Dr. Leon I. Hammer began a study of Chinese medicine in England from 1971-1974 with Dr. J.D. Van Buren. In 1974, he began following a Chinese master, Dr. John H. F. Shen, in New York City weekly for eight years, emphasizing what is now referred to as Shen-Hammer Contemporary Chinese Pulse Diagnosis. In 1981, he spent four months studying TCM in Beijing, China. In 2001, he helped found Dragon Rises College of Oriental Medicine (DRCOM) and recently also the COM Foundation, which owns DRCOM and promotes his contribution to the medicine called COM (Contemporary Oriental Medicine). He is also an author of eight books and over 40 articles on the subject of Chinese medicine. Learn more about his work and background at http://comfoundation.org/leonhammermd.html.
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) affects more than 15% of the U.S. population but evades most practitioners’ radar. Just five years ago, it wasn’t even on my radar, despite already having 20 years of experience as a clinician at that time. The more I dug (similar to leaky gut and post-COVID syndrome), the more I found my patients were suffering from this disorder.
Research supports the effectiveness of selecting the distal acupuncture points for the treatment of microtrauma and for relieving pain, particularly in cases of chronic shoulder pain. But to make the treatment results long-lasting, clinical experience and research suggest that instead of treating the most painful structure first, we identify the inhibited driver, restore reliable recruitment, confirm it with immediate re-testing, and only then address the painful area as a branch of a deeper pattern.
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The motivation behind our practice of medicine is important, impacting not just our experience but also the experiences of those we treat. It is perhaps for this reason that the aspiration to help not just some, but all beings heal, has historically been an important part of the medical tradition. To explain this, we need to consider how medicine is interwoven with other social domains.