SKIN

An Introduction to Facial Revitalisation Acupuncture
Virginia C. Doran
This is an introduction to the subject of Facial Revitalisation Acupuncture (FRA) or Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture, as it is commonly referred to in the United States and most other English speaking countries. FRA is a virtually painless method firmly rooted in the principles of oriental medicine. Like regular acupuncture, FRA involves differential diagnosis and the use of multiple needles to move or balance the qi, blood, and fluids within the body as well as restore or maintain harmony between the five elements, yin and yang, and the various zang fu. The visible aesthetic results on the face are generated from treating both the root (ben) and the branch (biao) reflecting the improvement in overall health that is simultaneously achieved. In China and in Chinese literature, it is referred to as mei rong, which translates as Chinese medical cosmetology.
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Holistic Medicine and Holistic Education: Radical Side Effects of Acupuncture Accreditation
Paul Hougham & Allen Parrott
Since 1990 the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board (BAAB) has been accrediting licentiate and degree level acupuncture professional courses in Britain. Its success as a rigorous regulator has been celebrated by government and even noted by other healthcare professions, but its accreditation processes have also had beneficial educational effects. The work of the Board has been helping the acupuncture profession to move purposefully towards a sophisticated framework of educational practice that is marked by the same holistic world view as the practice of acupuncture itself. In the main acupuncture traditions, holism is the starting point for all theory and for all practice. In medical contexts, holism entails the integration and interpenetration of the life of the spirit with that of the mind and body, requiring always that the whole person be treated in sickness and in health. There is nothing irrational or anti-empirical about this holism, even though it takes practitioners into areas of reality and knowledge uncharted by mainstream medical science. This article tracks the central rhythms of the holistic education vision developed by the British Acupuncture Council, explains the role of its Accreditation Board, and suggests how the vision might speak to a wider audience.

Qi Gong - Its History, Functions and Related Benefits as Remedial Exercise and Ongoing Practice. Part 2
Paul Lundberg
The author presents a personal description and interpretation of traditional guidelines and inner principles of qi gong that he has come to recognise and appreciate through his own learning and practice. These are: the principles of posture; the principles of breath, emotional feeling and expression; and mental principles. In all styles and forms, the application of these principles will contribute to the practitioner’s health and wellbeing. The viewpoint of traditional medicine helps us both describe and understand their elements and attributes.

Exploring the Mechanics of Acupuncture: Bioelectromagnetism of the Human Body
Daniel J. Windridge & Harriet Lansdown
This article gives an outline of a BSc (Hons) dissertation submitted as part of the BSc (Hons) Traditional Chinese Medicine (Acupuncture) degree programme at the University of Salford in April 2003. The purpose of this quantitative study (Part One) was to measure the skin resistance and thus conductivity of a given set of the Influential points. The aim was to determine any differences in the conductive properties according to the gender of participants involved. Vacancies were a set sample of 30, which involved stratified criterion non-random sampling. Quantitative comparative descriptive was the method design used. The results of readings were compared and were shown to support the yin and yang theory used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The outcome of Part One established that yang acupoints had the highest conductance compared to yin acupoints. Also it was found that the conductivity of all the yang acupoints measured from the male participants were significantly greater when compared with results obtained from the females.

Psoriasis: A Case Study
Mazin Al-Khafaji
In dermatology, in addition to the usual methods of diagnosis available to us by questioning the patient, and examining the pulse and tongue, close observation of the morphology of the lesions, with all their subtleties of distribution, colour and texture, plays an enormously important role in understanding the pattern of disharmony and therefore the ability to formulate a treatment strategy. In this article, the author presents a single case of psoriasis to introduce some of these fundamental principles of pattern differentiation and treatment, as experienced in a clinical setting. [This article has been withdrawn and is no longer available for distribution.]

Exploring Acupuncture Outcomes in a College Clinic: Repeated Measures of Subjective Health Status
Jackie Shaw, Penelope Bidgood & Nasrollah Saebi
The College of Integrated Chinese Medicine (CICM) in Reading piloted a range of repeated outcome measures to assess change in health status in patients receiving acupuncture treatment in the student clinic. Data was collected from 495 patients treated from 1996-2004. Patients attending clinics 1-6 (CICM cohort) used a repeated measures programme developed in-house following MacPherson and Fitter (1998). Patients attending clinics 7-12 (MYMOP cohort) used the Measure Your Own Medical Outcomes Profile (MYMOP) (Paterson 1996). The study showed a clear trend towards better health over time for patients receiving acupuncture treatment at the clinic. Results are suggestive of positive benefit from acupuncture for patients with a wide variety of predominantly chronic conditions, and contribute to the growing acupuncture evidence profile.