AHPRA Registered Holistic Acupuncture Treatments
Our Unique Approach
Dr. Ryan uses Chinese Pulse Diagnosis as an integral part of his assessment of acupuncture patients. It is used before, during and at the end of a session to determine both the approach to be used and its effectiveness.
He uses several acupuncture styles chosen to suit your individual condition and diagnosis. These include:
- Five Element Constitutional Acupuncture
- Channel Acupuncture and Channel Palpation
- Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture (TCM)
- Chinese Scalp Acupuncture (CSA) and Japanese Scalp Acupuncture (YNSA)
- Master Tung System
- Auricular (Ear) Acupuncture
- Abdominal Acupuncture
These styles of treatment are frequently blended to form the most appropriate combination for you and your presenting condition.
One of the features of the acupuncture treatment provided at Dr. Ryan’s clinics is the combining of different styles and the use of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis results. This creates a treatment regimen that allows for minimum needle retention times. The use of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis allows for the needles to be removed as soon as they have triggered a change in the pulse reading. There will also be an accompanying change in the symptoms.
Chinese Scalp Acupuncture (CSA) can be effective in treating pain, numbness and poor movement function of the limbs. It is commonly used around the world to treat patients suffering from the effects of stroke and illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis. It has many applications in practice and can be very effective in the treatment of a range of motion restrictions and/or pain in joints such as the shoulder, elbow, neck, knee and hip. CSA has been known to play a role in helping restore shoulder function following breast surgery. It is also used to assist with paralysis, tremors, balance, speech and vision disorders and organ dysfunction.
Dr Kevin Ryan
Dr Ryan trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Acupuncture, graduating in 1975. This is the style of Acupuncture that Mao Zedong promoted in the West through the training of the ‘barefoot doctors’ program around the time of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s. It is not the oldest form documented. The far older (Han dynasty 500BC) and deeper acting Five Element Acupuncture was promoted in Western countries by two Englishmen, Dr Felix Mann and Professor JR Worsley. Both had studied this version in the Orient before it was discouraged due to its probable links to Taoist philosophy. Mann wrote textbooks and Worsley began a teaching institute in Leamington Spa in England in the late 1950’s. He had studied with Acupuncture Masters Ono and Hsui. Mann and Worsley were instrumental in preserving and spreading the Five Element approach outside of China.
After graduating, Dr Ryan studied the works of Felix Mann and was attracted to the simplicity and effectiveness of this style of acupuncture. He has since also studied the variation presented by Professor Worsley.
The Blending of Acupuncture Styles
Dr Ryan combines styles in acupuncture to give each patient the most effective and efficient treatment. He uses both Channel Palpation and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels (EV), as they are known, extensively in his practice along with the traditional and very old systems such as Five Element Acupuncture. The combining of styles and the use of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis results in a clinical approach that allows for minimum needle retention times.
This is an acupuncture style that uses a system of palpation on the meridian or channel to assess which of the channels may be behind the patient’s symptom presentation. There are 365 acupuncture points distributed on 14 meridians or connecting pathways. These are mainly named after organ systems.
Over time, it was discovered that the tissue through which the channels pass changes in tone or character as illness in the body is reflected in the Channels. This has given rise to an examination technique known as Channel Palpation. This method of diagnosis of illness patterns within the patient gives rise to a treatment regimen appropriate to the patient. It considerably shortens the time taken to arrive at an individual diagnosis and an acupuncture treatment management prescription.
Channel Palpation may also reveal the very beginning of an illness. The Yang Ming channel, which is made up of the stomach and large intestine meridians, is commonly found to be problematic in migraine patients as well as those who have a history of digestive disorders. Therefore, the use of acupuncture points on this channel allows for both the digestion and migraine complaints to be assisted at the same time.
Another grouping of acupuncture points into Channels is known as the Extraordinary
Channels or, more commonly, Vessels. There are eight of these. These Vessels are particularly helpful in diagnosis and treatment when there appears to be a slow response to other acupuncture approaches or when there are emotional factors active in the patient. For example, patients who have had a history of trauma are often found to have disturbances in one or more of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. Treatment can help the person with the posttraumatic stress as well as the consequences that it may have on their illness.
The Five Elements are water, fire, wood, metal and earth. They are phases of a cycle of change that continues through life. Disturbance in this cycle leads to ill health. Restoration of the free flow of the cycle is the goal of acupuncture. Dr Ryan uses Chinese Pulse Diagnosis as part of his assessment of acupuncture patients. It is used before, during and at the end of a session to determine its effectiveness. This tool works very well in the Five Element approach.
Information on Five Element Acupuncture
There are a very large number of websites with information on acupuncture. There are fewer that offer information on Five Element Acupuncture.
There are some excellent websites devoted to Five Element Acupuncture, describing a little of the theory. Some of these are also listed in our blog.
The sites below may be of interest:
Explore a holistic range of acupuncture treatments at Acupuncture 365. Contact us today on 0439 303 000.