Acupuncturists
English woman Vanessa Southgate recounts that after reaching menopause — what's medically called "the cessation of menstruation" — she began suffering from severe insomnia, waking up very early at night and unable to fall back asleep, becoming constantly tense and anxious, on top of persistent bloating, heat flashes, and sweating. Vanessa Southgate told the BBC that she found no relief in the medications, painkillers, and standard treatments prescribed by doctors, so she decided to try acupuncture. She confirmed that after just a few sessions, her sleep improved, her hot flashes and sweating eased, and she began to feel relaxed and clear-headed, able to live her life far better than before. If you've never heard of acupuncture, we can tell you this: when every traditional treatment and medication-based solution fails, there's often no other path left for a patient seeking healing and relief besides acupuncture. Acupuncture is one of the treatment methods that has existed in China for hundreds of years and is used to treat many illnesses, but its real magic lies in its remarkable ability to reduce the pain patients feel from harsh conditions that typically cause sharp pain, such as: migraines, dental surgery, gynecological, ear, eye, and throat conditions, nerve disorders, and bone pain, among others. Acupuncture has been recognized in countries around the world for decades, and there are medical centers and hospitals in every country specializing in this type of treatment. Acupuncture works by having a specialist doctor insert a set of extremely thin, thoroughly sterilized needles into various points on a patient's skin to stimulate specific cells, giving them a sense of relief and renewed energy. In the lines ahead, you'll learn exactly what an acupuncturist does in this specialty.
Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa
What You'll Actually Do
The core tasks and responsibilities that fill a typical day.
- Formulate herbal preparations to treat conditions considering herbal properties, such as taste, toxicity, effects of preparation, contraindications, and incompatibilities.
- Maintain and follow standard quality, safety, environmental, and infection control policies and procedures.
- Maintain detailed and complete records of health care plans and prognoses.
- Dispense herbal formulas and inform patients of dosages and frequencies, treatment duration, possible side effects, and drug interactions.
- Consider Western medical procedures in health assessment, health care team communication, and care referrals.
- Adhere to local, state, and federal laws, regulations, and statutes.
- Treat patients using tools, such as needles, cups, ear balls, seeds, pellets, or nutritional supplements.
- Educate patients on topics, such as meditation, ergonomics, stretching, exercise, nutrition, the healing process, breathing, or relaxation techniques.
- Evaluate treatment outcomes and recommend new or altered treatments as necessary to further promote, restore, or maintain health.
- Assess patients' general physical appearance to make diagnoses.
- Collect medical histories and general health and lifestyle information from patients.
- Apply moxibustion directly or indirectly to patients using Chinese, non-scarring, stick, or pole moxa.
- Apply heat or cold therapy to patients using materials, such as heat pads, hydrocollator packs, warm compresses, cold compresses, heat lamps, or vapor coolants.
- Analyze physical findings and medical histories to make diagnoses according to Oriental medicine traditions.
- Develop individual treatment plans and strategies.
- Treat medical conditions, using techniques such as acupressure, shiatsu, or tuina.
- Insert needles to provide acupuncture treatment.
- Identify correct anatomical and proportional point locations based on patients' anatomy and positions, contraindications, and precautions related to treatments, such as intradermal needles, moxibustion, electricity, guasha, or bleeding.