Keys to the Kingdom Expanded:

How Everything in the Body is Connected to Everything Else

Course Instructor:  Mary J. Rogel, Ph.D., L.Ac.

When:    Saturday and Sunday, February 4 & 5, 2012

Time:      9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. (with an hour for lunch)

Where:   International College of Classical Chinese  Medicine

                 Phoenix, AZ     

Cost:       $275 ($225 for participants repeating the class)

Credits:  15 NCCAOM PDAs

                 15 Illinois Acupuncture CEUs

                 15 AZ Board CEUs pending

Register Early – Class Size Limited to 20 Clinicians

As acupuncturists we often have the frustrating experience of treating pain in patients who do not respond to traditional acupuncture, despite our best efforts.  For most patients, pain is the result of structural adaptations that create various degrees of misalignment of the joints. Unless these accommodations are corrected, the problem and the pain will persist.

The purpose of this seminar is to examine the mechanical and structural causes of musculoskeletal pain.  Our focus will be to demonstrate how the physical body functions as an energetic whole, not simply as a machine with interconnected mechanical parts, and how those parts cannot be treated in isolation from one another.  This seminar will provide the knowledge necessary to assess and unlock challenging orthopedic conditions, and it will introduce advanced needling and joint realignment techniques that you can incorporate with your current needling and treatment strategies to make your treatments more effective and longer lasting.

This seminar lays out a framework for understanding how all orthopedic problems involve the entire musculoskeletal system, with particular attention to the stiff tissue (tendons and ligaments).  Stiff tissue holds everything together, but “gives” enough to accommodate injuries and restrictions, enabling us to continue our daily activities.  Knowing that everyone has basically the same orthopedic problems will help you understand and treat chronic problems and acute injuries, as well as some problems generally treated through internal medicine.  We will also discuss how the brain changes in response to musculoskeletal accommodations, and we will look at the implications of brain neuroplasticity for treating our orthopedic patients.  Come to class prepared to practice palpation skills throughout the day.

Course Objectives

This class is intended for all clinicians with an interest in orthopedics and body mechanics.  The objectives of this course are to:

·         Examine the body as an ever-accommodating collection of bones held together by ligaments and moved by muscles and tendons.

·         Explore the implications of the body’s ability to alter how bones meet within joint capsules.

·         Understand how an injury in one part of the body can create a seemingly-unrelated problem elsewhere.

·         Learn how to view the body as an integrated whole that must be diagnosed and treated as a system rather than as a collection of barely related parts.

·         Learn to identify locking sequences and end points throughout the body.

·         Appreciate how replacing a joint or having arthroscopic surgery or beginning physical therapy alters body mechanics and requires the entire body to adjust to the new condition.

·         Recognize that failure to take into account the action of the ligaments elsewhere in the body can be a reason for poor outcomes after joint surgery or other therapies.

·         Learn how to use the principles of brain neuroplasticity to improve your patients’ outcomes and to become a more effective practitioner.

Course Instructor

Mary J. Rogel, Ph.D., L.Ac., opened her practice, East Point Associates, Ltd., in Hyde Park after graduating from the Midwest Center for the Study of Oriental Medicine in 1986.  Her practice has a strong focus on orthopedics, body mechanics, and joint realignment; and she has been teaching orthopedics for acupuncturists and body workers since 1999.