The Estevan Public Library hosted a presentation on how the worlds of western and eastern medicine are fusing to help treat patients suffering from all kinds of ailments.
After being postponed in November, the talk regarding an introduction to Chinese medicine, and specifically acupuncture, went forward with about 10 interested people in the audience. Regina's Matthew Norick gave the presentation on traditional Chinese medicine, which is based on an holistic understanding of the human body.
Norick spoke about how eastern medical techniques are becoming more pronounced and complementary in the western medical spectrum.
"Not only is the general public more interested in this form of medicine but also a lot of the general practitioners are interested in this kind of medicine," he said, noting in B.C. it's common for doctors to either refer patients for acupuncture or have added acupuncturists to their treatment networks.
"The theory is philosophical in nature, but it's primarily based on results. It's a time-tested therapy (from the) medical theories that what works stays and what doesn't gets discarded for what works better," he said. "Because it's a results-based form of medicine, current research is supporting it."
There are a number of reasons someone may wish to seek out acupuncture treatment, said Norick.
"For example, if they want to add to the effects of a conventional treatment," said Norick, who added that acupuncture increases pregnancy rates when someone is trying to conceive via in vitro fertilization.
That's one way that using western and eastern medicine together may help patients get greater results.
Norick went over some of the simplified theories with the Estevan listeners during his Sunday session as the technique is one that many in the area are growing more interested in.
"Primarily, we get a lot of people where western medicine has had little or no effect. Those are the people I see. You're dealing with the hardest cases," noted Norick, who said many times when speaking with doctors they will refer patients to him because they haven't found a working treatment through conventional means.
Growing up in Regina, Norick said he is often asked why he was drawn to acupuncture.
"When you're going to high school, the guidance counselor didn't have Chinese medicine practitioner or acupuncturist on the list of things you could become when you're older," said Norick.
He was living in South Korea and he was experiencing some stomach issues and pain in his midriff. He thought that being in a foreign land he would seek out a treatment originating from that part of the world.
"I'd never had acupuncture or been exposed to it at all. I go in with a stomachache that's so tender just to touch, and this old South Korean man, who was practicing oriental medicine, put one needle in my stomach, moved it around, pulled out the needle and then stuck his hands underneath my ribcage."
The doctor asked if he could feel anymore pain, and to Norick's surprise and delight, the pain had vanished.
"I thought I would like to learn how he did that because it seemed so mysterious at the time," he said. "From that point on, I started to study it informally under some doctors in Daegu, South Korea."
He studied there for two years before completing his training at the oldest Chinese medicine college in the country, the Canadian College of Oriental Medicine in Victoria, B.C. The school closed while he was there and has yet to re-open, so he transferred to the Pacific Rim College, also in Victoria.
After completing his schooling, he completed all his licencing work to become a registered acupuncturist.
