I find your website very helpful.
I have a question abuout using front body points and back body points.
is it best to alternate it with different treatments. One treatment do front body
points and when do back body points. Or is it better to do it during the same treatment
say 20 miutes on the back and 20 minutes in front?
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
This really depends on your personal training and which system you are using for treatment. Within our system, for example, we almost never needle on the front of the body. We will still use points such as ST 36, SP 6, etc. - we just use them all with the person lying face down. We do this only because we rely heavily on the huatuo and scalp points in our system and switching people around is both disruptive and unneccesary with the points we are using primarily. This is our bias, training, and system, so it isn't necessarily for everyone.
If you read the Japanese section, for example, you can see you will switch from front to back in most of the treatments. The extraordinary vessel treatments, have quite a bit of detail included in the write-up.
Comment by Archived User
Chad, could you please expalin more on what the advantages of using the Sky points are, why are you selected these points as your specialty? I am still just studying and deepening my knowledge on the basic and although I have read about the Sky points I don't fully have the depth of knowing their advantages vs other systems such as the 5 elements ... etc. Could you please explain in a bit more on this and if you could include a couple of examples for treatments too?
Thank you Chad!
Blade~
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
Our use of the Window of the Sky points is just one aspect of our overall system. In general they are used to effect the circulation to and from the brain - so they tend to be used in conditions involving the brain such as MS, Parkinson's, etc... but we end up using them in a broader range of conditions as part of our overall system.
In general TCM the window of the sky points are not talked about too much, I remember covering them for a few minutes, literally, in school. They were used for loss of consciousness and the like, but we never discussed the deeper purpose, or any real uses of the points.
I would recommend you read the Tam Healing System textbook for more information on the system as a whole. It really is a good book and go through the sky windows points, the huatuo points, palpatory diagnosis (instead of the tongue and pulse), etc. - all the key aspects of our system.
For treatment examples you can look through the Tong Ren Therapy treatment protocols (such as MS, Depression, etc.). In addition to the points listed there you would add some standard TCM points as well based on the persons overall condition. Either way, the protocols should give you a good starting point of how we design treatments.
Also, all the points we heavily use are listed on the commonly used acupuncture points page, so if you follow the links to those points you will see the tam healing system usages, which will help to illustrate our use of the points.