TCVM Diagnostics, Classical Points and Advanced Acupuncture Techniques

Main Topics

The course covers three major topics:

1. TCVM Diagnostic Skills

In any medical system, effective treatment hinges upon accurate and complete diagnosis. In Chinese medicine, this crucial process of diagnosis is referred to as Bian Zheng, where Bian means differentiation and identification and Zheng means a type of pattern or illness. Thus, TCVM diagnosis consists of identification of disease patterns, usually through palpation and through tongue and pulse readings. This course discusses the theory and techniques of Bian Zheng beyond what is covered in the Basic Acupuncture course and gives students the opportunity to practice palpation and tongue as well as pulse diagnosis on live equine patients.

2. Advanced Acupuncture Techniques

Advanced acupuncture topics covered in this course include auricular acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, needling points around difficult locations (eyes, feet, abdomen, etc.) aqua-acupuncture, point embedding, pneumo-acupuncture and moxibustion. They will be covered in course lectures and demos and practiced by students in the wet labs.

3. Classical Acupoints

Today, the majority of veterinary acupuncture points were transposed from humans. However, some ancient books describing the acupoint locations developed specifically for equine and small animal species were preserved and are still used today. The locations and unique actions of these classical acupoints is another major topic of this advanced course.