Chinese Medicine

In the past there was worry that anyone could put out a sign and call themselves a Doctor of Chinese Medicine. Now, there are safeguards in place. Anyone who wants to practice Chinese medicine needs to meet certain regulations to be licensed in BC, and that's good news.

For fourteen years, Dr. Ting Ting Jiang has practiced traditional Chinese medicine in Canada without a license, until now.

British Columbia has become the first jurisdiction in North America to license and recognize traditional Chinese medicine as a health profession.

"With the regulation basically there comes accountability. The practitioners firstly have to be screened, they have to have the proper training, education and ethical standards before they can be licensed," says Mason Loh from the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

In the past, if you had a complaint against a Chinese Medicine practitioner, there was nowhere to turn for help.

"The only place they could go is to the courts and sue a practitioner. But now there's accountability and patients basically when they complain about something they know that somebody is there to look into the company and investigate it and will give them an answer," says Mason Loh.

"It's very good for the public and also very good for the development of this profession," says Ting Ting Jiang.

It's good news for Wanda Sustersich, who has received acupuncture for the past three years to relieve the pains related to endometriosis and muscular problems.

"Doctors are licensed, physiotherapists are licensed, massage therapists are licensed and they're all health professionals, and acupuncturists qualify for that category," says Wanda Sustersich.

Traditional Chinese medicine has been used for centuries. Treatments include acupuncture, herbal medicine, food cures, massage, cupping or moxibustion to stimulate energy in the body, and rehabilitative exercises such as tai chi.

"The major condition people come to me for is pain relief, any kind of pain, chronic pain, acute pain, for example like sciatica, migraine headache and fibromialgia, and sports injury, tendonitis, and for fatigue and for depression and also for digestive disorders, " says Ting Ting Jiang.

Wanda receives acupuncture every 2 to 3 weeks. But at $35 to $55 a session, it can be expensive. Traditional Chinese medicine treatments are not covered by the provincial Medical Services Plan.

But, Wanda says it's worth it, "I recommend it, I've found it very helpful for myself."

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Lawbreakers Sentenced to Tai Chi and Tea

Posted Wed., August 6 by Reuters

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Crime and punishment have entered a new age in Santa Fe thanks to a local judge who sentences lawbreakers to tai chi, meditation and -- if they are really in need of help -- Japanese tea ceremony.

Judge Frances Gallegos, from the liberal New Mexico city of Santa Fe, allows offenders to take tai chi classes, meditate and participate in a Japanese tea ceremony as part of an alternative sentencing program for young, violent offenders.

"Traditional anger management courses weren't working," said Gallegos, noting that recidivism rates in other types of anger management classes were too high for her liking. The judge listened to the advice of Mark De Francis, a psychologist with the state corrections department who is also a doctor of Oriental medicine.

De Francis believes that some Asian traditions such as tai chi and tea ceremony teach people to find calmness in their thoughts and, "find an inner opponent, rather than outer opponent, to do battle with."

Tai chi, or tai chi chuan, is a Chinese practice of physical exercises used for self-defense and meditation.

Young, violent offenders -- mostly cited in domestic violence cases, drunk driving or road rage incidents-- can choose to take the alternative sentencing classes, which began last October, or perform community service tasks, such as collecting garbage.

The 12-week classes are held twice a week for two hours in the lobby of the courthouse, which is filled with candles and mirrors for the occasion. The $180 class cost is paid for by the offenders.

Participants serve each other herbal tea with Kava Kava, a natural calming agent, and finish the class with an acupuncture treatment for relaxation.

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