Watering Down of TCM

[Guest guest]

I had an interesting appointment with a practitioner in town here this

week. He is the head of one of the schools. The session was okay, but

not what I think of as being a proper TCM session. I was taught to

throw needles without a tube, and to feel the chi as I set the needle

and how to avoid subtle obstructions while inserting it. This

practitioner just picked each point and snapped the needle in, the

later removal resulting in far more blood than would have been

acceptable when I trained.

 

I asked all sorts of questions about what I should be doing, eating

and herbs. I spoke with a practitioner I know who is in practice

(right now I am focusing on research rather than treatment), and was

told that the answers he gave me were according to the standards of

practice set out by the College of Traditional

Practitioners and Acupuncturists of British Columbia. It seems that

this diluted level of practice is the direction we're heading in BC.

It may be time to re-brand the medicine and go back to our roots in

order to provide authentic care. I am also offering this as a warning

to other jurisdictions that are looking to increase the level of

management of our field and the corresponding bureaucracy. While it

may initially raise the bar, what and how you can practice may become

severely limited as the beast grows.