Martin Bailey worked as a Radiographer in the NHS for 15 years before training as an acupuncturist at The College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in Reading, one of the foremost traditional acupuncture colleges in Britain. Three years training, involving some 1500 hours academic and clinical experience, was required to attain the Licentiate in Acupuncture (LicAc) and the membership of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC).
Many people are not aware that there is more than one form of acupuncture. In Britain two main styles of traditional acupuncture are practiced: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Five Element acupuncture. Martin’s training integrated both of these to produce a more diverse and flexible approach to treatment.
Acupuncture is a system of healing which has been practiced and refined in China and other eastern countries for thousands of years. According to traditional Chinese philosophy, our health is dependant on the correct balance of energies and substances within and without the body. It is the job of the Acupuncturist to modify the internal energies and substances by way of needles inserted at specific influential points on the body. Many people struggle with the concept of Chinese medicine and the unusual terminology, Qi, Yin and Yang for example, but it does provide a diagnostic framework, which in turn leads to the correct selection of acupuncture points and ultimately treatments that work.
