Helpful hint 8: Learning to observe change in our patients

Detecting change in a patient as a result of treatment is one of the skills a five element practitioner has to learn.  These changes can be obvious both to the patient and the practitioner, but some are more subtle, and are perceptible perhaps only to the practitioner.  

 

I often gauge whether treatment has led to any changes in my patient by the way I feel about them.  They feel different to me, in a way which is often difficult to pin down ,but is quite clear to me.  I see this as proof that treatment is working.  It is when there is no change at all that I start becoming concerned that I am not directing treatment at the right element.

 

Sometimes we are fortunate, and a patient experiences some clear improvement after just a few treatments.  In other cases, changes can take longer.  Practitioners get better and better at detecting even tiny changes as they become more experienced.  Changes that we should be looking out for are slight improvements, such as a patient talking loess about something which used to obsess them, or holding a practitioner’s hands more firmly as pulses are being taken.

 

Any change is to be welcomes as a sign that the patient’s elements are responding to the treatment being offered.