For this the Academy will be running first aid courses, some advanced Fu Bu Anmo, and Qi Gung therapy weekends to name but a few.

For any who wish to review an area already covered please contact us and we will let you know when we are next covering the subject.

Also in 2012 we will be organising working trips to Thailand, China and possibly the Philippines?

Contact us for further details.

The course will be held for one week within a two week stay, and will be based on hair analysis and nutritional supplementation for the TCM practitioner.

If you’re not interested in these subjects, then a course in Thai massage could be arranged for you to coincide with the visit.

The second week will be taken up in the usual Academy fashion and there will be ample time for trips and exploration. There will be some intense learning periods coupled with fun in the sun, and the trip has been timed to coincide with the world famous Thai water festival – essentially a water fight that lasts two weeks.

Signing Up

If you would like to put your name down for this trip to register your interest, please send us a message using the form below.    Filling out the form is just in indication of interest and you are under no obligation.  We will send you further details nearer the time.

This offer is open to all TCM practitioners Academy members or not, we would welcome all who are interested, don’t delay sign up now.

Furthermore, the Academy will be starting some new courses to fulfil your CPD training, or to simply further your knowledge.

• Indian head massage.
• Reflexology.
• Nutritional therapy.

Dates and further information for these courses will be posted at a later date.

Finally, a quick reminder to our students, and prospective students. In September the Acupuncture course for pain relief and structural dysfunction begins, followed by the Cranial balancing course in January. Plenty to chew over during the next few months.

The last Hot Stone Massage course was a resounding success, enjoyed by all,  and it’s designed as a useful addition to any holding a massage qualification (including anatomy & physiology) or as a CPD to those qualified in Acupuncture, Anmo, TuiNa, Anma, Amma etc.   Click here for further details on the Hot Stone Course.

Book early to avoid disappointment! Call us on 01708 370822 for further information, or use the form on our contact page.

Acupuncture has a ‘significant’ effect on patients with mystery symptoms new research has shown – and could be added to the list of available treatments for undiagnosed health problems.

Today one in five patients has symptoms which go undiagnosed by medicine, and furthermore the cost of treating them is twice that as of a diagnosed patient.

After the first trial of its type, researchers say those who underwent acupuncture showed ‘a significant and sustained benefit’ and add that the treatment could be safely added to the list of possible therapies.

Of the 80 patients tested, nearly 60 per cent reported musculoskeletal problems, and in the three months prior to the experiment had accounted for treatment including 44 hospital visits, 52 hospital clinic visits, 106 outpatient clinic visits and 75 visits to non NHS workers.

Half were treated with acupuncture for 26 weeks with the other acting as a control group, reports the British Journal of General Practice.

Those treated with acupuncture had a ‘significantly improved’ overall wellbeing, reporting further benefits such as new self-awareness about what caused stress in their lives and better diet and exercise.

At 26 weeks the control group also underwent acupuncture – and reported the same benefits.

Comments from patients included “the energy is the main thing I have noticed. You know, yeah, it’s marvellous!” and

“Where I was going out and cutting my grass, now I’m going out and cutting my neighbour’s after because he’s elderly”;

Dr Charlotte Paterson, who managed the trial, said: “Our research indicates that the addition of up to 12 five-element acupuncture consultations to the usual care experienced by the patients in the trial was feasible and acceptable and resulted in improved overall well-being that was sustained for up to a year.

“This is the first trial to investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment to those with unexplained symptoms, and the next development will be to carry out a cost-effectiveness study with a longer follow-up period.

“While further studies are required, this particular study suggests that GPs may recommend a series of five-element acupuncture consultations to patients with unexplained symptoms as a safe and potentially effective intervention.”

She added: “Such intervention could not only result in potential resource savings for the NHS, but would also improve the quality of life for a group of patients for whom traditional biomedicine has little in the way of effective diagnosis and treatment.”

Due to demand, we’re now taking bookings for another hot stones course in August 2011. As before this will be a first come first served basis for places, so get those forms/deposits in as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!!

And don’t forget the Anmo Chinese Remedial Massage course program is also starting next month (June), any late runners need to get their deposits in as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!

And while many western doctors still claim results to be due to the placebo effect, a recent review of 27 studies shows that Acupuncture is definitely an effective way of easing severe period pain.

Researchers said there was “extremely promising evidence” for acupuncture in treating cramps, but that more work was needed.

In the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, they noted two studies found little difference between real and sham acupuncture in treating pain.

Acupuncture is a less contentious form of complementary medicine than some, and it continues to grow, but incredibly its value is still disputed.

Period pain can be severe in some women and may be accompanied by nausea, diarrhoea, migraine and backache. Common treatments include pain killers, applying heat and exercise – although a recent study questioned the efficacy of the latter. This latest review involved 27 studies – which included nearly 3,000 women. They addressed a variety of forms of acupuncture – from classical to acupoint injection.

The analysis by the team from Kyung Hee Medical Centre found that patients with severe period pain reported a greater reduction in their symptoms when using acupuncture compared with pharmacological treatments.

There has been quite a lot research in acupuncture in comparison to some of the other complementary therapies. We know that it can help in headache and migraine, dental pain and low back pain. Its use has also been well evaluated in the treatment of nausea (early morning sickness, post-anaesthetic nausea and the nausea which is caused by using powerful anti-cancer drugs).

There is some evidence that acupuncture might help improve and accelerate recovery after a stroke and while acupuncture does not appear to work to help people give up smoking, it can help overcome the withdrawal period from other harder drug addictions. Acupuncture may help people with asthma, although the evidence is a little conflicting at the present time.

For many illnesses, the effect of acupuncture has not been properly assessed so it is not really fair to say that we understand the true scope or benefit that acupuncture may have in treating a whole variety of different conditions.

Generally, acupuncture is effective treatment, or source of relief from the following ailments:

Muscular and joint problems

• tennis elbow; frozen shoulder; other joint injuries
• carpal tunnel syndrome
• back ache, lumbago
• arthritis, rheumatism
• hernia
• general aches and pains

Digestive problems, and low energy

• irritable bowel syndrome (IBS); abdominal pains
• heart burn, nausea, acid reflux
• constipation, loose stools
• food intolerances
• bloating or tiredness after eating
• high cholesterol levels
• excessive gas or wind
• ulcers
• low energy levels
• ME (chronic fatigue syndrome, post-viral syndrome)

Respiration and other lung-related conditions

• asthma, wheezing, shortness of breath
• hay fever
• persistent cough, bronchitis
• pleurisy, emphysema
• frequent colds and flu
• sinusitis, laryngitis

Menstrual, or period, problems

• painful periods
• pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)
• excessively heavy periods, erratic menstrual cycle
• menopausal syndrome
• infertility, impotence

Headache, migraine, and nervous conditions

• Migraine and headache
• trigeminal neuralgia
• sciatica
• facial paralysis
• dizziness, tinnitus

Stress-related, mental and emotional

• depression, anxiety, panic attacks
• palpitations, fearfulness
• poor concentration and memory
• insomnia
• general feeling of stress
• high blood pressure

Other conditions

• stopping smoking (see: How can acupuncture help me give up smoking?)
• cystitis, frequent urination
• difficult urination, incontinence
• oedema
• skin conditions

Images from the course can be seen below.

For those of you that are interested, remember the Academy’s Anmo Chinese Remedial Massage Course starting June 2011 is now open for enrollment.

We apologise to all that were disappointed not to get on this time.

If you missed out, please contact us and we’ll get in touch when the next course is open for enrolment.

Experiments in mice showed that levels of adenosine – a natural painkiller – increased in tissues near acupuncture sites.  The Nature Neuroscience study also found that in mice resistant to the effects of adenosine, acupuncture had no effect.

Pain experts said the findings may partly explain how the treatment works, something that has stumped science for years.

Adenosine is known to have many roles in the body including regulating sleep and reducing inflammation, the researchers said.  Other research has shown that it becomes active in the skin after an injury to act as a local painkiller.

In the latest study, the researchers were looking at the effects of the molecule in the deeper tissues which acupuncturists target with fine needles.   The team performed a 30-minute acupuncture session at a pressure point in the knee of mice that had discomfort in one paw.  They found that in mice with normal functioning levels of adenosine, acupuncture reduced soreness by two-thirds, as assessed by nerve sensitivity measurements.

In mice specially engineered to lack the receptor for adenosine, acupuncture had no effect.

And during and immediately after an acupuncture treatment, the level of adenosine in the tissues near the needles was 24 times greater than before the treatment, the researchers said.  Then using a drug which extends the effects of adenosine, they found that the benefits of acupuncture lasted three times as long.

Variety of effects

Study leader Dr Maiken Nedergaard, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said: “Acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained skeptical.

“In this work, we provide information about one physical mechanism through which acupuncture reduces pain in the body,” she added.

Acupuncture is used for a wide range of treatments but on the NHS its use is limited to lower back pain.

Experts pointed out that acupuncture may mediate its effects in a number of different ways.

A spokesman from the British Pain Society said: “We have known for a long time that acupuncture alters the response to pain by modulation of some of the pain pathways in the spinal cord, and also by the release of endorphins.

“It is very interesting that scientists have found an alteration in the tissue levels of adenosine, which helps to explain some of the modulatory effects of acupuncture on pain perception.”

Professor Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at Peninsula Medical School agreed the study might go some way towards explaining how acupuncture reduces pain.

“We need, I would argue, independent replications with more rigorous controls before we can fully accept its findings.

“The curious thing with acupuncture is that we seem to understand better and better how it might work and, at the same time, we have more and more reason to doubt that it works.”

To learn more on acupuncture and pain relief, call us to discuss our acupuncture for structural dysfunction and pain management course.