Acupuncture Sports Medicine Seminars
The Acupuncture Sports Medicine Apprenticeship Program
Our most popular teaching program is The Acupuncture Sports Medicine Apprenticeship Program. The course of study is 60 hours, consisting of 3 three-day weekends. It covers the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of common injuries and pain syndromes. In keeping with the mentorship-style of learning, the program offers a small group format. In addition to the instruction of Whitfield Reaves, there are up to four assistants, practitioners who have completed previous apprenticeship programs. They are essential to support the teaching process and provide supervision during location and needle practice sessions. This provides one-on-one relationships which have been an essential part of traditional Chinese medicine over the centuries.
The Acupuncture Sports Medicine Apprenticeship Program is for practitioners who want to advance their skills in sports medicine as well as the treatment of pain. The course begins with a review of the important techniques used in the treatment of injury and trauma. Then what follows is the diagnosis and assessment of over 30 sports-related injuries. This includes very precise instruction on palpation and orthopedic testing. After diagnosis, a systematic Four-Step approach is used as the template for all acupuncture treatment protocols. With instruction and supervised practice, each practitioner increases their knowledge and confidence in the care and treatment of the patient with injury and pain.
Those who complete this course receive a Certificate of Achievement in Acupuncture Sports Medicine.
What makes our program unique?
• Our apprenticeship trainings are small mentorship-style groups, always limited in size
• We offer direct one-on-one supervision on location, palpation, and treatment techniques
• Anatomical and orthopedic assessment are integrated into a traditional Chinese acupuncture setting
• Learn to use precision with your needle technique like you have never imagined
• Feel comfortable and confident as you assess and treat your injury and pain patients
The Apprenticeship Program
Weekend #1: The Shoulder and Upper Extremity
Weekend #2: The Low Back and Hip
Weekend #3: The Lower Extremity
Certificate of Achievement earned for completion of all three weekends
Course objective: To instruct the skills for both diagnosis and treatment of common sports injuries and pain syndromes. Our goal is to provide a foundation level that gives the practitioner confidence with the majority of patients they see in clinic.
Course content: Weekend 1 includes injury to the shoulder, the neck and shoulder posture, scapular pain, and upper extremity injury. Techniques include distal points, tendino-muscle meridians, and electrical stimulation. Weekend 2 focuses on the "triad" of the low back – the gluteus medius, the QL, and the SI joint. Also included is hip bursitis, the hip joint capsule, the core muscles, and lumbar disc syndrome. Also included is the neurologic exam for motor deficit caused by nerve compression, discogenic pain, interpreting dermatome pain patterns, and referral needs for the back pain patient. Weekend 3 includes knee pain, shin splints, hamstring injury, quadriceps dysfunction, achilles tendonitis and bursitis, plantar fasciitis, and 1st MTP joint pain. Techniques include the crossed shu-stream points, the crossed dumai/daimai treatment, the jing-well points, opposite side and upper lower treatment strategies.
Continuing education: 20 PDAs/CEUs from the NCCAOM and the state of California for each three-day weekend
Please email us if you would like to review a complete course outline with all the injuries, techniques, and clinical commentary.
Whitfield has been teaching in Canada and Europe for the last 30 years on varied topics of acupuncture sports medicine. Some of his course venue sites include Zurich, Switzerland, Bologna, Italy, Antwerp, Belgium, and both Vancouver and Alberta, Canada. Watch our Calendar page for future teaching schedules. The photo is Whitfield Reaves in Northern Italy, 2024.
The Practicum Series
The Practicum Series may be taught in Oakland as well as on Maui. This live supervised course is for those who have completed The Apprenticeship Program, or its equivalent with online webinars. It is composed of three days of supervised clinical practice with location, palpation, needling, and special techniques. Think of this as a master class in needle technique.
Course objective: To offer review and repetition as a means of increasing skills in the treatment of sports injuries and pain. Our goal is to provide the practitioner with increased confidence through supervised practice.
Continuing education: 18 PDAs/CEUs from the NCCAOM and the state of California for the three-day weekend
Please email us if you would like to review a complete course outline with the points that will be covered in this practicum.
Individualized Small Group Teaching Programs on Maui
We use the course content of The Practicum Series as a guideline for our small-group teaching programs. So each six hour program covers either the shoulder and upper extremity, the low back and hip, or the lower extremity.
Practicum 1 – The Shoulder and Upper Extremity (6 hours)
Practicum 2 – The Low Back and Hip (6 hours)
Practicum 3 – The Lower Extremity (6 hours)
Continuing education: 6 PDAs/CEUs earned for each six hour module.
For questions, and to see if a small-group learning program can be scheduled at this time, let us hear from you.
Email Mary Saunders LAc: msaundersoffice@gmail.com
We taught our first sports acupuncture seminar in North America in 1986, and for almost 40 years my staff and I have instructed and mentored practitioners in this specialty profession. Our mission has been simple: we offer small group mentorship-style courses and systematically instruct how to diagnose, assess, and treat sports injury and pain. We offer one-on-one direct supervision of all the treatments and techniques that we teach. And we prepare practitioners to integrate anatomically-based acupuncture with one's prior TCM training. All the while trying to present common pain syndromes with relatively simple and definitive treatment plans. Our goal is to guide you to feel more confident and comfortable in the clinic. We invite you to join our acupuncture sports medicine community.