In North America, as our understanding has increased, opinions about the use acupuncture have dramatically changed. Now, midwives are calling on acupuncturists to aid with difficult pregnancies, acupuncturists are working next to obstetricians in delivery rooms helping ladies with labour, and family physicians refer to acupuncturists to help with post partum care.
Today's reality makes me think about one story told by an instructor at a convention on pregnancy and acupuncture. Years ago when he first began practicing, doctors and nurses were not sure how to integrate his work with theirs. One day, he was called into the delivery room to help with a complicated labour both mom and baby were in danger. Their heart rates were up and the labour was not progressing. My instructor used a few well known acupuncture points and straight away the monitors showed both the baby and mother's heart rates return to normal. The medical team was staggered. It was times like this that helped validate acupuncture to the Western medical establishment. Today, Jean Levesque works alongside a team of over 20 acupuncturists who concentrate on pregnancy in the province of Quebec. His team has helped tons of ladies through the birthing process.
For me, it's been a great opportunity to learn from sage healers like Jean Levesque, Bob Flaws, Debra Betts, and Raven Lang who've been treating labour and pregnancy with acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for years. It wasn't easy for them - pioneers of Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture in the West - to pave the way for practitioners such as me. It used to be that for someone to learn acupuncture
For me, it's been a great opportunity to learn from sage healers like Jean Levesque, Bob Flaws, Debra Betts, and Raven Lang who've been treating labour and pregnancy with acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for years. It wasn't easy for them - pioneers of Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture in the West - to pave the way for practitioners such as me. It used to be that for someone to learn acupuncture
For me, it's been a great opportunity to learn from sage healers like Jean Levesque, Bob Flaws, Debra Betts, and Raven Lang who've been treating labour and pregnancy with acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for years. It wasn't easy for them - pioneers of Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture in the West - to pave the way for practitioners such as me. It used to be that for someone to learn acupuncture and TCM, and to learn it well, they initially had to find out how to read and speak Mandarin. This is not the case today. These doctors have translated information and made it possible for the new generation to also become proficient doctors of TCM.
I have been practising TCM for 6 years and have noted an incredible increase in interest in acupuncture. Working with women before, during, and after pregnancy is a large and growing part of my practice. Fewer are the times when I am asked "Once I'm pregnant, is it safe for me to carry on with the acupuncture?" My reply remains, "Absolutely, and your body would prefer if you did."
By no means has acupuncture and Chinese medicine become "mainstream". Nevertheless with family doctors and reproductive experts referring patients for acupuncture, I am confident that medicine is moving that way.
About the Author:
I have been practising TCM for 6 years and have noted an incredible increase in interest in acupuncture. Working with women before, during, and after pregnancy is a large and growing part of my practice. Fewer are the times when I am asked "Once I'm pregnant, is it safe for me to carry on with the acupuncture?" My reply remains, "Absolutely, and your body would prefer if you did."
By no means has acupuncture and Chinese medicine become "mainstream". Nevertheless with family doctors and reproductive experts referring patients for acupuncture, I am confident that medicine is moving that way.
About the Author:
Jeda Boughton is a Vancouver acupuncturist and Dr. of Traditional Chinese Medicine.