Pathways Of Blood, Meridians Of Energy

Just as there are pathways of blood in the body (please refer to the picture on the left), there are also pathways of energy (please see the picture on the right). Just as you could potentially bleed from any point pricked on the body, there are also many energy points all over the body. And just like what happens when you prick someplace to bleed, some places bleeding more than others, there are points on body that have more available energy than others. The points with more available energy are called acupuncture points and the lines upon which they are located are called meridians.

Need proof? Visit the office and we’ll show you where your energy flows with our handy qi (pronounced chee) measuring machine.

See you soon!

Ginseng Oolong

Ginseng Oolong, a photo by chadao on Flickr.

Many patients are surprised by the answer to their question: What does acupuncture treat? You might be surprised too. Here’s just a short, incomplete list of things that herbal medicine and acupuncture address:

abdominal pain
acne
allergies
alopecia
Alzheimer’s
amenorrhea
angina
ankle pain
anxiety
arthritis
asthma

back pain
BPH
bronchitis
bursitis

cancer
candidiasis
canker sores
carpal tunnel syndrome
cataracts

cholesterol-high

chronic fatigue syndrome
common cold
conjunctivitis
constipation
cough
Crohn’s disease

depression
diabetes
diarrhea
dysmenorrhea

ear infection
early menstrual cycle
eczema
edema
endometriosis
eye pain

fever
fibroids
fibromyalgia
flu
focus
fungal infections

gastric pain
glaucoma
GERD
goiter
gout

hair loss
headache
hearing loss
heart disease
hemorrhoids
herpes
hiccup
hip pain
hypertension
hyper/hypothyroidism
hypochondriac pain
hypomenorrhea

immune deficiencies
impotence
incontinence
indigestion
infantile cough
infantile diarrhea
infertility
insomnia
irritability
IBS
itching
insufficient lactation
irregular/late/early/ lack of menstruation

jaundice

knee pain

leg pain
leukorrhea
low libido

mastitis
memory issues
menopausal imbalances
morning sickness
multiple sclerosis
muscle tension

neck pain (any musculoskeletal pain)
nosebleed

obesity

pain
palpitations
Parkinson’s disease
PCOS
PID
PMS

rhinitis/sinusitis

sciatica
shoulder pain
smoking addiction
sore throat
stress
stroke

tendonitis
tinnitus
TMJ
toothache

UC
upper respiratory tract infection
UTI
urticaria

varicose veins
vertigo

warts
women’s and men’s health issues

 

Have a question about a condition you don’t see listed? Call the office-

Unlocking The Door To Better Health: What Your Acupuncturist Is Doing During Your Visit

alwaysbecurious EXPLORED! a photo by Conor Keller | fortysixtyphoto.com on Flickr.

When you go to a health-care provider you are playing a role, that of the patient/client/customer who is purchasing a product, namely, health care. There are certain expectations surrounding that role. You are asked to tell the “story” of your chief concern (i.e. the who, what, where, why, when and how of what is “wrong” with you), to participate in the treatment process aimed at facilitating a change of the “wrong” thing, and to listen (at least), if not hopefully execute the recommendations of that health-care provider to also facilitate change of the condition to ideally bring about a positive improvement in your health. It is important, if not crucial, for the patient to actively participate in the process of the goal of improving his or her health. It is also 100% necessary for the acupuncturist (or any health-care provider) to also play his or her role well.

The acupuncturist’s role is similar to any other health-care provider. We listen carefully when you tell us your story. The acupuncturist may be listening to the quality of your voice as you explain your chief concern but regardless, while you tell your story, he or she is taking the information you provide and making sense of it using Chinese medicine as a framework. Although at times there can be similarities to how other health-care modalities make sense of your health, for the most part, how Chinese medicine makes sense of you is different from all other types of health-care. Chinese medicine has its own vocabulary, its own way of making sense of your experience, its own tools of treatment and recommendations of “homework”. Like other health-care practitioners, we decide a treatment plan based upon what you tell us and the information collected objectively. That decision is made, in part, by what we “read” in your tongue and Chinese pulses. These are two of the things that are mainly unique to Chinese medicine. We also, like other practitioners, carry out the treatment process once we make a decision. Afterwards, we want to know how you are; did you experience change? We rely on what you have to report,  how you appear outwardly and changes in your tongue and pulses to gauge that change. Based upon your feedback and what we “read” about you, we make recommendations about continued care.

It’s said that a poor acupuncturist treats only signs and symptoms. A good acupuncturist treats the reason for those signs and symptoms but a great acupuncturist helps to remove any obstacles that keep an individual from best manifesting their destiny.

Whatever your health-care goals, please consider acupuncture, it always gets to the point!

Acupuncture In A Nutshell…..

Acupuncture Collage – Macro HDR

Originally uploaded by kodiax2

If you’ve never seen what it looks like when you get needled…..this is it!

The Wall Street Journal Article

Thank you to everyone calling and visiting the practice to let me know about the recent article in the Wall Street Journal about acupuncture.  For anyone who hasn’t seen it and is interested, here is the link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704841304575137872667749264.html

Medical Culture Musings

Today I was musing about the differences  between the current mainstream medical culture here in the States and how different things have been in the past.  Did you know that historically in China acupuncturists were paid a retainer while a patient stayed healthy but as soon as a patient became sick, the acupuncturist received no payment until the patient became healthy again?  Can you imagine what today’s healthcare industry would be like if the same rule was applied? What would it be like if the emphasis was on maintaining good health rather than waiting until a problem showed up to do damage control? There are some statistics which show that more money is spent on heroic medical measures in the last three days of a person’s life than all the money spent on health during the person’s life. Health isn’t only about spending money, but when needed, wouldn’t it be great to lower the balloon payment at the end of life and use some of that money during life?

Hello world!

Hello To Everyone!

At the request of numerous patients, colleagues and friends I’ve been convinced to start a blog. The more I thought about it, the more it appealed to me. I hope to be able to use it as a great tool for the practice but also to help advance the place of Traditional Chinese Medicine in American medical culture.  Thanks for reading!

Today, the most interesting tid bit I thought I would share is a website I’ve included in the blogroll section: www.NutritionData.com. It is chock full of great tools to help you make better nutritional decisions. Couple the abilities of this website with the Chinese concept that food can be medicine and medicine can be food and you are one step closer to having or maintaining better health.