points to use in hospice care

[Guest guest]

All,

 

A colleague of mine who practices shiatsu has asked me for ideas on points and

combinations which would be useful in hospice care. I will only be able to give

her

opinions based on theory as i have no experience in this area. Has anyone here

used

any type of meridian or point therapies (acumoxa, shiatsu, etc) in hospice and

would

they like to share their experience?

 

thanks in advance,

Robert Hayden

[Guest guest]

It really depends on the case in hand.

However, a very typical goal is to make the paitent feel more comfortable (less

pain)

and more energetic. I have used light Tui Na techniques combined with Qi Gong

with good result, but rarely use needles (as opposed to mostly needles in a

regular clinic care.) If you want to use moxa, fine, but try to use the

smokeless ones

as the patients under hospice care are typically weak and the smoke doesn't

help.

 

Tui Na along stomach meridians on the legs are always good. (ST is said to be

abundant with Qi and Blood.) The back Shu points are good too.

Always pay attention to the patient's reaction as you alter the level of force.

The reaction is usually better read from the facial expression as a lot of

hospice

patients barely make vocal noise. Communicating with the patient with a passion

makes a big difference at times too.

 

Be sure to expel the evil (negative) Qi out of your own body afterwards.

 

Mike L.

 

kampo36 <kampo36 wrote:

All,

 

A colleague of mine who practices shiatsu has asked me for ideas on points and

combinations which would be useful in hospice care. I will only be able to give

her

opinions based on theory as i have no experience in this area. Has anyone here

used

any type of meridian or point therapies (acumoxa, shiatsu, etc) in hospice and

would

they like to share their experience?

 

thanks in advance,

Robert Hayden

[Guest guest]

Robert,

 

Over the past few years, I have been working increasingly in both

inpatient and outpatient hospice settings. At first, due to my

timidity and awe of the stage of life that these patients were in – I

limited my interventions to gentle shiatsu on the hands, feet, and

head. Later, I began to incorporate auricular points into the

treatments. Now, the treatments I give hospice patients are just

about as diverse as those I give to non-hospice patients.

 

I believe that one advantage of our paradigm(s) of health care is the

ability to avoid the strict definitions of " palliative " v. " curative "

care. I realize that many of our classical texts, such as the Shang

Han Lun, distinguish at length between terminal and non-terminal

cases – but in practice, one can continue to apply the diagnostic and

strategic principles of up until the time of death

itself. Perhaps ones therapeutic goal will switch, for example,

from " strengthen Kidney Yin " to " quiet the spirit " – but we can

continue to apply our theory and techniques in order to give

personalized treatments at any stage of life.

 

One continual dilemma faced by hospice caregivers is balancing the

need to provide adequate pain medication while allowing the patient

to maintain some level of alertness/consciousness during their final

days. Acupuncture can be of great assistance in this area, as even

auricular treatments alone can reduce the patients dependence on

morphine.

 

Be well,

 

Adam Margolis

 

 

 

Chinese Medicine , " kampo36 "

<kampo36> wrote:

> All,

>

> A colleague of mine who practices shiatsu has asked me for ideas on

points and

> combinations which would be useful in hospice care. I will only be

able to give her

> opinions based on theory as i have no experience in this area. Has

anyone here used

> any type of meridian or point therapies (acumoxa, shiatsu, etc) in

hospice and would

> they like to share their experience?

>

> thanks in advance,

> Robert Hayden