Over the past few weeks, we've been covering the history of the acupuncture profession in the US. We started by discussing how acupuncture was introduced in the West, and later learned how it was practiced in America during the 1800s, but then largely disappeared from the American consciousness until the 1970s, when it brought into the American mainstream by James Reston, a writer for the New York Times. … Read More

Westerners have known about acupuncture since the 1600s and Americans have been practicing acupuncture since the 1800s. … Read More

The Human Body in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) In the first article of the series, we discussed how Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) was a form of holistic medicine, since it focused on healing the physical and non-physical aspects of the human condition. In the second article, we discussed how the different doctrines of Taoism set the intellectual foundation for TCM. In this article, we will discuss how these ideas form the TCM view of the human body, which is taught alongside Western anatomy at our acupuncture school in Florida. … Read More

Over the past few weeks, we have been covering the history of acupuncture in America. We began by discussing the first Europeans that came across Acupuncture in Asia, and how acupuncture made its way to America during the 1800s. … Read More

If you’re reading this, then you probably already know that being a professional massage therapist is the greatest thing in the world and that the only thing standing between you and a 4-hour work day that pays good money is the educational rite of passage known as massage therapy school. How hard can massage school be, after all? A few months of sitting in a desk, some hands-on practice, and then you’re guaranteed a job as a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT), right? … Read More

Over the past few weeks, we've been covering the history of acupuncture in America. In the first installment of this series, we covered the early history of acupuncture in the West and discussed the first Europeans to come into contact with acupuncture. In the second installment, we discussed how acupuncture was introduced to the early American medical community. In the third installment, we discussed how acupuncture first entered the American mainstream during the 1970s and covered the early years of acupuncture as a profession. … Read More

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the human body is a collective of interrelated yin-yang systems. When these different yin-yang systems are in harmony, the body is healthy, but when there is disharmony, illness arises. There are three major yin-yang systems that are crucial to health known as the Functional Entities: … Read More

Yin-Yang in Traditional Chinese Medicine | Acupuncture School Blog Just like rationalism forms the basis for Western medicine, the Taoist philosophy of yin-yang forms the basis for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). While many people have heard the term yin-yang or know it's famous symbol, few understand what yin-yang truly is, and even fewer people outside of our Florida acupuncture school know how it relates to Traditional Chinese Medicine. The typical yin-yang sign shows the interconnected duality of opposite forces. In Chinese philosophy, Yin-yang, which translates into “dark-bright,” describes the notion that everything in nature consists of two paradoxical phases or energies.  … Read More

After a yearlong journey, you have finally graduated from a massage therapy school in Miami, passed the MBLEx (Massage and Bodywork Licensing Examination), and received your massage therapy license from the State of Florida Massage Therapy Board... … Read More

Acupuncture has been around for over 2,000 years. As such, acupuncture schools will often teach the mechanisms behind acupuncture's effectiveness from a Traditional Chinese Medical point of view. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), health is determined by the proper flow of qi or non-physical life force in the body. Illness arises when the body’s qi is stopped from performing its cardinal functions, which includes the nutrient conversion, temperature regulation, and defense against foreign pathogens. … Read More

What is Tuina? What can it treat? | AMC Acupuncture School Blog | Miami, FL In the last article, we discussed that tuina was a form of Asian Bodywork Therapy (ABT) that originated in China several thousand years ago and is the oldest codified system of medicine in the world. Like the other Traditional Chinese Medicine modalities, it utilizes a TCM view of the body and uses an acupoint model to locate the points of healing. However, unlike acupuncture and Shiatsu, Tuina includes a variety of techniques that are similar to the ones found in Swedish Massage, including rolling, kneading, and pinching. Tuina plays an important role as part of our acupuncture school program and while tuina sounds great in theory, is there any evidence that it is an effective treatment? In this article, we will evaluate tuina as medical treatment in a clinical setting. … Read More

What are the benefits of Acupressure? | AMC Massage School Blog | Miami, FL Recently, we discussed the meridian system in Traditional Chinese Medicine and how Asian Bodywork Therapy (ABT) utilizes these principles for healing. Like acupuncture, acupressure stimulates the flow of qi by applying manual stimulation at the acupoints. However, rather than inserting needles, acupressure uses pressure to massage the acupoints. Because it is non-invasive, acupressure can potentially be used as a low-risk complementary treatment for medical issues where traditional acupuncture has already proven to be effective. … Read More