the bladder sinew channel. When we do dissection in the program, we do a three-day dissection. This would be on day two, where we start to, to look at the posterior aspect of the body. And if I were to remove skin and adipose, that’s what we would do in a dissection process, the very first structures we get to would be what we see in this box here on the back, which would be the latissimus dorsi, trapezius.
Those are gonna be the most superficial structures. Glute max. And that’s our superficial bladder sinew channel. It’s a lot of what we see as these branches in Deadman’s illustration coming off of the main channel. So it highlights these lateral branches that wrap around to the front of the body.
We’ll come back and look at the front in just a second. But if I were to remove this layer reflect back that layer, then I would get to what would be along the main course of the channel, erector spinae, sacrotuberous ligament, hamstrings, et cetera. A lot of these link at the thoracolumbar fascia.
It’s multilayered, so that’s our linking point between the superficial and deep layer. This will be the subject of the day. If I were to continue from a dissection standpoint, the next layer past the deep bladder channel layer would be the kidney channel sinew channel layer. So that would be our sort of progression, but we’ll stop at the bladder channel today.
So back to the branches. This is where I think a lot of the influence of Bladder 60 is not so much on the main channel, a little bit for sure, but primarily on these branches. So the latissimus dorsi, trapezius, which branch off of the thoracolumbar fascia, the glute max, which branches off of the thoracolumbar fascia.
But if I were to look at the latissimus dorsi, that comes to the front of the arm to the bicipital groove and kind of shares fascia
with the pectoralis major. So it links into the front of the chest and then follows up the SCM. The platysma would also be part of this and into the facial muscles. I don’t have that in the illustration, but you can see this link of the latissimus dorsi, pectoralis major, sternocleidomastoid.
So some areas in the front of the body, which a lot of us don’t really think about with the bladder channel. But with the bladder sinew channel, there is some linkages into the front of the body So here’s another illustration that shows that from the side, labels it. But we have the a lot of, not all of them, but many of the indications of Bladder 60.
So let’s think of those indications from the perspective of this these lateral branches. So clears heat, lowers yang, pacifies wind, and leads down excess. That would include things like headaches. Headaches are a big one for Bladder 60. Visual dizziness bursting eye pain in the upper teeth. A lot of these would correlate with headaches, with Bladder 10 area, so into the semispinalis capitis.
But if we were to broaden out, especially the SCM, the sternocleidomastoid would contribute to things like visual dizziness. It can be a component when there’s trigger points in that. It can be a component of positional vertigo. Of course, headaches. Headaches are a big one. We’ll look at the referral pattern for this in a second.
But headaches it can create a lot of referral into the face area and link with facial issues, both pain and other conditions, even things like Bell’s palsy to some extent. So it can contribute to or at least link with facial pain particularly. Pain in the upper teeth, it can refer into that area also.
So SCM is one of our big links for that. Upper trapezius too. We’ll look at some referral patterns for the upper trapezius. The kind of goal that I want to highlight is that trigger points are becoming increasingly more considered with in medicine in general, but particularly in the acupuncture world.
And many of us, I teach trigger point classes trigger point needling classes within Acusport education. And I just see it with when I teach, when other people teach, is that there’s a tendency to shift away from our TCM when we start looking at more medic- more Western medical language and thought processes and stuff.
So I always like to remind back into the channel system and link with distal points and not lose sight of the channel theory when you start doing more orthopedic or or Western sort of type approaches. And trigger points is somewhere in between. A lot of the language nowadays is Western, but of course, it parallels a lot of what we learn in Chinese medicine.
So not like a complete divergence or anything. So that’s the goal is I want to consider when I’m needling local points like in the sternocleidomastoid trigger points, I might link it with Bladder 60 in particular instances So another indication, relaxes the sinews, strengthens the lumbar spine, activates the channel and alleviates pain.
Stiff neck, goes hand in hand with what we were looking at, but trapezius can be a big component of that also. Contraction of the shoulder and back. Upper trapezius is gonna be one of our big links for that. Fullness of the chest, we can note that the pectoralis major is part of that lateral branch, so that can definitely create a lot of pain and sensations in the chest area.
Heart pain that radiates to the back, and then the other one would be sacral pain and coccyx pain, which is a big one. So we’ll look at the glute maximus. Last indic- action, I should say, but there’s some indications there of course too, is that promotes labor. And I’ll just highlight and not really focus on it much past this, but if I can create some stimulation in this region of the chest, pectoralis major, that’s gonna have an influence on the breast, and oxytocin, which would contribute to promoting labor.
So putting out oxytocin would be, if there’s stimulation in that breast area, that’s… Even if it’s distally, that’s going to have the body put down, put out oxytocin, and that’s gonna start the labor process when the person’s close to it. So just a consideration there so here’s the sternocleidomastoid trigger point referral patterns.
I highlighted some key points around the SCM. Though if you’re needling trigger points, sometimes with palpation, you might be a little off these points, but these are good starting places to consider with the SCM. And just to note that the SCM has a referral into the frontal area, a…
in the eye and cheek area. I’m not sure if I’d be thinking of bladder 60 for this referral. I might be thinking more stomach channel point, stomach 41. Maybe a different day we’ll look at stomach 41 and how it links. Into the ear, I might be thinking San Jiao 3. So the SCM’s a complicated muscle.
There’s multiple channel relationships to it. But what I do wanna highlight is that kinda occipital region. So when there’s that occipital pain and palpating the SCM starts to bring that referral, and it’s “Oh, yeah, that, that feels like my headache,” that would be my consideration particularly for bladder 60.
So when I go to needle, I can just palpate and needle according to what I’m palpating. But I would say San Jiao 16 is a really common point that I use, particularly from the back end of it. So I would thread not perpendicular, but I would thread that needle through the back fibers of the SCM. A little bit more superficial, I might get the sternal head.
If I go a little deeper, I’ll get the clavicular head. So depending on how close to the surface you wanna be, into the muscle at least, but how close to the surface of the muscle versus deeper in the muscle will get different fibers, so you can change the angle of that. That’s a very common approach I do.
Gallbladder 12 would be up at the attachment. 20 would… You can angle it into the SCM or the traps or just straight in. SI 16, I don’t needle that region as much but it’s sometimes reactive there. Stomach nine, I would, again, angle into the muscle. Stomach nine’s a really useful location. Lower fibers, even something like stomach 11, but I don’t find those areas become as reactive.
I do wanna highlight the external jugular vein. So the external jugular vein, which wouldn’t be a big deal if you hit it, it’d just cause a bruise. We don’t wanna cause a bruise. It’s better not to hit it, better to know and look for it. But it’s not, overly gonna be damaging to the person. It’s more cosmetic at that point.
People don’t want a big bruise on their neck. But at the same time, if we can avoid it, better to avoid it. But you can note that it starts and runs behind the SCM. It crosses superficial to the SCM, and then it goes anterior to the SCM. So I particularly like San Jiao 16 in that area ’cause it’s behind the external jugular vein, and I have pretty good access to the muscle without worrying too much about the external jugular vein.
Stomach nine, also on the anterior surface, very good. So those are common areas of insertion. But, you might modify the location. You don’t have to be strict with the location of any of these when there’s SCM strain, it’s nice to note how much fascial communication there is with the pectoralis major.
Clavicular head in particular for the clavicular head of the SCM, clavicular head of the pec majors lung one would be a consideration. But really just trigger points along the whole pectoralis major can help reduce tension into the SCM, especially if people are desk workers and they’re spending a lot of time closing the chest, driving, desk, pretty much a lot of what we do on a day-to-day basis.
People tend to get overactive in that pectoralis major. Even the lats, serratus major, those would be considerations to contribute. If I were linking bladder 60 with the SCM, maybe some points in the pectoralis major lats, these would be starting to build a little bit more of a comprehensive treatment So trapezius is another big one.
Trapezius is multiple channel relationships also. We have gallbladder 21, gallbladder channel, gallbladder 39 is really useful to reduce tension in the upper trapezius. San Jiao points have an effect on it. There’s a lot of channels that converge at the trapezius, but the bladder channel, especially that sinew channel coming up the body is one of those, one of those channels.
And again, I can think it kinda correlates to that pulling up tension in the back when we have stress, and we’re busy and, we wanna have that area descend down and drop. We don’t want that excess to rise. So those would be a consideration for bladder 60 if that seems to be the correlation.
But again, that occipital referral. So this is showing the lower trapezius trigger points and some other, like mid-fiber trigger points and the referral into the occipital region. So a very common often missed area with headaches. When I am assessing for this, I might kinda spread even just with a finger spread, oops, spread through the lower trapezius kind of in the direction that my cursor’s going, from a downward lateral direction cross fiber, and sometimes you’ll even see little local twitch responses.
This is a pretty superficial insertion. You have to kinda thread right into the muscle. So if you’re not used to needling the trapezius in this this region, you do have to know that it’s a fairly thin region. There’s not a whole lot of tissue, especially for people who are thinner. There’s not a lot of adipose in this area, so and the muscles are fairly thin in this area, so there’s not a whole lot of space before you get to the rib cage.
So there is a little bit of pneumothorax risk if you don’t know how to needle this area properly. But I usually thread through a feeling with my finger. I can feel the fibers, and I’m gonna advance the needle through those fibers, an oblique, almost transverse angle. Too transverse, and you’re just going through the skin, but it’s still a relatively oblique transverse.
But even San Jiao 15, gallbladder 21, these are all points you could consider linking. Bladder 10 would be more… And it’d go through the upper traps, but it’d be more in the semispinalis capitis. That would be, of course, a really useful local point for that occipital head pain. But yeah, the lower trap’s one that is frequently missed.
So this is a composite of some of the pain patterns from the trapezius in general, and I would be thinking more of that kind of coming up the bladder channel occipital referral for bladder 60 more than I would for the kinda classic gallbladder channel distribution. I would kinda think gallbladder 39 for that among other choices that I might go with that one.
That would be my pain referral that I would be looking at. So that occipital pain would be the big one. And again, you could link it with other muscles, pec major, lats, other things like that And then the final one we’ll discuss for today is glute max because this is a big component of many sacral pain and coccyx pain type patterns, and that would be the influence of bladder 60.
So this shows from Travell’s book some of the referral, along the sacrum, especially that attachment site. Sacral type pain, coccyx pain. So the Xs, these… I think the current editions of her book doesn’t include these Xs, ’cause there could be trigger points anywhere in the muscle. I kinda like the Xs that showed her clinical experience of where, this region when there’s trigger points, how it would tend to refer there.
But I think the modern editions, they take away the Xs ’cause these trigger points can refer anywhere in the muscle along these distributions. But I still think there’s some value in the Xs personally. And they correlate to certain regions of acupuncture points, bladder 35, especially for that coccyx pain.
36, anywhere along that line, actually, there can be trigger points in those lower fibers. That can be a big component of coccyx pain. But any of these points could influence coccyx pain or b- sacral pain. Bladder 54 would be in the main region of one of the motor entry points, as w- as with gallbladder 30.
And the black l- circle here represents more just kind of attachment trigger points. I, I don’t off the top of my head know of any point there, but I didn’t look that closely with it. But I just think of it as an common area of attachment trigger points. So yeah, just a quick run-through of the the channel.
But particularly the influence, sphere of influence of bladder 60. And I think the idea is linking it with those local points and adjacent points. Pec major, SCM, trapezius, lower trapezius fibers if there’s occipital pain, glute max with the sacral and coccyx type pain. Those would be really good starting places.
Learning more myofascial trigger point techniques can be great, but then we wanna bring it back into our channel system. All right. So I think that is, wraps it up for today. So we’ll look at some maybe next time, some more anatomy, go through some of the channel related anatomy.
I think it’s a really good way to review channels and think about them a little differently if you didn’t have this type of approach when you were learning the medicine. So again, I always appreciate and thank American Acupuncture Council for having me, and I will see you next time.
Let’s talk a little bit about something that I’ve gotten a lot of questions about. Let’s talk about, what if I get a bad Google review?
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Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors. Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Greetings, friends, colleagues. This is Sam Collins, the coding and billing expert for acupuncture for you, for the American Acupuncture Council, and of course, for my AAC network members. Let’s talk a little bit about something that I’ve gotten a lot of questions about. Let’s talk about, what if I get a bad Google review?
Let’s go to the slides. Let’s get into that. What if someone puts an online statement about you that’s false, bad, inflammatory, you name it? Let’s be careful. What if you do get a bad Google review? The first thing to do not let your emotion run away. When a patient makes a complaint or something less than flattering on an online platform, our immediate visceral response, of course, is going to be a little bit of anger because it is our integrity, and I do understand that.
But you have to take a moment, take a breath, start to understand what’s going on and how to respond because no one’s ever going to have 100% good reviews. I’ve been to a lot of services and places that I think, “How did this person write a bad review?” Everyone’s experience is different, but remember, there’s a lot of reviews.
Here’s where we have to be careful. You are a healthcare provider. You are bound by HIPAA regulations, so be very careful. When the patient even identifies themselves and discusses their treatment, you should never, regardless of what they’ve done, even confirm the reviewer is a patient Don’t even get into it.
I saw that when you came today. No. You got to make sure that you do not discuss diagnosis, treatment, appointments, billing, or outcomes, nothing that I would identify them. So for the most part, it would be a very generic response, of course. Now, obviously, factual inaccuracies by revealing protected health information.
You may think that wasn’t true.” You can’t correct it. Again, you’ve got to always remember, your greater violation will be the issue of protected health information. You may have a much bigger lawsuit against you than just someone saying, “I didn’t like the office.” Be careful. Do not engage in any type of argument or back and forth.
It’s not worth it. It’s like arguing religion, politics. You’re not going to win that. So be careful. Always think of, “What is my best practice?” You get a bad review, you should have thousands of good reviews. Make sure they’re there. Make it available. Encourage reviews. Aid patients in making access. Maybe not the first visit they’ve come, but after a few, get a lot of reviews going.
I think something that a person can go through and see that there’s, hundreds of reviews, and you’ve got one or two that are bad, oh, come on. You ever been to a restaurant that was fantastic, but there’s still a couple of bad reviews because they didn’t like the waitress, or there was too long of a wait?
It’s a good restaurant. That’s why there is a wait. Now, sometimes the best practice is no response at all. But if a review is negative but not defamatory, okay. What if the reviewer is angry and likely to continue the dispute? Not worth it. You can tell by the way they’ve done it. They’re trying to prompt you a little bit.
And realize a response may draw more attention, and y- all of a sudden now, instead of there being that one response, you’ve got lines of responses, ’cause it’s gone back and forth, and they’re taking it even further. Realize often just putting something in there that just says, “We would love to address this with you.
Please, give us a call or reach out to us,” may be the best response. Prospective patients are more influenced by a pattern of reviews than a single review. I know that’s true for me. I don’t think I’ve ever not chosen something, oh, there was one bad review. I’m looking for a pattern. If I see a bunch, now I’m concerned.
But realize, never argue or be defensive. Never. Never. You’re never gonna win that. De-escalate it. Make them come to your side. When you choose to respond, first thing you do, take a breath Breathe in and think, “Okay, what’s the best way to respond?” Maybe give yourself a little time. Don’t respond right away.
Take some time. Keep your response brief, professional, and frankly, just generic. Being calm and generic will reflect well, as potential patients can see that the office remains professional even when you’re criticized. You ever see someone that when they’re being criticized, when they have a measured response, you’re like, “Ooh, wow.
That’s the type of person that I want to be.” I want you to be that way ’cause that’s what your patients are looking for. I don’t want a doctor that’s off the hinges. Now, what about someone that re- reported something that’s just false? Okay, demonstrably just way out of line. Preserve screenshots, okay? And then obviously check the platform policies.
Realize most are not gonna remove something. They really aren’t. Now, maybe something exceptionally defamatory, maybe, but I find most people have tried, they pretty much won’t, so that’s why I say always bury it. If you are going to say anything about, “I’m gonna sue,” or anything like that, please don’t do that until you’ve consulted legal counsel.
You don’t wanna make any statement you don’t already know the answer to. I’ll give an example. Both my son and daughter are attorneys, and when they’re in court, the one thing they’ve always told me is they never ask a question they do not already know the answer to. So before you start to make any statements about, “I’m going to sue you,” better make sure, “Do I have standing, and can I actually sue?”
Chances are probably not anyway. But I get it, because it’s your integrity. So make sure you stay calm, but also make sure your staff understands, too, because sometimes your staff is defensive for you. And remember, designate who’s gonna respond to these. Are you going to allow staff, or is it gonna be the doctor only?
Make a rule that no employee may disclose any patient information online under any circumstance. They’re not responding probably at all, but they have to follow the same rules, that responses should be approved by designated management, meaning by you. But again, I’m still gonna go back, should be us. And then when legal counsel should be consulted.
Before you make any statements, “Eh, is this something maybe I want some legal counsel.” Maybe you wanna check with your malpractice carrier. Remember, American Acupuncture Council does protect you for when there’s lawsuits against you or when patients… I’m not saying they’re gonna defend you for a bad review.
But should that person turn into something legal, they will be there to help you, and they are there to help. I will say responding to a bad review requires a calm, prompt however, and professional reproach. Your primary goal is not to argue, but to show potential customers, ’cause this one’s probably gone anyway, that you’re attentive, empathetic, and committed Focus on commitment to service and next steps to contact you directly.
Make sure they’re aware, “Oh, no, I- here’s how you get in touch with us.” More though, have a lot of other reviews. What I see too often is reviews get old. When you get a new patient or someone that’s come in that’s been helpful, encourage them. I know I certainly like to. If I’ve had a good service, I love to give them person a review.
Realize that is part of what we do in society now with the way we have online platforms. Give yourself a chance for that. The American Acupuncture Council, myself, we’re here for you. Network members, you’ve ever run into this, please contact me. Let’s do a one-on-one Zoom. If you’re not a member, think about it, because we’re really gonna be able to help you.
But wholeheartedly, we want to make sure you’re successful. Your practice is always gonna have challenges. We’re here to meet those challenges. Until next time, my friends.
And the topic of my talk today is the importance of clearing blocks before doing cosmetic or any facial acupuncture treatment.
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Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors. Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.
Hi, my name’s Michelle Gellis. I am an acupuncture physician and an international educator, and I am also the author of the book, “Treating the Face.” It is a comprehensive guide for acupuncturists and health professionals. It is a full-color, 500-page book encompassing everything having to do with treating the face.
First, I would like to thank the American Acupuncture Council for giving me this opportunity to speak to you today. So what I’m going to talk about today comes from chapter two of my book, which is all about five element acupuncture. And the topic of my talk today is the importance of clearing blocks before doing cosmetic or any facial acupuncture treatment.
So what is a block, and why is it important to treat them and clear them? So a block is the im– is an impediment to the smooth flow of qi throughout the body. It’s if you think about water going downstream if you think of your qi as like a river flowing, and if there were sticks blocking the water from going downstream, that is energetically what a block to treatment is like.
So how might it show up? Blocks can… The effect and how it could show up is it could make symptoms worse, or it could make your treatments not as effective. And this is important to us when treating the face because when we are treating someone’s face we’re not just treating them from here to here.
All of my cosmetic treatments involve a full body acupuncture treatment, and this is because we are treating the whole person. So if the qi is blocked anywhere, then it is going to affect our cosmetic acupuncture treatments, and this can show up in, again, the treatments not being as effective or your patient can have increased side effects from the treatment strange sensations, headaches, dizziness, these types of things.
So it’s really important to clear energetic blocks to treatment before treating the face. The health of the entire body is reflected on the face, and our face is the most yang part of our body. So things like wind and heat and a lot of different stagnations and deficiencies can show up on our face.
They can show up as red spots, dark spots, dryness, puffiness, especially under the eyes. And when we’re thinking about the face and blocks in particular, all of the yang organs, all of the yang channels converge up on the face, and we’ll get back to that in just a second. Thinking about our five element…
I’m a Worsley trained five element acupuncturist I think a lot when I’m designing my treatments, I think a lot about the emotions and how the emotions affect our overall health, and our face is how we express our emotions. And if we can’t or don’t express our emotions due to some sort of blocked channels, blocked qi or perhaps there’s neuropathy somewhere, or your patient has been getting some sort of neurotoxins in order to relax certain muscles, or if your patient has a condition like Bell’s palsy or myasthenia gravis and they can’t express an emotion, then this is not just affecting the face, it’s going to affect our overall health.
So the first thing that I always do when I’m doing a cosmetic acupuncture treatment is I check for and treat any blocks to treatment. So today I’m gonna talk about two blocks to treatment, and one of them is referred to as aggressive energy. So aggressive energy is contaminated, polluted qi that might be circulating through the channels, and it can affect all aspects of our mental, physical, and emotional health, so body, mind, and spirit And there’s really no way just by looking at a person or talking to a person or probably not even feeling their pulses unless you’re highly skilled to know if someone has aggressive energy.
So what we do is we test to see if the person has aggressive energy through an aggressive energy treatment. So the treatment is a test, and the test is also a treatment. So by testing for aggressive energy, you’re treating the person. The points that we use are the AEPs on the back, all the Back Shu points and they are bladder thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, eighteen, twenty, and twenty-three.
So we’re going to go top to bottom, right to left. We’re going to put the points in, and we don’t push the needle all the way in. You just tap the needle in so that they’re just hanging there, and then you’re going to put in a test needle, one in the upper jiao, one in the middle jiao, and one in the lower jiao.
And if the redness around the acupuncture points, the Back Shu points, is different in size or color than the redness around the test needle, then that is usually a sign of aggressive energy. And the test needles are put either between the inner and outer bladder line or between the inner bladder line and the spine, any place that’s not an acupuncture point.
And you will leave these needles in until the aggressive energy clears. I always leave them in for at least fifteen minutes just in case. And I do this on all of my patients for the first treatment and typically within fifteen or twenty minutes, the AE will clear. Another block that’s very important to check for and to clear when you’re treating the face are entry/exit blocks.
And if we think about the flow of energy in the Chinese clock, the energy goes from heart to small intestine to bladder to kidney, etc., etc., around the Chinese clock. And energy moves that way through the channels. So when you’re feeling the pulses, if you notice that the, let’s say, small intestine pulse, which comes right before the bladder pulse, if that small intestine pulse is really big and pushy and the bladder pulse is very small, then it sh- can be a signal that the energy is not getting from bladder to small intestine, and there is an exit/entry block.
And the way you treat this is by treating the exit and entry points of these two channels. So the exit point for small intestine is small intestine 19, and the entry point for bladder is bladder one What you would do is you would if you feel this on the pulse, then you would treat small intestine 19 by tonifying it, and the way we do that is we put the needle in and we turn it 180 degrees clockwise, and then we take it out.
And then I do bladder one and a half kind of on the bridge of the nose and instead of getting all the way into bladder one, and you are going to tonify that, turn it 180 degrees, take it out, and then you would do the same thing on the other side. And usually, this will clear any blocks. You can also suspect these blocks in addition to the pulse.
People usually report they’re having ear issues with their ears. Some, so something physical, headaches and the headaches that cause you to go like this and it feels better. And this is really important because you don’t want to be treating the face unless the face is completely open and the energy is flowing freely.
Can you put up the slide, please? So there are several other blocks that we check for in five element acupuncture having to do with the Shang cycle and I cover all of these in my book and I go into depth about spirit blocks possession husband-wife imbalances, and all of these have to do with getting the chi to move smoothly throughout the body and the face.
You can take the slide down
That is a little bit about why it’s important to clear blocks before doing any facial treatments on your patients. And if you would like more information, you can visit my website, facialacupunctureclasses.com, and check out some of my recorded classes and my live classes. And I hope to see you in class one day soon.
And I want to point out that when we talk about seasonal allergies, this is a range of diseases that can manifest in various ways starting with allergic rhinitis en-enlarged adenoids and that affects the sleep,…
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Hello, this is Moshe Heller from the Motion Center and Motion Herbs. I want to thank the American Acupuncture Council for letting me present today on this topic of treating children with seasonal allergies. This is a lecture that I’m repeating a lecture that I did exactly a year ago also talking about this subject.
But spring is here, and and it is the time to talk about these things. And we have lots of patients that we meet or at least I’m seeing a lot of patients who are in need for help in this season with allergies. So now we can go to the slides, please. The spring is here, as I mentioned, and there’s these…
When spring comes and as practitioners of Chinese medicine, we always need to say to be in, in touch with the changes of the season. We feel those fluctuating temperatures the blooming plants and trees, and that all brings these sneezing and sniffles, and runny noses, and irritated eyes and ear– scratchy throats, and these are all signs of the seasonal allergies.
And today, we’ll dis-discuss how we can help these patients with both acupuncture and herbs. And I want to point out that when we talk about seasonal allergies, this is a range of diseases that can manifest in various ways starting with allergic rhinitis en-enlarged adenoids and that affects the sleep, can cause sleep adne-apnea.
And children who have a tendency to have seasonal allergies will also tend to have some food allergies, and we’ll talk about why that is happening in a se- in a second. We have to understand that there’s a reaction of our immune system which causes an inflammatory process or an allergic inflammatory process, and we need to address that from multiple ways.
I just want to remind you this slide reminds you that there’s a lot of times the spleen or our digestive sy-system is at the center of this me- of this disease process, of the pathology. And we have a weakness a lot of times of the spleen and stomach, which then does not support the lung appropriately, and therefore our wei qi is imbalanced and overreactive.
And that our spleen also produces phlegm and dampness, which goes upwards and affects the orifices. So that just points out that when we see children with allergies in– I always discuss diet because for me there’s always a relationship between allergies and our diet. So when we suspect there is an allergy in the pathology then we always have to talk about are there any phlegm-producing foods that they are consuming and how we can change that in order to help in resolving the issues that that we’re that, that are presenting.
It’s really important to just start by asking what they eat on a regular basis. What’s their diet like? I always say, “What do they eat in the morning? What are their snacks? What are their lunch like? What’s their snack in between lunch? What’s their dinner like?” And that helps me Really understand what they tend to eat and is there any contributing factors for that?
And so always consider giving a three-week food journal. That is extremely helpful. I found that to be very helpful when I have patients do that and when they actually report that, then we can see what they’re eating and discuss, have a discussion about diet. So when we talk about pattern differentiation in in these conditions, we always look for, is there any lung or spleen qi vacuity or deficiency?
Or what we see a lot of times in Chinese in pediatrics, is that the … There could be a situation where there’s what we call hyperactive spleen qi deficiency, where the patient is actually s- s- having a spleen deficiency, but their behavior is very hyperactive and doesn’t really match the deficiency symptoms that we are, that they are presenting.
We always, I always also look to see if there’s any lingering pathogenic factors. As we know, lingering pathogenic factors can be a very common cause of disease in children. One telling sign is that their lymph glands under their mandibles are swollen. And so I’ll palpate that and if there’s, they’re swollen, I’ll start to ask questions about lingering pathogenic factor.
Was there an illness that was never fully resolved or has been chronic and that could be the trigger? There could be also a liver yang rising. We children also can manifest with liver yang rising and sometimes emotions, when liver … When we talk about liver yang rising, a lot of times emotional factors can be part of that situation.
What we may need to note is that each of these patterns may have bouts of either wind cold or wind heat attacks, meaning that it’s concurrently a wind cold or wind heat that’s attacking on the surface. And there it can be also complicated with phlegm dampness. In some cases, there could be an underlying kidney involvement, a kidney vacuity.
And what we always need to understand that when there’s an allergic s- condition that we … That there’s when there’s an allergic condition, there’s always some heat hidden or it’s … The heat is coming from somewhere. It could be yin fire, it could be qi stagnation, and it could be phlegm congestion.
All these are possibilities, but there always is a heat source or a cause for the heat to be present. So when we the … When we talk about allergies, it means that there is an hyperactivity of the immune system, meaning it reacts at the times that it’s not supposed to react, and therefore I
That, for me, always represents a heat condition or a hot condition that it could be deficiency heat, it could be excess heat, but there’s heat somewhere in the system, and we need to figure out where it’s coming from. Again, once we come with a di- have a diagnosis, we always can consider these different points.
Our main points are always Lung 7 and Large Intestine 4 to help resolve the exterior aspect of that. Du 23 is a point that I use a lot for clearing of the sinuses, so if there’s any accumulation, congestion, runny nose, anything that we need to address in the sinus area, Du 23 helps to clear both damp and phlegm and wind and cold from the si- from the head.
So that’s a very important point, as well as Gallbladder 40. Gallbladder 40 is a really important point, and sometimes I may use moxa on it or just needle it depending on the presentation, and that’s a very helpful point to … Especially when we have rhinitis as as part of the presentation.
Liver 3 there’s a lot of heat and the face is red and fa- symptoms of heat in the upper part, in the facial area, then I would consider Liver 2 or Liver 3 if there’s, there are not. Always remember this area between Large Intestine 10 and Large Intestine 11, maybe towards the triple burner line is what we call the immune regulation area, and I check for sensitivity or puffiness and and address that area also if needed.
Triple burner cis 16 triple warmer 16 is also a very important ar- immune point and help to regulate the lymph drainage in the neck area. And so that’s a very important point that I consider. As well as Du 12, if there’s lung qi reg… for lung qi regulation and a- activation of the thymus gland.
These are– this is why we would choose Du 12. And I always palpate the spine and needle very tight spots and look at areas like Du 2, Du 3 and/or Du 6. So these are areas that I check to see if there’s any irritation. And we could use needles. For some children, I might use shonishen technique and I always want you to remember that teishin is meaning the needle that is non-skin penetrating is always part of– has always been part of our nine traditional needles.
And we just need to understand that when we’re stimulating the skin, we’re stimulating the depths of our nervous system and also our qi. And therefore, it’s important to remember that we don’t necessarily need to use a needle in for all these points, but we can definitely use teishin or non- non-needling techniques or non-insertion techniques.
I also wanna point out we’re shifting a little bit to talk about herbs. One point… One thing I want to point out is this s- s- research study that was done on stabilizing mast cell a- mast cell activity. And there is a formula that was used. The Chin- included three Chinese herbs.
Those are… This formula is called Shuang Huang Lian, which is genin hua phloroglaucina, radix scutellaria, huang Qin, and forsythia, Lian Qiao. So these three herbs really help to act to regulate mast cell. And I’ll also mention that I’ll show you a product in a few seconds which is made from quercetin, bromelain, and nettles which are which is a great compilation to also help regulate or down-regulate mast cell activity, similar to what this formula might be doing.
So you can use these three herbs as a component in other traditional formulas that you might be using or according to the pattern differentiation to help with down-regulating mast cell activity. I also want to mention another research study that was done by Dr. Li from Mount Sinai. She used a formula.
She used a-another traditional Chinese formula Wu Mei Wan to address food allergies in particular. But I in my experience, it will definitely also be a good formula to consider in environmental allergies. And the formula is, This is the traditional formula.
It has known– it’s known for its zhūyīn. This is the ma-ma-main formula in the zhūyīn which addresses also parasites. And that’s why I think Dr. Li chose it because of the parasite theory and allergies that you can definitely read on in this, you have the research study right here.
And it points out– And this is actually the formula that was finally used in the research. This is the product I was referring to. It’s called D-Hist. Again, it’s made from quercetin, bromelain, and and nettles, which are all help in regulating allergic or the histamine response, regulating histamine response.
And it– There is a pediatric version, the D-Hist Junior chewables. I usually give this in larger quantity than is recommended on the dosage because I believe that the quantity of quercetin needs to be high in order to down-regulate or get a very a better effect on the for the patients.
So I sometimes double or triple the amount of the D-Hist that I would recommend for patients I want to– I hope this helped you very to address some of your patients’ concerns especially when it comes to allergic responses. I see a lot of patients in my office, especially in this season but also throughout the year, especially food-with food allergies.
And I so I hope this helps. And I want to thank the American Acupuncture Council again for letting me speak today. Thank you very much.