Four Cornerstones of Stability:

Rehabilitation Exercises for Orthopedic Problems

Course Instructor:  Elaine Wagner, D.C., L.Ac. 

When:      Sunday, June 27, 2010    Postponed

Time:       10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (with an hour for lunch)

Where:    Hyde Park Bank Building

                 1525 East 53^rd Street, 4^th Floor Conference Rm

Cost:        $90 for acupuncturists, $50 for general public

Credits:   5 Illinois Acupuncture CEUs

                 5 NCCAOM PDAs

This is a class for acupuncturists and other health professionals that is also suitable for the general public.  If you are interested in learning more about rehabilitation as practiced in both Eastern and Western health care traditions, this class is for you!

Acupuncture, spinal adjustments, massage, and Western medical techniques are not always enough to ensure that we heal fully from injuries or recover from musculoskeletal and internal health problems.  Daily practice of appropriate Eastern and Western therapeutic exercises can be used to help injuries and illnesses resolve, support Eastern and Western medical therapies, and preventatively to support and enhance our health.  Faulty posture and breathing patterns can contribute to injury, slow healing, and increase the likelihood of re-injury.  Proper posture and balance, core strength, and healthy breathing all help improve stability, move qi, and increase the amount of energy available to the body for detoxification and repair.  Internal organs, the body core and frame, the nervous and circulatory systems, and the mind and emotions all benefit from optimal posture, balance, and breathing patterns.  Faulty posture and breathing patterns may arise as a response to pain or stress; they also may be learned, and can be unlearned, once they are recognized. 

This workshop is open to all healthcare practitioners as well as to all who are interested in gaining more insight and control of their health.  Participants will learn medical qi gong, yoga, breathing therapies, and more conventional Western therapeutic exercises which they can practice at home for their own benefit and use in their practices.  Specific exercises will be demonstrated and practiced in class.  In addition, participants will learn the principles underlying the exercises and how they interact with and support other therapies.  Fine points and variations will be taught, as appropriate to participants’ questions and needs. 

Course Objectives

• Participants will learn how to use specific medical qi gong techniques to help soothe pain and inflammation due to injury, improve the function of internal organs, improve blood and chi circulation, increase energy level, alleviate depression, and more. 

• Participants will learn how to use several yoga postures to help balance and strengthen the musculoskeletal system, calm the nervous system, improve the integrity of the spinal column, help the internal organs function more optimally, and more.

• Participants will learn how to recognize and correct their own improper breathing patterns and begin to breathe optimally.  They will learn specific techniques which can help slow the heart rate, calm the mind, relax the frame and circulate qi and blood more effectively.

• Participants will learn how to improve core strength, balance and flexibility, with several specific therapeutic exercises.  These techniques can help seniors, athletes, and those who have problems with physical coordination.

• This workshop will demonstrate that there need not be rigid delineations among various types of rehabilitation.  Sometimes all is one. 

Course Instructor

Elaine J. Wagner, D.C., L.Ac., has been in private practice in Chicago as a chiropractic physician and acupuncturist since 1980.  She graduated from National College of Chiropractic in 1980 with additional training in acupuncture, and continued her TCM training at the Midwest Center for the Study of Oriental Medicine, graduating in 1985.  She has studied medical qi gong for many years from several teachers in the U. S. and China, and also has attended numerous rehabilitative exercise courses.  She is a nationally certified hypnotist and has taught self-hypnosis through the Evanston Public Schools and Oakton Community College.  She incorporates many approaches to holistic healing into her practice, including nutrition, detoxification programs, flower essence therapy, qi gong instruction, therapeutic exercises, and hypnosis.