July 17, Hamilton, Ont. – The
McMaster University Contemporary Medical Acupuncture Program is a practical
training program that consists of five, three-day weekend units plus a
concurrent self-directed home study portion. Spring and fall sessions have been
offered every year since the fall of 1998. The McMaster program also offers
specialty courses in medical acupuncture.
The program is skills-based and
clinically oriented, with over 80 hours devoted to practical workshops such as
surface anatomy palpation, insertion needling techniques, anatomy laboratory,
condition specific blueprint treatment design and real live patient treatments.
This practical hands-on approach helps participants consistently achieve the
program’s objectives.
Unit
1 – Introduction to Contemporary Medical Acupuncture: This
unit presents an introduction to Contemporary Medical Acupuncture
(neurofunctional acupuncture, electroacupuncture) including the topics: safety,
precautions and adverse effects; physiological response to the insertion of
acupuncture needles; introduction to palpatory anatomy; overview of traditional
acupuncture paradigms; introduction to the design of local inputs; and,
introduction to the design of systemic regulatory inputs.
Unit
2- Upper Extremity Problems. Acute pain: The focus of this
unit is on the treatment of acute pain and upper extremity problems integrating
knowledge of functional neuroanatomy and pathophysiology of the locomotor
system. Specific protocols and strategies for the treatment of common
conditions of the joints and muscles of the shoulder girdle and upper extremity
are studied in detail.
Unit 3
– Axial Skeletal Problems. Visceral regulation: The focus of this unit is on
the design of spinal segmental inputs for musculoskeletal pain and dysfunction
as well as for visceral regulation. The treatment of axial problems such as
neck and lower back pain is also discussed.
Unit 4 – Head and Face Problems.
Chronic pain syndromes: The focus of this unit is on the integration of
Contemporary Medical Acupuncture (neurofunctional acupuncture,
electroacupuncture) on the treatment of common chronic conditions such as
chronic pain syndromes, headaches, stress related conditions, etc. Special
techniques and protocols for the treatment of these conditions are studied.
Unit
5 – Lower Extremity Problems. Integrated management: Treatments for common
conditions of the pelvic girdle and lower extremity are reviewed, as well as
the integration of Contemporary Medical Acupuncture (Neurofunctional
Acupuncture, Electroacupuncture) in the management of complex clinical
problems.
Advanced
Functional Assessment of Musculoskeletal (MSK) Dysfunction
This course
is accredited for 20 CME Hours
The musculoskeletal (MSK) system is
a functionally unified matrix with complex neurological and structural
components interacting to provide the best level of function available at each
moment. Gravitational stress and the absorption of reaction forces from
movement impose ongoing mechanical, neurological and metabolic loads on the
system. Connective tissues, the somatic and autonomic nervous systems, and the
other available adaptive mechanisms (cellular, metabolic, endocrine,
behavioural, etc.) have to respond to these loads appropriately.
As a result of the significant
adaptive potential contained in the MSK system and related physiological
systems, movement dysfunctions created by repetitive demands can exist and be
clinically undetected for a long period of time. Symptoms such as pain,
weakness, restricted and abnormal motions, and decreased performance become
apparent only when the net adaptive potential of any part of the system reaches
a functional or structural limit. Therefore, the ability of a clinician to
evaluate the neuromusculoskeletal system, and to identify the most relevant
adaptations involved in the presenting dysfunction, determines the clinician’s
ability to design effective individualized treatments aimed at restoring the
lost adaptability.
This experiential course is designed
to provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform a
competent functional assessment of patients with sports injuries and/or common
musculoskeletal problems.
Participants will learn a practical
methodology to:
• conduct clinical analysis by
examining the musculoskeletal system functionally through the visual analysis
of motion, the integrated examination of motor and sensory function, and the
manual assessment of joint and soft tissue mechanics;
• functionally organize the
information obtained during the functional assessment process;
• design functional treatment plans
based on a functional assessment.
This program is referred to as
“experiential” because on each day of the course the instructor conducts
functional assessments of live patient cases with sports injuries and/or common
musculoskeletal problems. In addition, participants will have ample opportunity
for hands-on practice of all of the functional assessment techniques presented
during the live case demonstrations.
At the end of the
weekend, each of the course participants shall:
1.
Understand
the functional evaluation of pain and nociception in sports injuries and common
musculoskeletal problems;
2. Understand the functional assessment of joints in sports injuries and common
musculoskeletal problems;
3.
Understand
the process of assessing motor function in sports injuries and common
musculoskeletal problems;
4.
Understand
the process of assessing soft tissue mechanics in sports injuries and common
musculoskeletal problems;
5.
Know
how to evaluate sports injuries and common musculoskeletal problems
functionally and multi-dimensionally;
6.
Understand
how to select the most appropriate therapeutic interventions for each level of
dysfunction commonly found in sports injuries and common musculoskeletal
problems.
Advanced Neurofunctional
Needling Techniques for MSK Dysfunction
This
course is accredited for 20 CME hours.
To insert a needle (painlessly and
with precision) in a given joint, motor point or any other musculoskeletal
structure requires significantly more than a basic knowledge of gross anatomy.
Precision is fundamental in stimulating the right nerve receptor and
facilitating the triggering of the specific signal transductions that will up-regulate
or down-regulate the critical proteins and other humoral messengers involved in
the wide range of neural and tissular activities disturbed on every particular
case of movement dysfunction.
Advanced Neurofunctional Needling
Techniques for MSK Dysfunctions is a program for manual medicine practitioners
designed to facilitate the learning of the advanced anatomy (joints, motor
points and peripheral nerve trunks), advanced palpation skills and specific
needling techniques necessary to design the most effective neurofunctional
acupuncture inputs in the treatment of musculoskeletal dysfunctions and sports
injuries.
This is an experiential course that
utilizes:
•
pictorial and live examples of the
advanced needling techniques presented;
•
detailed discussion of all the
technical aspects related to these insertions;
•
examples of the clinical reasoning
that generate the best strategies and tactical approaches useful in the
treatment of movement dysfunctions and sports related injuries;
•
hands on workshops where
participants practice the safe, painless, and precise needling techniques in
small supervised groups.
Participants will be taught:
•
the structural neuroanatomical
knowledge necessary to perform the safe, painless, and precise
needling of a broad selection of joints, muscles, motor points, and
peripheral nerve trunks and neurovascular bundles, useful in the treatment of
common musculoskeletal problems;
•
a practical methodology for the
accurate palpation of the structures mentioned above
in order to facilitate the safe, painless and precise insertion of acupuncture
needles on any of those structures.
At the end of the weekend, each of
the course participants will be able to:
1.perform safe and precise needling
of the capsule and ligaments of a broad selection of joints of the lower and
upper extremities, and few on the trunk;
2. perform safe and precise needling
into the articular space of a small selection of joints of the lower and upper
extremities;
3. perform safe and precise needling
of the motor points of a broad selection of muscles of the upper and lower
extremities, and few on the neck and trunk;
4. perform safe and precise needling
of the origin, insertion, and belly of a small selection of muscles of the
lower and upper extremities, and the trunk;
5. perform safe and precise needling
of the perineural space of a selection of peripheral nerve trunks and
neurovascular bundles.
For more information and/or to
register for these courses, please visit www.contemporaryacupuncture.com. You can also view the testimonials
from some of the over 700 DCs who have already completed the program
and these specialty courses.
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