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Press Releases 7501 Greenway Center Drive, Suite 820 Greenbelt, MD 20770 Phone (301) 313-0855 FAX (301) 313-0912 www.acaom.org AIAM Acupuncture Students Return From a Successful Trip Studying in China By Stacey Kent, graduating class of November 2004 Pioneer is definitely a fitting word for my Acupuncture class at the American Institute of Alternative Medicine. First Acupuncture class in the first school offering an Acpuncture program, and now the first class to take advantage of the opportunity to student in China. As a matter of fact I was the first student to sign up for the trip, but that is enough of the pioneer comparisons for today. Exciting as being the first group to take this trip was, I can only predict that future groups will also find the experience exciting and fulfilling - a once in a lifetime trip for them too. The entire trip lasted 5 weeks. The first week was filled with tours designed to explore Chinese culture and history. We spent time in Beijing, Xi'an, and Cheng De visiting places I had previously heard about but knew very little of. In a country that is so vast in size and history, the choices of what to see were mind-boggling. It seemed that everywhere we went, we were surrounded by famous temples, palaces, or sites where history had been made; like the Forbidden City, Tian An Men Square, the Emperor's Summer Place, Llama Temple, and of course, The Great Wall. We were fortunate enough to visit The Great Wall at Simitai, a portion of the wall that has not been reconstructed and receives fewer tourists and is therefore quite stunning in its natural beauty and surroundings. Those are just some of the sites we saw in Beijing, so full of history and culture. Xi'an, China's oldest capital, had amazing treasures of its own to share with us. Most impressive were the famed Terracotta Warriors. It rendered me speechless to see them in person, row upon row of warriors and horses standing at the ready for battle. Visiting the Emperor's Summer Resort up in Cheng De gave new meaning to the word luxury. The emperors knew how to vacation! Returning to Beijing for our second week found us ready to begin our clinical studies at Guang An Men Hospital, a famous Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital. The Acupuncture Outpatient Department would be our home for the next month. The entire department sees over 500 patients a day, and some of the doctors we worked with saw over 100 of those patients themselves. Each week we worked closely with a different Doctor of Acupuncture. They shared years of experience with us as they treated patients with shingles, side effects of cerebral vascular accidents, paralysis, urinary dysfunction, mental disorders and of course all types of pain. Patients typically would receive treatment at least every other day. It was inspiring to see how effective acupuncture can be in treating diseases that are often difficult to resolve by other means. The results we saw even in our month there were nothing short of remarkable. There was a patient with shingles over his eye. The first day we saw him his entire eye was swollen shut and covered in painful blisters. The doctor administered a special technique called "fire needle", followed by another method known as "cupping". He also had special points inserted over his body to enhance the effect of the local treatment. He would have this treatment 3 times in 3 days. Each day his eye would look gradually better. We saw him 7 days after this first treatment and his eye was now fully open and the local swelling was gone. The only evidence left of his terrible condition were a few tiny blisters and some minor itching and pain. Every day we saw many patients who had suffered from strokes. Seeking acupuncture soon after the stroke was a very common practice there. The sooner they started treatment, the better their chances of recovery were. Some would even travel from far away parts of China to receive these treatments in hopes of helping them heal from paralysis, weakness, and difficulty swallowing. It was wonderful to see a patient finally be able to swallow even a small piece of bread after months of ingesting only liquids, and regain use of their limbs. Depression, prostatitis, urine and bowel incontinence, insomnia, painful menstrual periods, migrains and all kinds of musculoskeletal disorders were just a few of the disorders we saw get very good results from treatment in just 4 weeks studying there. I am more excited than ever to become part of the Traditional Chinese Medicine community by practicing acupuncture in Ohio. I am confident that the level of education my classmates and I have received here at AIAM, coupled with the intensive clinical training in China will allow us to bring Acupuncture's healing benefits to many here in Ohio once we graduate in November. |