The Art of Palpatory Diagnosis in Oriental Medicine

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Introduction to Abdominal Palpation
Review: I enjoyed this book tremendously. I believe that you can see Skya's education background in the way the material is presented clearly, with well defined topic areas. It is well designed as a "how to" text.
I found the abdominal clearing section of the book to be the gem. Although there may be a lack of understanding of where the material came from, effectiveness is the measure of truth, and it works. It is also presented clearly enough for most practitioners to understand.
This is not a book for the person who is all ready trained in Japanese methods but is perfect for the TCM practitioner who wants to expand their thinking by using palpation as another diagnostic and treatment modality.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Introduction to Abdominal Palpation
Review: I enjoyed this book tremendously. I believe that you can see Skya's education background in the way the material is presented clearly, with well defined topic areas. It is well designed as a "how to" text.
I found the abdominal clearing section of the book to be the gem. Although there may be a lack of understanding of where the material came from, effectiveness is the measure of truth, and it works. It is also presented clearly enough for most practitioners to understand.
This is not a book for the person who is all ready trained in Japanese methods but is perfect for the TCM practitioner who wants to expand their thinking by using palpation as another diagnostic and treatment modality.

Rating:
Summary: Misrepresentation of 'Japanese Acupuncture'
Review: It is important to understand that there are many different styles of classically oriented acupuncture that have been developed by Japanese masters. While they are all different, they do all share several commonalities, the most important being that they all derive their diagnostic information first and foremost from palpatory information - i.e. information that can be felt through informed touch. In that sense, the title of this book is correct to convey that basic essence of Japanese palpatory styles of acupuncture. But beyond that, this book leaves me very confused.
I have studied 4 distinct palpatory styles of Japanese acupuncture (including styles developed by Manaka, Sawada, Hukaya, Kiiko Matsumoto, Nagano and the Toyohari style). This book does reflect any of those styles accurately. It appears to reflect a very poor and confused interpretation of Kiiko Matsumoto's style.
All students of Japanese styles of acupuncture are always very careful to credit their masters and their lineage. This book does a fundamental disservice to that tradition by not indicating where the authour has derived her information. Much of the material in this book, I have NEVER seen anywhere and I am left to wonder if she developed it all herself.
The publisher should be more careful in the future and ensure that the books it publishes are properly referenced.

Rating:
Summary: Misrepresentation of 'Japanese Acupuncture'
Review: It is important to understand that there are many different styles of classically oriented acupuncture that have been developed by Japanese masters. While they are all different, they do all share several commonalities, the most important being that they all derive their diagnostic information first and foremost from palpatory information - i.e. information that can be felt through informed touch. In that sense, the title of this book is correct to convey that basic essence of Japanese palpatory styles of acupuncture. But beyond that, this book leaves me very confused.
I have studied 4 distinct palpatory styles of Japanese acupuncture (including styles developed by Manaka, Sawada, Hukaya, Kiiko Matsumoto, Nagano and the Toyohari style). This book does reflect any of those styles accurately. It appears to reflect a very poor and confused interpretation of Kiiko Matsumoto's style.
All students of Japanese styles of acupuncture are always very careful to credit their masters and their lineage. This book does a fundamental disservice to that tradition by not indicating where the authour has derived her information. Much of the material in this book, I have NEVER seen anywhere and I am left to wonder if she developed it all herself.
The publisher should be more careful in the future and ensure that the books it publishes are properly referenced.

Rating:
Summary: The art of confussion
Review: The Art of Palpatory Diagnosis in Oriental Medicine by Skya Gardner-Abbate could have been a great idea if the information was true to the title or accurate as a whole. Oriental Medicine is not only Chinese and Japanese acupuncture and moxibustion as emphasized in this book, it includes Korean styles of acupuncture, Thai massage, Vietnamese folk medicine and much more. The author of this book constantly mentions Japanese acupuncture or "Japanese physical exam". Unfortunatly there is no such thing as one Japanese form of acupuncture or a "Japanese physical exam". There are over 150 different styles of Japanese acupuncture thus probably as many examination techniques. It is wrong to have the reader beleive that there is such a thing as "Japanese acupuncture" per se. In the book the reader will find inaccuracies and simply wrong material such as on page 157 the author claims that "the first evaluation within the Japanese physical exam is that of the inner thigh compression." I wonder what the Toyo Hari group of acupuncture have to say about that. Dr. Manaka, Master Kawai, Ito and Fukaya (all prominent Japanese acupuncturists developing their own unique style) certainly do not agree. Also on page 118 the author states that the Nan Ching (a source text for acupuncturists) "characterizes the healthy navel as deep and well shaped..." Unfortunately the Nan Ching does no such thing. There is no reference in the Nan Ching about the healthy shape of the navel. This goes on numerous times, more than I care to mention here. The important issue here is that the author does not check her sources, does not care to be specific about where the information comes from and evidently has never studied or observed acupuncture in Japan. Last but not least this book is written like a text book for a course in college with sections that explain rather simple words (like "stress", "tension", etc.) that every average acupuncturist should know and then gives litle tests that require the reader to repeat what has been written - All in all not professional. Readers please read carefully and with discrimination.