Chinese needling--Jason

[Guest guest]

Jason

 

You asked in our last exchange (my dsl was down for a couple of days

so I'm a little behind in posting) what my experience had been with

respect to PRC Chinese needling in their hospitals there. I did a

couple of months post-grad study at Cheng Du University hospital and

had the honor of needling patients there. I used their huge 24

guage, reusable needles on patients and never had anyone so much as

flinch. It was a bit horrifying at first, especially since the

needles were not what I would call straight and had a dull color--

not the stainless steel shine I was accustomed to. As a matter of

fact, they were unsatisfied until they could " feel the qi " propagate

down the channel. I noticed that one could actually hear the needle

crashing through the tissue! I was once admonished for not needling

quickly and deeply enough at GB 30 to effect what they

considered " reducing " technique.

 

In my US clinic, I use mostly one inch, 34 guage needles for limb

points and 1.5 to 2.5 inch for abdomen, hips and Sp 9/St 36 on

swollen or large patients. No one complains for the most part,

especially with long needles on deep points. As usual, I think, the

closer one needles to the fingers or toes, the more sensation or

discomfort the patient might feel with deeper insertion. I'm

interested in Japanese needling techniques but have not been trained

yet in that. For now, I must resort to Chinese style with relatively

vigorous stimulation techniques (combo twist/rotate/lift/thrust). It

seems to work well but does seem a little " cave-manish " to me. The

better my technique has gotten, the less problems I've had with any

compaints or extreme sensations.

 

Regards, Shanna