
On November 27, 2016 Bastyr Sports Medicine Club and the Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Bastyr Sports Medicine Club provided complimentary naturopathic physical medicine and acupuncture to the athletes at the 2016 Seattle Marathon. This was BSMC’s 11th appearance at the Seattle Marathon, and students provided physical medicine modalities such as soft tissue massage, muscle energy stretching, kinesio taping, and naturopathic manipulation.
This event exemplified a true integrative model between two different medicines, allowing many patients to receive both naturopathic medicine and acupuncture. Separate from the sports medicine clubs there were many other health care practitioners volunteering such as the University of Washington Medicine, Washington Sports Massage Team, and Washington State Chiropractic Association. The Seattle Center became a center of multidisciplinary medical approaches, providing students the opportunity to network and work amongst a diverse group of healthcare practitioners. Dr. Yang ND, LAc, one of the acupuncture supervisors, states “coming back and witnessing the enthusiasm exuded by both ND and AOM students made me proud to be part of this amazing learning experience. This event illustrates a true integration of Naturopathic, East Asian and Western Medicine in assessing, triaging, and treating patients. It’s also a prime venue to introduce our medicine to the masses.” This event is a great opportunity for students to learn and gain valuable clinical experience.
Naturopathic medical students worked together in teams consisting of primary and secondary student clinicians to assess and treat a variety of different cases. Primary clinicians are students in their third or fourth year of naturopathic medical school who have received more advanced training in clinical assessment and treatment. These student clinicians are not only responsible for patient assessment, but also teaching and mentoring the secondary student clinicians. In fact, many secondary clinicians were encouraged to perform muscle energy stretching and soft tissue massage on patients with assistance from primary student clinicians. Megan Roark, a second-year naturopathic medical students, states “returning as a second-year student was great! I was able to participate more, but I was also able to obtain new skills from the primaries while observing under them.”
The Bastyr Sports Medicine Club would like to thank our sponsors Masa Integrative Clinic, Kinesio Taping Association International, and Bastyr University. We would also like to thank our clinical supervisors Dr. Masahiro Takakura ND, LAc, Dr. Calvin Kwan ND, Dr. Tom Yang ND, LAc, and Dr. Grace Chang ND, LAc for without them this event would not be possible. Lastly, BSMC would like to thank student volunteers for giving their commitment and enthusiasm to learning and working together as a team in providing comprehensive medical services.
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