By Laurie Burke, DC (’82)
While visiting Taiwan on the inaugural learning adventure with the American Chiropractic Association’s (ACA) Counsel of Chiropractic Acupuncture, the most memorable events for me were witnessing the culture and lifestyle of the Taiwanese people; seeing the importance and responsibility they place on being part of their own health journey; and observing the value and respect they place on inclusion of Qi gong, meditation, acupuncture and herbal remedies in their overall healing.
Another highlight was seeing a wide variety of acupuncture techniques used by highly skilled acupuncturist and, most importantly, their willingness to teach us the reasoning behind each acupuncture point prescriptions and specific needle techniques.
It was also remarkable to witness the entire herbal process—from examining the raw herbs, to the cleaning, processing, packaging and labeling, and ultimately seeing the final product. Fellow attendees were taught how to interpret and fill a specific herbal prescription and package it correctly before handing it off to the patient.
Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital:
During my visit, I was amazed at the range of acupuncture needle techniques and the speed at which doctors evaluated each patient, quickly inserted the needle and moved on to the next patient. Every process was streamlined and efficient. We also learned a brief history of each patient prior to treatment to better understand what the doctor was treating.
Taichung Veteran General Hospital:
While visiting this hospital, we sat in on acupuncture lectures and asked questions to better understand the reasoning behind each acupuncture and herbal treatments, as well as recent research conducted in Taiwan. These lectures emphasized the role of acupuncture, herbal remedies, Qi gong, meditation and relaxation in healing patients.
Taipei City Hospital – Kuangming Branch:
At this site, we saw firsthand how acupuncturist evaluate each patient’s needs by interviewing them and determining the proper point prescription based on symptoms. We learned how to manipulate needles, assess if the needle placement was helping, check the pulses and the tongue as the treatment was progressing, and ask questions to the treating doctors.
We were also able to taste some of the medicinal herbs, prepare packages of herbal tea and learn how an herbal prescription was processed. It was a meaningful experience to scan an actual prescription, place the herbs into a container for blending, move the blended prescription into a packaging system and then onto the conveyor belt to be picked up by the patient.
Sheng Chang / Quail Herb Factory:
This facility provided an amazing insight into the herbal prescriptions—from the arrival of the raw herbs from China, the testing, evaluation, processing and specific cooking methods, and finally packaging of each herbal prescription. I especially enjoyed visiting their museum and watching a film about the history of the Quail Herb Factory and how they distribute herbal prescriptions worldwide.
Overall, this Taiwan trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to be part of this inaugural learning adventure with the ACA’s Counsel of Chiropractic Acupuncture.