Evidence Based Veterinary Acupuncture Small Animal Certification Course

Level Two: Acu-Athlete & Acu-Integrative Pain

Online Session One: Expanding the alphabet: Acupuncture Points, Channels and Regions

1. Learn the named Bladder Line points along the spine, and how they relate to back (Shu) points, and front (Mu) points.
2. Learn additional points within the framework of common conditions including pain, mobility and internal medical conditions.
3. Learn points on the head. Reinforce the sometimes aligned, and sometimes contradictory goals of treating along acupuncture meridians versus treating along myofascial kinetic chains.
4. Learn variations in acupuncture points and treatment in cats compared to dogs.

Session One Objectives:

Increase the size of your acupuncture “alphabet” of points and expand indications for using these points. Add clarity to the channels contribution to point locations. Expand the diagnostic potential of acupuncture points to include internal conditions.

Session One Learning outcomes:

1. Increase your lexicon to at least 100 acupuncture points based upon anatomic landmarks.
2. Consider when grouping of points along a channel, region or myofascial kinetic chain makes the most sense, versus distributing points according to a broad neuro-physiological framework.
3. Be able to recognize points that have a more motor-based effect versus a more neuromodulatory, homeostatic effect, versus effects on complex poly-synaptic reflex loops.

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Online Session Two:  Designing point formulations for complex cases and Internal Medicine Paradigms for point formula

1. Learn sensible approaches to a variety of mobility, pain and internal medicine conditions (while continuing to base all treatments, in part, on what is found in your JAM exam).
2. Triage important points into a number that is reasonable to place during a therapeutic window.
3. Acupuncture treatments for the following conditions will be presented: neuropathies and IVDD, osteoarthritis, tendon conditions, immune system diseases, gastro-intestinal conditions and nausea/vomiting, laryngeal and respiratory conditions, special sensory systems- hearing, vision, taste, Urinary and Reproductive conditions, metabolic conditions, anesthesia augmentation, dental and orofacial pain diseases, cancer, animal behavior, and palliative care.

Session Two Objectives:

This session introduces a whole new world for the blossoming acupuncturist- adding a diversity of diagnostic and treatment possibilities that formerly might have seemed unreachable. Recognizing the cross-talk between the touchable and un-touchable body systems will permanently transform your medical practice.

Session Two Learning Outcomes:

1. Learn about pathophysiology and acupuncture for various mobility, pain and medical conditions, and conditions of the head.
2. Note how internal medicine conditions often correlate with JAM exam findings, and why this might be the case.
3. Refine your application of point formula to minimize needles, but treat points that overlap with several of the objectives in your exam and treatment.

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Online Session 3: Expanding the Boundaries

1. “Deepening” needling techniques and exploring TCVM personality traits as they relate to acupuncture
2. Learn how personality types and phenotypic patterns can influence disease propensity and response to acupuncture and other environmental cues.
3. Balancing cost and quality in veterinary acupuncture.
4. Translating and transposing: how to apply basic small animal acupuncture skills to other species.

Session Three Objectives:

In session three the practice of acupuncture has become skilled, and it can now be applied through various types of individuals, clinical and socio-economic settings, and even in less common species. Additional incorporation somato-autonomic reflex loops are incorporated to address a variety of conditions beyond movement and comfort.

Session Three Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain how to treat various internal medicine conditions with acupuncture.
2. Prepare comparative acupuncture and integrative medicine plans for families from three divergent economic locale, and evaluate the advantages of each.
3. Pick a species of your choice and consider how you would transpose points, as well as approach this patient for acupuncture treatment.

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Three canine (or feline) cases must be completed between Level 1 and Level 2. At least 2-3 visits per case are required, and a case report (as presented in person at Level 1) will be required for each case.

A Virtual real-time check in with Faculty and Students will be required the weekend before arriving to in-person course. All online material must be completed before starting the in-person course.

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