Today I would like to discuss the Japanese acupuncture treatment of one of my patients who is recovering from a severe bout of pneumonia.

The patient presented in clinic about two weeks ago having completed her third course of antibiotics for this condition.

Her major complaint was a continual, incessant, energy sapping cough in conjunction with overwhelming lethargy and tiredness.

It is in situations like these that I am extremely grateful to the practitioner of Traditional Japanese Acupuncture.
I always administer treatment with the best intentions, however this is no guarantee that I make the correct diagnosis and administer the appropriate treatment on my first attempt.

Upon taking the pulse of my patient and questioning her thoroughly about her symptoms I decided to administer a Spleen root treatment.

After this initial treatment she returned again couple of days later, sadly there had been no improvement in her condition.

I re-examined her and once again came to the conclusion that she was Spleen deficient and this deficiency had led to a Lung excess resulting in her incessant coughing.

Again I treated her for Spleen deficiency and excess heat in the lung.

Returning for her third treatment in a week she once again reported no improvement at all.

She was becoming increasingly desperate, as she had been given the best treatment that orthodox medicine was capable of with little or no benefit and had not responded at all to my Traditional Japanese Acupuncture treatment.

It was at this point in the treatment that the brilliance of Traditional Japanese Acupuncture and the classical Chinese medicine principles at its theoretical core came to the fore.

I was either, ineffectively applying the correct treatment or I had misdiagnosed her condition.

I chose the latter option and decided to replace the Spleen root treatment with a Liver root treatment.
That is,  I replaced my previous root treatment Pe.5 - Sp.5 with Ki.7 - Liv.4, the rest of the treatment was basically the same and included the shunting of Lu.6 and administering the appropriate back - shu points.

The result was nothing short of miraculous, the patient called and left a message that went something like this.
" Your treatment on Saturday was wonderful, I have hardly had a cough since, it is simply amazing!"

She rebooked and I naturally used the same root  treatment, suggesting that if needed to,  she could come back in a few days.
She didn't need to come back in a few days time, once again leaving a message that her improvement had maintained and she was feeling much, much better.

The 'magic' of Traditional Acupuncture lies in the ability to ascertain the fundamental deficiency.
This is absolutely vital in securing positive treatment outcomes, especially in acute and severe conditions such as my patient was experiencing.

A decade ago on one of my visits to Masakazu Ikeda sensei's clinic in Japan, he had me take pulse of several patients and asked me for my diagnosis.

I got five of the seven diagnoses wrong.

I was mortified, I had been practising my beginner's version of Traditional Japanese Acupuncture for three years and had failed to get even half of the diagnoses correct.

At the end of that day in clinic I suggested to Ikeda sensei that I should probably quit acupuncture and move on to another career more suited to me.

He laughed and then made the comment that turned my psyche and career around.

Ikeda sensei suggested that it was veritably impossible to learn Traditional Acupuncture without making mistakes and it was foolish/egotistical to expect instantaneous perfection.

The key to evolving as a practitioner lay in acknowledging and learning from my mistakes, unless I approached clinical practice in such a way I would stagnate in a pool of ignorance and frustration.

These words of advice have been invaluable and allowed me to continue to evolve as a practitioner and a person over the past decade.
I remain extremely grateful to Ikeda sensei for his patience, understanding and wisdom.

I trust that this post will help you to evolve and prosper through the astute practice of Traditional Acupuncture

All the Best,
Alan

PS.
If you would like to know more about the practice of Traditional Japanese Acupuncture and discover more about the long and winding road to clinical prosperity you are welcome to join as at http://WorldAcupuncture.com


Alan Jansson is an internationally recognized teacher and practitioner of Traditional Japanese Acupuncture.  For well over a decade, independent of and in conjunction with Masakazu Ikeda sensei and Edward Obaidey, Alan has presented, convened and hosted in the vicinity of 30 Traditional Japanese Acupuncture workshops in Australia, New Zealand and USA. Driven by a strong desire to promote the consumer friendly nature, clinical efficacy and potency of Meridian Based Traditional Japanese Acupuncture, Alan is a staunch advocate of practically based workshops and draws upon his 25 years clinical experience and 14 years post and undergraduate teaching in a concerted effort to lift the bar globally in the clinical application of this most amazing medical art.

Join him in Exploring the Art of Acupuncture in the 21st century at
http://www.WorldAcupuncture.com