by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Infrared laser technology is used by dentists, physiotherapists, and now acupuncturists to decrease pain and inflammation. Although it is used by physiotherapists and dentists to treat a local and acute inflammation, acupuncturists also can use it in lieu of acupuncture needles to activate acupoints. Moxibustion involves the local heating of skin and superficial tissues at acupoints and/or at tender and painful areas. To do this,…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc This is the story of how we got started. It is about what we stand for, and how we discovered what we needed to do to best serve those who walk through our doors. It is about realizing we needed to slow things down and pay better attention, being present with each client, to do our best job. But it was also about making acupuncture…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Community acupuncture has been practiced intermittently in Edmonton over the last 10 or so years. As a free inner city clinic at Boyle McCauley Health Centre, the Grant MacEwan Acupuncture Program was involved here to administer the “NADA” ear acupuncture protocol to people addicted to drugs as they try to come off their addiction. Five years ago, I offered several community clinics at a church…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Alberta healthcare does not cover acupuncture yet. However, many private healthcare plans offer acupuncture-specific annual allocations, usually around $500 or so, or a health spending account which can be used to reimburse part or all the costs of acupuncture. Recently in 2010, the BC ministry of health decided to reimburse up to $23 per visit for acupuncture for a combined annual limit of 10 visits…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc The idea of community acupuncture has really grown in the United States over the last decade. I think this is because, unlike Canadians, American’s have less access to affordable primary care. Community acupuncture seems to have filled a specific need in the US where people can look after their ailments more affordably and proactively. More and more are routinely using acupuncture for prevention and relaxation…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc In China, acupuncture was and still is practiced commonly in a group setting. On the way home after work or on your day off, you see the acupuncturist for a weekly tune-up. Here treatments are performed efficiently on people in a group setting, sitting in chairs or lying down on tables, sometimes with drapes between, sometimes not. The origins of Chinese medicine are founded in…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc This is the next article in a series about ATP’s “turning points”. I have described the beginning of our story – go here to read the series. Our original dilemma was presented in the choice between offering clients a dedicated one-on-one service or a more cost-efficient multiple client model, in which people are treated simultaneously in separate rooms in quick succession. In these dedicated private…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc This is the second part of a series that describes ATP’s “turning points” — it’s about my insights along the way as we have engaged and participated with our clients in caring for their health. Last time I introduced the idea of community acupuncture and how it is now integrated into the culture at ATP. I see it not only as an alternative, but also…
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Turning Points: The introduction of community acupuncture clinics to The Acupuncture Turning Point reflects not only a change for us, but also a significant transformation in this era of technological and material wealth, and personal choices. Last year (2012) was a “turning point”; not only for us in how we practice, but also in how we have come to better understand the relevance in the shift occurring in knowledge, power…
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“It’s all in the fascia”. How many times have I heard this from healthcare workers who have spent a lifetime working with injuries or researching mechanisms of health and healing? Loosely speaking, fascia is connective tissue. It surrounds all our body parts, from big to small. Fascia can be the ligaments that support and hold a joint together, or it can be the intricate wrappings around muscles at every level,…
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