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an acupuncture doll displaying acupuncture channels with acupuncture needles on acupuncture points
How Does It Work?

Traditional Chinese Medicine considers a healthy body to be in a perfect state of balance. Many factors, from environmental to trauma, stress, genetic predisposition, and lifestyle choice can affect that balance and either create stagnations and blockages (excess) or fail to receive the proper nutrition or energy for a specific function (deficiency). Acupuncture talks to body via the needles to send messages about how and where the energy needs to be adjusted to restore balance and health. In recent decades, the West has been synthesizing acupuncture theory with Western Medicine, and we are beginning to see through our own lens how acupuncture points are rich in mast cells for immunity and pain response, communicate through the nervous system's glial cells to inhibit pain, work with the brain's hypothalamus-pituitary-amygdala to regulate the body's descending pain control system (which also affects cognition and emotional state), and direct electrical signals to affect how certain body chemicals interact, such as: endorphins, serotonin, GABA, and norepinepherine.

How Should I Prepare?

Make sure you've had something to eat before your appointment, and wear comfortable clothing that can easily be pushed up past your elbows or knees. Often, you won't have to remove any clothing for an acupuncture treatment as long as it can be moved around.

Acupuncture

What Is It?

Acupuncture is a manual therapy dating back to at least 1000 BCE in China and was first documented in the Huang Di Nei Jing, or, The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, around 100 BCE. It involves inserting thin, single use sterile needles at different depths into specific points of heightened electrical sensitivity along related energetic lines, or channels, which run throughout the body.

One emerging theory is that the acupuncture points and channels develop out of the three primary cell layers in the human embryo: the endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. As these layers unfold and grow to become all the structures of the human body, the energetic pathways which create and sustain them take their place as the acupuncture points and channels. These points and channels are conduits for the body's Qi, which is not only seen as the motive force driving all of the body's life processes, but also is seen as the force out of which all existence is created, from the very light (spirit) to the very dense (matter), it's all Qi! 

What Does a Typical Treatment Look Like?

Your treatment begins by sitting down with me and answering a brief panel of questions covering everything from health history to energy level, pain, emotional state, sleep, body temperature and temperature preferences, diet and elimination, and menstrual cycle to name a few. This creates a "snapshot" of your body's state of balance and will uncover any patterns of imbalance which are at the core of TCM's diagnostic and treatment principles. I'll also feel your wrist pulses and look at your tongue for additional information.

 

You'll then lie on a treatment table, covered by a sheet and blanket and supported by pillows, either on your back or stomach. I may first use a complementary modality like massage or cupping to get you ready for the needles or to enhance the overall treatment. You generally won't feel the needles being inserted except for the split second when they break the skin surface. Once in, you may feel sensations around the needles such as heaviness, tingling, or a dull ache. This is a sign that the point has been stimulated and Qi is arriving in the area to do its work. Needles are generally retained for about 20 minutes. During this time, the room wil be dim, the music will be soft, the table will be cozy, and you may feel yourself drifting into a very relaxed, semi-conscious state.

What Conditions Can Acupuncture Treat?

Often, acupuncture is viewed as either pain-reducing in musculo-skeletal conditions, or relaxation-promoting, but can do so much more! Don't just take my word for it. Following is a list from a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) of symptoms, conditions, and diseases that have been shown in controlled trials to be effectively treated by acupuncture:

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Cardiovascular Disorders                                                                          

·        Essential hypertension

Neurological Disorders

·        Headache and migraine

·        Trigeminal neuralgia

·        Facial palsy (early stage, within three to six months)

·        Paresis following stroke

·        Peripheral neuropathies

·        Meniere’s Disease

·        Nocturnal enuresis

·        Cervicobrachial syndrome

·        Neurogenic bladder dysfunction

·        Intercostal neuralgia

·        Disc problems

Musculo-skeletal Disorders

·        Muscle pain, swelling, stiffness, and weakness

·        Localized traumatic injuries, sprains, strains, tendonitis, contractures

·        Arthritis

·        Fibromyalgia

·        Work and sports-related injuries

·        Low back pain

·        Osteoarthritis

·        “Frozen shoulder”, “tennis elbow”

·        Sciatica

Respiratory System Disorders

·        Acute sinusitis

·        Acute rhinitis

·        Common cold

·        Acute tonsillitis

·        Acute bronchitis

·        Bronchial asthma
 

Disorders of the Eye, Ear, Nose & Mouth

·        Acute conjunctivitis

·        Central retinitis

·        Myopia (in children)

·        Cataract (without complications)

·        Toothaches, post-extraction pain

·        Gingivitis

·        Acute and chronic pharyngitis

Gastrointestinal Disorders

·        Spasms of esophagus and cardia

·        Irritable bowel and colitis

·        Hiccough

·        Gastroptosis

·        Acute and chronic gastritis

·        Gastric hyperacidity

·        Chronic duodenal ulcer (pain relief)

·        Acute duodenal ulcer (without complication)

·        Acute and chronic colitis

·        Constipation

·        Diarrhea

·        Acute bacillary dysentery

·        Paralytic ileus

Gynecological Disorders

·        PMS

·        Dysmenorrhea

·        Menopause syndrome

·        Benign irregular menstruation

·        Benign amenorrhea

Psychological Disorders

·        Depression

·        Anxiety

·        OCD

·        PTSD

·        Somatization disorder

·        Hypersomnia

·        Insomnia

Other Disorders

·        Withdrawal from street and pharmacological drugs

·        Appetite suppression

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