Pattern Discrimination;

      There are two areas to Acupuncture and they are quite separate; Diagnosis and Needling.

      In many ways the needling is the easy bit.  Over thousands of years and the consensus of countless practitioners, it has been agreed which points, when needled, are able to positively help each particular condition.  The Diagnosis is arrived at through careful questioning of the patient.  The Practitioner establishes where in the body there is disharmony, by collecting the various symptoms a patient may have and determining the root cause of those symptoms.

       There are numerous 'Patterns' that the practitioner is looking out for, which will be flagged up by the symptoms that are presented; for instance headaches, a quick temper, loose stools, 'floaters' in the eyes and a 'wiry' pulse might lead to a diagnosis of "Liver Qi Stagnation invading Earth".

        It should be explained at this point that with a diagnosis of "Liver Qi Staganation", patients should not worry that there is neccessarilly something pathological wrong with your Liver; as previously explained that would be mixing medical paradigms.  Each organ has many functions and characteristics applied to it, and essentially this diagnosis is just a 'Title' to give to your disparate symptoms.

        Although these patterns may seem quite esoteric they are rooted in real symptoms and a real Treatment Plan that your pratitioner will enact.

Hugo Brasher Bsc, LicAc, MBAcC - Acupuncture. I'm a member of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC), working in the Kendal area. Please look around the site to get a better understanding of how I approach the treatment of illness