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From patient to practitioner to educator. One physiotherapist’s career path with acupuncture.

BY RONDA KELLINGTON

Linda Dyer-Macdonald is a teacher at Acupuncture Canada, as well as a registered physiotherapist.  She owns and operates her own clinic, Sport-Medic Physiotherapy, in Orangeville, Ontario.  She graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Science.

Acupuncture became central to her practice years ago, after her introduction to it as a patient.  In 1997 she joined the faculty of Acupuncture Canada.  A few years ago she led development of our Acupuncture Refresher Course.  Linda’s journey shows the difference acupuncture can make in a career.

Patient

She describes her introduction to acupuncture:

I got interested in acupuncture many years ago when I had a cervical nerve root irritation, which was severely restricting my life.  I had constant pain and numbness in my left arm and I had the symptoms for nine months.  I was swimming a lot at the time, working full-time, and had 3-year-old twins.  After seeking multiple treatment techniques, I tried acupuncture (I was one of those who hate needles), and two treatments later my symptoms were almost totally resolved.  I was sold and realized what a good technique this would be for me to incorporate in my daily treatment workbox. 

Linda is both a teacher and practitioner.  As a teacher, Linda loves the fact that students are so engaged in the acupuncture training and looking to learn as much information as they possibly can.  She’s happy for students to constantly ask questions and pick her brain.

Practitioner

As a practitioner, she uses acupuncture constantly, recommending it to almost every patient who comes into Sport-Medic Physiotherapy. Most of the issues she encounters are pain and inflammation-related.  There are also some who have motor deficiencies/neurological problems and complicated pain syndromes such as trigeminal neuralgia.  Linda also uses scalp acupuncture to treat complex diseases such as MS, stroke and Parkinson’s.

Educator

Her experience with acupuncture in private practice helped her in the development of our Acupuncture Refresher Course.  Linda chose commonly seen conditions as the basis for a one-day, hands-on training course for practitioners who don’t use acupuncture very often and want a refresher, or for those looking for new combinations of points to treat conditions like:

  • supraspinatus tendonitis
  • tennis elbow
  • subacute whiplash
  • low lumbar and sacroiliac strain
  • knee osteoarthritis.

Linda ensures the course discusses the neuro-anatomical rationale for using specific points while also including TCM pearls for some of the conditions and why they are effective for treatment.

Her journey shows the remarkable value of acupuncture to a healthcare professional, and the positive impact it can have on a practice and the patients you care for.

Linda Dyer-Macdonald, BScPT, CAFCI, will be teaching The Acupuncture Refresher Course in Vancouver on November 3, 2018.  Meet her there or at the upcoming Clinical Applications in Anatomical Acupuncture (AA2) course in Toronto, in January 2019.

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