ACU-054 Welcome to this episode of the AcuSprout podcast where we explore case studies with expert acupuncturists to learn more about the application of acupuncture in clinical practice. In this episode, we have Toby Daly, a licensed acupuncturist and expert in Saam acupuncture, to discuss his approach to treating inflammatory bowel disease using this modality.

DR. TOBY DALY, PHD., LAC.

Toby recieved his undergraduate degree in Food Science from the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. He began studying Chinese medicine in 1997 with Sunim Doam, a Korean monk trained in the Sa'am tradition. He earned his masters degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2002 upon completion of training at the American College of TraditionalChinese Medicine in San Francisco and Chengdu University in China.

During his four years of training in San Francisco, he interned with the prominent acupuncturist Dr. Angela Wu and learned to apply the lofty theories he was studying in school into the pragmatic setting of a busy clinic.

In 2013, he developed the Chinese Nutritional Strategies app to provide digital access to the wealth of Chinese dietary wisdom. In 2016, he completed a PhD in Classical Chinese Medicine under the guidance of 88th generation Daoist priest Jeffery Yuen. In 2021, he developed the Chinese Medical Characters app to enable direct access to foundational Chinese medical terms and concepts. In 2023 he published his first book, An Introduction to Chinese Medicine: A Patient’s Guide to Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Nutrition & More.

He lectures internationally, sharing his 25 years of clinical experience with the Saam tradition.

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• Toby’s introduction to Sa’am while traveling in India and perchance meeting a Korean wandering monk beats any “entry to the medicine” story I have ever heard!
• We talk a bit about the wandering monks and what their lifestyle looks like.
• Toby presents an acupuncture case study where the patient has severe Irritable Bowel Disease that was unresponsive to western pharmaceutical medications.
• We journey thru this case thru the lens of Sa’am acupuncture which is based on yin/yang, five phases and six confirmations.
• Lastly, Toby discusses his 4 needle selections with a brief description of why he chose them.
• Then we follow up with how the treatment plan went and how his patient is doing now.

• Toby’s new book, An Introduction to Chinese Medicine: A Patient’s Guide to Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Nutrition & More
• Toby has a Chinese medical nutrition app that I used extensively when I was in school. His latest app is Chinese Medical Characters. Check them out here.
• Want to learn more about the DAOM at ACCHS? Contact Phil Settels here, and be sure to put DAOM/AcuSprout in the header.
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