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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 accredited 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;
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;
• the structural neuroanatomical
knowledge necessary to perform the safe,
• 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 250 RMTs who have already completed the program
and these specialty courses.
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