June 17, 2006

• Hey! Quit Peking!

  For those of you who noticed the new profile pic, i was super bored and
  had a sharpie and refridgerator handy, so I drew my face on a
  hardboiled egg. And later, I ate it. Heh…this is your brain. this is
  your brain being eaten. mmmmm….yolky
  I have had this exact same thought process…and so far, no world destruction…take that butterfly!

  I leave for China on Tuesday…here is a brief summary of the stuff i will be learning

  *Moxibustion: Indirect
  moxibustion is currently the more popular form of care because there is
  a much lower risk of pain or burning. In indirect moxibustion, a practitioner
  lights one end of a moxa stick, roughly the shape and size of a cigar,
  and holds it close to the area being treated for several minutes until
  the area turns red. Another form of indirect moxibustion uses both acupuncture
  needles and moxa. A needle is inserted into an acupoint and retained.
  The tip of the needle is then wrapped in moxa and ignited, generating
  heat to the point and the surrounding area. After the desired effect is
  achieved, the moxa is extinguished and the needle(s) removed.

  Cupping: Cupping is an ancient Chinese method of causing local congestion. A
  partial vacuum is created in cups placed on the skin either by means of
  heat or suction. This draws up the underlying tissues. When the cup is
  left in place on the skin for a few minutes, blood stasis is formed and
  localized healing takes place
  
  Acupuncture I hope everyone is fairly familiar with…it is the process
  of inserting needles into acupoits to redirect the body’s flow of chi
  
  not quite like this, but you get the idea

  Since I will be rooming with oliver, he and I will be jabbing needles
  into each other all the livelong day when we are not practicing on
  actual patients. Expect many hilarious photos and random injuries to
  ensue. Oh what mischief us med students get up to.

  Will also be resuming tai chi (after a 2 year some odd break of doing
  it) and learning tui na, chinese massage and hopefully, improving my
  supercalifragilisticexpialinonexistent ability to speak mandarin

  Now granted, one month of study is hardly going to put me in the same
  playing field as a licensed acupuncturist. Heck, it barely puts me into
  the same sport. But I prefer to look at it like this:

  I am getting a month long trip to beijing to study traditional chinese
  medicine in well, traditional china. And the medical knowledge i gain
  from this trip, however small, is still more than I knew before
  leaving. so yay me.

  Along the way, i am going to try and do all the crazy, life
  threatening, off the beaten path, unique to the area things I can find,
  so if you know of any, drop me a line yo! I promise to post pics of any
  wacky adventures I have.

  And for those of you who know me at all, online or otherwise, i think
  you can safely say i am an interesting traveling companion

  -J

  • 11:53 pm
  • 7 Comments