Category Archives: AOM Class Offerings

Acupuncture Treatment of the Taiyang Jing-Jin (“Sinew Meridian”): the Posterior Tract

has been added to your cart!

First time user? Your account will be automatically be created after purchase. Please note:

--Webinars require continuous attendance on the date(s) offered to receive PDAs/CEUs. If you cannot attend, please consider a self-paced distance-learning version instead, if available, or another class that you will be able to attend.

--Ebooks are included with class purchase--please do not purchase both. When purchased separately, Ebooks are for informational purposes only--no PDAs/CEUs.

Questions? Please visit our FAQ page. Thank you for your purchase!

7 Distance-learning NCCAOM PDAs approved

Contact Us to request CAB CEUs

Check back for next live class date, or contact us to be notified by email

Billed once per year until cancelled

has been added to your cart!

First time user? Your account will be automatically be created after purchase. Please note:

--Webinars require continuous attendance on the date(s) offered to receive PDAs/CEUs. If you cannot attend, please consider a self-paced distance-learning version instead, if available, or another class that you will be able to attend.

--Ebooks are included with class purchase--please do not purchase both. When purchased separately, Ebooks are for informational purposes only--no PDAs/CEUs.

Questions? Please visit our FAQ page. Thank you for your purchase!

The taiyang 经 筋 jing-jin ("sinew meridian") of Chinese medicine describes the myofascial tract that runs along the posterior body from head to toe. Understanding the taiyang jing-jin can guide clinicians from where pain is felt distally and proximally towards additional muscles, tendons, joints and ligaments that also may need treatment. Learn classical and modern examination and treatment of the taiyang jing-jin tissues, including:

Leg Taiyang Jing-Jin

  • Plantar fascia
  • Achilles tendon
  • Gastroc-soleus complex
  • Hamstrings
  • Sacrotuberous ligament
  • Gluteus maximus
  • Thoracolumbar fascia
  • Erector spinae
  • Latissimus dorsi
  • Trapezii
  • Posterior cervicals and suboccipitals

Arm Taiyang Jing-Jin

  • Levator scapula
  • Rhomboids
  • Infraspinatus
  • Triceps brachii
  • Extensor carpi ulnaris
  • Abductor digiti minimi

Learn classical and modern methods of treating the jing-jin, including:

Instructional methods include:

  • Comparison of ancient source translationss with dissection studies and functional analyses of myofascial tissues: bony attachments and kinematic chains of muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia
  • Review of postural vs. phasic muscles and balance between agonist/antagonist muscle groups
  • Classical palpation techniques integrated with assessment of the movement, strength, and joint stabilization functions of the taiyang jing-jin
  • Anatomical charts of myofascial referred pain patterns, including muscle attachment sites and functions, innervation, and trigger, motor and Chinese new/miscellaneous points for over 25 muscles and connective tissue structures that form the taiyang jing-jin

Knowing the jing-jin is a valuable complement to the cross-sectional approach of contemporary orthopedics, and opens up to avenues towards holistic rehabilitation from injuries, pain and disability, including:

  • Decreased muscle-tendon pain and tension, and improved strength and function
  • Decreased joint pain and enhanced stability and biomechanics
  • Increased muscle-tendon flexibility and joint range-of-motion

Acupuncture Treatment of the Jing-Jin ("Sinew Meridians"): Introduction is strongly recommended as a pre-requisite.

See the other classes in this 4-part series:  Shaoyang, Yangming and 3 Yin Jing-Jin. Take more than 1 for 10% off each!

Student Comments and Ratings

From evaluations as required by NCCAOM & California Acupuncture Board.

Respondents: 40 of 45 enrolled

Comments:

  • "Thank you for the great class! From clinical pearls to an important review of cautions and contraindications, these courses are very useful, even after practicing in this specialty for over 7 years! The material presents a truly integrative approach to orthopedics and sports medicine. In the past, I've found courses to apply either a TCM or a western orthopedics lens, but Dr. Von der Muhll does a wonderful job of blending the concepts in a way that is practical for patient care, logical for the practitioner, and provides language to discuss findings and treatments with our TCM and western colleagues."  --Leslie Yedor, L.Ac.
  • “Very articulate and precise…great 1-on-1 attention.“  –Jessica Giese-Garderner, L.Ac.
  • “Amazing–Thank you!“  –Jessica Luehrs, L.Ac.
  • “This class was a really great review as well as including new material” —Daniele Uzes, L.Ac.
  • “Great knowledge of anatomy, very in-depth. Thank you for adding to the written notes on-line…I really appreciated Anthony’s in-depth clinical experience and his willingness to share..I’m taking more classes!!!”   –Monica Bowditch, L.Ac.
  • “Tons of great info, many applicable tools, with some practice indeed…great for sports acu/pain/ortho.” —Joe Sarti, L.Ac.
  • “I especially enjoyed reviewing anatomy whilst doing practical exercises to improve my skills…very good explanations…great that notes are digital and linked.” –Michael E. Brown, Jr., L.Ac.
  • “I like the charts and photos, this is truly useful!” —Anonymous, L.Ac.
  • "Excellent!" --Anonymous
  • "I learned a lot. Anthony is very knowledgeable."  --Anonymous
  • “I wish I had taken this when I got my license in 2006.” —Anonymous, L.Ac.

Average Ratings. Overall: 5/5

The class met its goals/objectives and covered subject materials as stated:  5/5

The class material will be useful in my clinical practice:  5/5

The instructor made effective use of learning aids: slideshows, notes, videos:  5/5

The class provided enough depth, breadth and detail of information:  5/5

The instructor provided adequate instruction in the skills and subjects addressed in the class:  5/5

The written notes were clear, adequate and helpful:  5/5

The number of CEUs/PDAs was appropriate for the time and work required:  5/5

 

Source Texts Referenced in this Class

  • Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text. Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. O’Connor and Bensky, trans. and ed. (1981)
  • Kendall, Donald E. The Dao of Chinese Medicine: Understanding an Ancient Health Art. (2002)
  • Legge, David. Jing Jin: Acupuncture Treatment of the Muscular System Using the Meridian Sinews.  (2010)
  • Meyers, Thomas W. Anatomy Trains: Myofascial Meridians for Movement Therapists. (2009)
  • Simmons, Travell, Simmons and Cummings. Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual, vols. 1-2. (any edition)

Suggested Class Preparation

Acupuncture Treatment of the Jing-Jin ("Sinew Meridians"): Introduction is strongly recommended as a pre-requisite.

Prior review of clinical musculoskeletal anatomy and kinesiology of the posterior body structures listed above (including joints and their planes of motion, ligaments, tendons, muscle attachments and functions, innervation) is recommended to make the most of this learning opportunity. Students are advised to have ready access to clinical anatomy references texts, apps or on-line resources during live webinars and in-person classes.

See the other classes in this 4-part series:  Shaoyang, Yangming and 3 Yin Jing-Jin. Take more than 1 for 10% off each!

Head, Neck, Thorax

has been added to your cart!

First time user? Your account will be automatically be created after purchase. Please note:

--Webinars require continuous attendance on the date(s) offered to receive PDAs/CEUs. If you cannot attend, please consider a self-paced distance-learning version instead, if available, or another class that you will be able to attend.

--Ebooks are included with class purchase--please do not purchase both. When purchased separately, Ebooks are for informational purposes only--no PDAs/CEUs.

Questions? Please visit our FAQ page. Thank you for your purchase!

Head Neck Thorax Distance-Learning Module

with Anthony Von der Muhll

16 NCCAOM distance-learning PDAs approved. Contact us to request CAB CEUs.

Billed once per year until cancelled

has been added to your cart!

First time user? Your account will be automatically be created after purchase. Please note:

--Webinars require continuous attendance on the date(s) offered to receive PDAs/CEUs. If you cannot attend, please consider a self-paced distance-learning version instead, if available, or another class that you will be able to attend.

--Ebooks are included with class purchase--please do not purchase both. When purchased separately, Ebooks are for informational purposes only--no PDAs/CEUs.

Questions? Please visit our FAQ page. Thank you for your purchase!

Check back for next live class date, or contact us to be notified by email

Clinical anatomy, kinesiology, and the jing-jin ("sinew meridians" or myofascial tracts)

  • Bones, muscles, discs and facet joints, and neurology
  • Posture and motion dysfunctions
  • The arthritic progression: strain/sprain, derangement, degeneration

History-taking for head, neck, thorax: key diagnostic questions

  • "Red flag" symptoms of urgent/serious medical conditions warranting referral to physician care
  • Differentiating symptoms of muscles, joint, disc, and spinal cord, plexus and nerve root injuries
  • Neural hypersensitization and psycho-social factors
  • Functional capacity questionnaires for reporting to managed care insurance

Physical exam of the head, neck, thorax: key procedures

  • Observation, inspection and palpation
  • Joint exam: active range-of-motion, stability, and tracking assessment of the cervical and thoracic spine and TM joint
  • Neurologic exam: upper motor neuron; arm reflex, sensory, and motor function; and brachial plexopathies
  • Special orthopedic tests for the spine and ribcage
  • Documentation of physical exam findings
  • Measuring and reporting functional capacity baselines and treatment outcomes

Diagnosis and pattern identification

  • Cervicogenic and tension-type headaches
  • Temperomandibular joint pain and dysfunction
  • Cervical and thoracic sprains/strains and chronic myofascial pain
  • Cervical and thoracic disc and facet joint injuries: dysfunction, derangement, degeneration
  • Nerve root and spinal cord injuries
  • Intercostal sprains/strains
  • Brachial plexopathies and thoracic outlet syndrome
  • Myofascial trigger points and referred pain patterns for over 17 muscles of the head, face, neck and thorax

Treatment of head, neck, and thorax pain and injuries

  • When and how to use distant and local needling for rapid and lasting pain relief
  • Electroacupuncture for neural blockade and rehabilitation
  • Releasing muscle tension through myofascial trigger point needling
  • Prolo-acupuncture for spinal and TM joint stabilization and mobilization
  • Using 7-star, 3-edged and lancet needles to reduce inflammation and ischemic pain
  • Manual therapy: gua sha, tui na, and muscle energy techniques to reduce trigger points and restore muscle flexibility and joint range of motion
  • Active suction cupping: combining cups with passive and active movement for rapid and lasting results
  • Postural and ergonomic correction and exercise therapies

Get the most out of your learning experience!

Student Ratings and Comments

from evaluations as required by California Acupuncture Board, prior live class offerings in 2017.

Respondents: 20 of 20 enrolled

Average rating: 98/100

Check back for next live class date, or contact us to be notified by email

Clinical Applications of AOM Research

Check back for next live class date, or contact us to be notified by email

Contact us to let us know of your interest in Distance-learning PDAs/CEUs

Billed once per year until cancelled

has been added to your cart!

First time user? Your account will be automatically be created after purchase. Please note:

--Webinars require continuous attendance on the date(s) offered to receive PDAs/CEUs. If you cannot attend, please consider a self-paced distance-learning version instead, if available, or another class that you will be able to attend.

--Ebooks are included with class purchase--please do not purchase both. When purchased separately, Ebooks are for informational purposes only--no PDAs/CEUs.

Questions? Please visit our FAQ page. Thank you for your purchase!

Enhance your familiarity with AOM research, and your ability to:

  • Obtain improved outcomes with a wider variety of cases, by applying research regarding mechanisms of AOM modalities, techniques and treatment variables;
  • Educate patients, health-care practitioners, and the general public regarding AOM therapeutic mechanisms;
  • Participate in professional discussions and studies with other medical providers and researchers;

Assessing Research Quality and Relevance

Improve efficiency and accuracy in evaluating research for its quality and relevance, including:

  • Independence from bias and financial interests
  • Blinding of subjects and evaluators
  • P-values, confidence intervals, statistical power and sample size, effect size, number-needed-to-treat, and more
  • Patient-practitioner relationships and the “Therapeutic Alliance”
  • Patient beliefs and expectations, placebo and nocebo genomics, and the “Placebo Paradox”

Review studies regarding therapeutic mechanisms of AOM modalities

including explanatory studies of acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, myofascial trigger point needling, cupping and gua sha:

  • The inflammatory cascade, and provocation of anti-inflammatory responses
  • Diffuse noxious inhibitory controls and closing the spinal gate
  • Homeostatic processes of the peripheral and central nervous and vascular systems
  • Myofascial tissue stimulation, including trigger point reduction, tension homeostasis, and disruptive and proliferative effects
  • Bio-psycho-social variables in patient responses to acupuncture
  • Effects of concurrent use of anti-inflammatory medications and opiates/opioids

¹with California Acupuncture Board

Next offering: TBA. Please let us know of your interest in a distance-learning class.

View full program schedule and register for classes

Clinical Applications of AOM Research: Class Notes and E-book

Class Content Notes
How Interactive E-books work: Read this first View Guide
1. Overview: Why research?; Types and Levels of Research; Challenges View Slideshow
2. Ancient Acupuncture Technique Variables from "Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text" View Slideshow
3. Assessing Research Quality View Slideshow
4. "Placebo Effects" and the Therapeutic Alliance View Slideshow
5. Case Reporting Guidelines View Slideshow
6. Therapeutic Mechanisms of Needling View Slideshow

Anatomy/Cadaver Lab: the Myofascial Tracts of Acupuncture

aka the "Sinew Meridians"

With Instructor Anthony Von der Muhll, L.Ac., DNBAO, FAIPM

Check back for next live class date, or contact us to be notified by email

Study the structure and function of the jing-jin (myofascial tracts or “sinew meridians”) in a cadaver lab.

  • Review how different depths and angles of needle insertion can be used to affect different tissues.
  • See where needles can safely and usefully be inserted–and also should never go–in actual anatomical specimens.
  • Learn the way ancient physicians did: by tracing the longitudinal fascial connectivity between bones, muscles, tendons, organs, and neuro-vascular bundles that make up the jing-jin or myofascial tracts.

Structures reviewed will include both appropriate targets for neuro-anatomical acupuncture, and adjacent critical structures to avoid puncturing (in italics):

  • Taiyang: plantar fascia and superficial musculature; Achilles tendon; hamstrings; (sciatic nerves); sacro-tuberous and sacro-iliac ligaments; paraspinal musculature; facet joints and discs; (kidneys, pleural cavity) trapezius, sub-occipitals, (brain stem), levator scapula, and rhomboids; triceps brachii, ulnar-carpal joint.
  • Shaoyang: peroneal muscles; superior tib-fib joint; IT band; gluteals, quadratus lumborum (kidneys), serratus anterior, sterno-cleido-mastoid (carotid artery, jugular vein), scalenes (dome of lung, brachial plexus), supraspinatus.
  • Yangming: tibialis anterior; knee ACL, PCL, meniscii and patello-femoral structures; adductors, (femoral nerve, artery, vein) iliopsoas; acromio-clavicular and gleno-humeral joints; forearm extensor compartment and radial tunnel.
  • 3 Yin: tibialis posterior; popliteus; (popliteal artery, tibial nerve) knee MCL; vastus medialis; pectorals; (axial and brachial neurovascular bundles); biceps brachii, supinator, and pronator teres; (median and ulnar nerves) carpal and ulnar tunnels.

My personal statement about cadaver lab as a learning experience:

Of all the classes that I teach, this is the one that means the most to me personally and professionally.

Why do I feel so passionately about spending a day in a chilly lab with a bunch of dead bodies  that smell like preservative chemicals? In no other setting do we have the opportunity to study the technical, tangible and physical structure and function of humans from the inside out, and to simultaneously appreciate the transiency and poignancy of the gift of life, with all its sorrows and joys its pleasures and pains.

By seeing where our all of our ancestors have gone, and where we and every patient we treat and every person we know will go, we can see the physical body as a temporary vehicle for the soul, and come to a greater reverence for the value of health, healing, and happiness.

And this lab fills me with appreciation for the generosity the people and their families who give this extraordinary and privileged opportunity to examine their bodies, so that we may put such knowledge to use in the service of humanity, and that we may all enjoy the brief time we have together on our fragile planet Earth. To everyone who makes it possible for us to learn about life from death, I give my profound and heartfelt thanks.

And to those interested in such learning, I hope you will join me in enjoying and making the most of this journey of curiosity, love, and reverence for the miracle of being.

Please note: due to chemicals used and stored in cadaver laboratories, we are unable to register students who are pregnant or nursing.

Next offering: TBA. Please let us know of your interest in a distance-learning class.

View full program schedule and register for classes

Practice-Building and Risk Management: Classes & E-books

Grow and maintain a safe, ethical, and sustainable practice with these classes to sharpen your knowledge and skills in risk and practice management. Anthony Von der Muhll, L.Ac. lends his experience with cultivating physician referrals and building a successful, busy practice from scratch in a highly-competitive market (Santa Cruz, California, a small community with a large, old TCM school). Learn ways market successfully without social media, prepaid packages, advertising, or other expensive and high-risk marketing techniques!

Anthony Von der Muhll has also served as an expert witness in over 20 cases of malpractice, regulatory board, and insurance investigations driven by consumer complaints. As one of very few acupuncture expert witnesses nationwide, he offers unique insights as to how to avoid medical malpractice and inadvertent legal and ethical lapses. Learn the easy way so you don't have to learn the hard way!

Required for Certification in Integrative Acupuncture Orthopedics:

Electives: