Customer Reviews

A New American Acupuncture: Acupuncture Osteopathy - The Myofascial Release of the Bodymind's Holding Patterns

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a student of 'standardized' TCM, I find Mark Seem's approach refreshing. Doctors of old examined the body with their hands, and directly percieved the subtle Qi and it's state within the body. Actually palpating the body and seeing the truth and information there, instead of intellectually deciding on a diagnosis via symptoms of the patient(accuracy questionable), is something we can all learn from....that is, the hands on approach.

In response to the previous critique of Mark Seem by "Jane Austen," I would like to mention that Dr. Seem is an outstanding practitioner with well over 20 years of clinical experience in treating patients with acupuncture. I have used a similar approach of combining modern trigger point techniques with classical acupuncture and have had tremendous success. I am a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and have received additional training in China. I find Dr. Seem's critique of the TCM acupuncture is highly accurate. For those who are used to only the TCM methods of acupuncture, I recommend any of Mark Seems books. If you want something that is immediately useful in the clinic, start with this book. "Jane Austen's" critique of Mark Seem betrays her own clinical ignorance. His protocols are safe and effective. I highly recommend this book.

Seem's book attempts to bring back the importance of ashi points and palpation in order to redress what he sees as a loss of some of the classical tenets of acupuncture. He criticizes modern TCM acupuncture for adhearing to a system of static point location based the skeletal system rather than the practicioner's sense of touch. His references include meridian style acupuncturists, Kiiko Matsumoto, and Travell's work with trigger points and somato-visceral relationships. It is written in a conscise manner, with a definite bias. It is probably a good read for someone who has already studied the TCM literature.

Mark Seem's book is a comprehensive guide to using acupuncture in the treatment of myofascial pain. Being an acupuncturist and TCM practitioner (having done part of my training in China) I agree with Dr Seem's views on the herbalisation of acupuncture completely. Jane Austin's review I find frankly silly, and would not be surprised if it was simply a plant from a rival author intent on bringing down this books averages. This is a definite 5 star book and a must read for any acupuncturist who wants to help their patients get out of pain as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I have every one of Dr. Seem's books. As a registered nurse with 30 years of experience and a Zen Shiatsu therapist to boot, I can recommend his books without hesitation. Every though Dr. Seem is an acupuncturist, he (whether he knows it or not) is also a master bodyworker. All his work has been proven to be beneficial not only by Dr. Seem but by others in the field.

I trained in acupuncture some 25 years ago: at a time when contemporary chinese rigidity was just beginning to creep in and edge traditional practices on to the sidelines. Unfortunately, it has since come to dominate, negating the art and skill of the practitioner to the point where he or she is effectively redundant and software can diagnose and prescribe. Some people may enjoy being treated by a computer. I'm not one of them.

Any book that pushes both experienced and would-be therapists into thinking differently has to be good! You don't have to believe every theory or strategy, but it is healthy to contemplate alternative possibilities and even try them.

By the way, is it my imagination or do the negative reviews appear to be written by the same none too literate reviewer?

THIS BOOK IS EXCELLENT TO PUT ACUPUNCTURE INTO LAYMAN TERMS. THE AUTHOR DOES A GREAT JOB OF APPLYING JAPANESE ACUPUNCTURE CONCEPTS TO TRIGGER POINT TREATMENTS FOR MUSCLE PAIN. HE PUTS THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE POINTS HE USES TO MERIDIANS. HE ALSO HAS ILLUSTRATIONS FOR YOU TO VISUAL SEE WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT.
EXCELLENT BOOK AND SHOULD BE EVERYONE'S LIBRARY WHO IS DOING ACUPUNCTURE.

I don't want to insult Mark Seem, as I might want to study with him in the future. The book's title may be the publisher's choice, and not Seem's, I don't know; if you are expecting a grand union of osteopathy, acupuncture, and myofascial tensegrity, this isn't it. But if you can recognize and value a few real jewels of useful acupuncture therapy, it's a very good book. Perhaps Dr. Seem suffers a little bit from the common disease of many who have years of experience; I'm refering to his statement that his mentor, Dr. Nguyen Van Nghi, was "wrong" about the yin and yang of principal channels and tendinomuscular channels. I suggest that Dr. Seem put on his "beginner's mind" again and look deeper. He tries to show that he has invented something new, when all he is doing is applying Dr. Van Nghi's "tendinomuscular protocol" to the six great channels (taiyang, shaoyang, yangming, etc). He acts as though he was the first person to ever have this idea, which just isn't true. Dr. Seem may be a great acupuncturist, a great teacher, and get great results with neuro-musculo-skeletal issues, yet there comes a point when innovation loses its root, and just puts on a show. The book is worth a read, and will give many TCM practitioners a real "aha!" experience. But for students of Nguyen Van Nghi, Seem's book will probably be ho-hum.

A short summary book -- primarily based on synthesis of trigger point therapy with older forms of acupuncture (meridian-based rather than TCM style diagnosis and treatment). Places heavy emphasis on physical examination of the meridians and pain locations. He provides helpful diagrams of relevant common trigger pionts within these zones and documents the relevant muscular anatomy.

His strategies are more aimed at disturbances in musculoskeletal tissue (or in unobstructing the flow of Qi) rather than the standard TCM diagnostic categories. Thus it does not rely as much on tongue and pulse findings -- a feature that may be preferred by some readers and frustrating to others. His three proposed dominant zones for planning pain management are the major Yang Meridians (Tai Yang, Shao Yang and Yang Ming). He discusses the interrelationship of these to the paired extraordinary meridians (as well as tendinomuscular, cutaneous, divergent, etc) and provides recommendations on major point "zones or regions" to examine and possibly treat.

In general, he stressed choosing the functional points of maximum tenderness rather than attempting anatomically precise location (relevant safety factors still in effect) or rather than points proposed for TCM or 5-element considerations. He does offer for each of these 3 major Yang zones some key yin supporting treatments with which he might supplement his overall protocol, but these are clearly secondary.

I am not sure I would have recognized the benefits of this book early in my training, and I might have been a little put off by aspects of his writing style. After more experience, I found it to be an excellent rapid refresher course of basic principles for meridian acupuncture; and along the way it added significantly to my own internal synthesis of the vast array of treatment paradigms in oriental and western acupuncture. It will continue to be of value to me on return reading -- a source to explore over and over again when contemplating a difficult case.

I am an acupuncturist in Southern California and I have taken several workshop intensives in different styles of acupuncture: Master Tung's style, Kiiko Matsumoto, Balance Method, Japanese Styles, etc, etc. On top of that, I have read every book I could get my hands on trying to discern the piece missing from my repertoire that would help me fully resolve the tough cases and chronic pain that virtually all of my patients have. This simple little book is it. It's really almost embarrassingly simple and I almost feel like an idiot for not thinking of it myself.

Acupuncturists, I have found, get very dogmatic and hard-headed when it comes different styles: The reviewer who gave the book a 1 star rating (twice! How did he vote twice?!) seems quite ignorant in his comments. First, Mark Seem is not a "scientist", he is an acupuncturist with a small mountain of experience and credentials. He respects many different styles of acupuncture and draws from them to develop a style that is pragmatic and effective. How truly American. Maybe this is what makes the reviewer angry - that Mr. Seem did not get the "real" acupuncture bequeathed to him from a mysterious sage in the hills of China. The bottom line is that Mr. Seem's ideas both correlate with ancient principles and match modern anatomical and physiological knowledge - and they just plain work (a novel idea in TCM style acupuncture!). Just after implementing a couple of principles from this book, I was solving some some of my toughest cases. It didn't violate anything in the classics, in fact, it proved them true. I say all of this, to encourage any would-be reader to dismiss the two (actually the same!) bad reviews as they are non-sensical.

My only problem with the book is that the cover is kind of crap. It curled up on me the first reading. It always irritates me to pay $30 for a short paperback. This is a book deserves to be hard-bound anyway. With that said, it's probably the best $30 bucks I've spent in my acupuncture education.