Labs are distinctive features of AOM Professional's Certification program, designed to support development and retention of skills through hands-on, guided practice of physical exam and treatment. Review, apply, practice, reinforce, and expand upon areas of particular difficulty from the Spine and Extremities modules. Treatment and discussion of challenging cases in a grand rounds setting demonstrates integration of the material into practical clinical flow.
*** Note: Labs are open only to students who have completed the prior associated didactic module. ***
Labs include hands-on supervised practice of:
- Orthopedic exam techniques and functional capacity evaluation
- Range-of-motion: active, passive, and joint-play/end-feel testing
- Muscle strength and length testing
- Orthopedic and neurologic special tests
- Treatment of specific tissues, injuries and conditions, with
- Myofascial trigger point acupuncture
- Joint stabilization and mobilization ("prolo-") acupuncture
- Electroacupuncture
- Neural prolo-acupuncture
- 7-star, lancet, and 3-edged needling
- Distant acupuncture
- Myofascial gua sha
- Tui na and other manual therapies
- Advanced cupping methods for orthopedic conditions
- Exercise therapy, postural and ergonomics re-training
- Taping techniques
Actual curriculum varies by body region, and by student requests for assistance with areas of particular technical difficulty.
Required for Certification in Acupuncture Orthopedics:
- Head, Neck, Thorax: Review and Practicum Lab (8 hours)
- Shoulder, Arm, Hand: Review and Practicum Lab (8 hours)
- Low Back. Core and Pelvic Girdle: Review and Practicum Lab (8 hours)
- Hip, Thigh, Knee: Review and Practicum Lab (8 hours)
- Calf, Ankle, Foot: Review and Practicum Lab (8 hours)
Please note that for Certification in Acupuncture Orthopedics, each lab must be taken once following completion of the associated didactic Spine and Extremities module when taken as an in-person class, and twice if the didactic module was taken as a webinar or distance-learning class. Discount codes will be supplied at the end of Spine and Extremities webinars or distance-learning classes to reduce the price of the repeated lab so that (combined with the webinar or distance class) the total cost is equal to taking the didactic module in-person.
