Welcome to Better Health!
Needles Moxabustion Herbs TuiNa Cupping Injections
Just as there is a predicatble network of blood and lymph in the body that can be studied in anatomy class, there is a reliable pattern which Conscious Energy, refered to as qi (pronounced chee), travels along at the surface of the body. We call the superhighways of this network - channels. Each major channel connects to deeper structures in the body including organs. Knowing what channels connect to which tissues and organs, determines which channel we will treat, when we need to address pathology of tissues & organs. Knowing the effects that will come about from stimulating particular points on the channels helps us select which points to stimulate.​​
Balance can be coaxed into being, by noting where there is less energy and more energy in the channels, then routing the excess to the deficiency. In some cases there is a pathological excess, in which case we may choose to guide that excess out of the body instead of trying to rehabilitate it back into circulation.
But toxic substances and novel molecules, the body doesn't know how to handle, such as those created in R&D labs, are prevalent in our food, water, drinks, toiletries, household products, and of course pharmaceutical interventions. While the human body does come equiped with effective detoxification pathways built in, everyday, year after year, we pile more and more toxicity in, overwhelming the body's ability to nutralize and eliminate. The overload of accumulated toxins is behind most health problems modern humans experience. ​​
Detoxification
aka lifestyle modification
This is why natural health practitioners of all kinds emphasize internal cleanses and lifestyle modification. An overload of toxins prevents the body from carrying out its normal functions, limiting any interventions by health care providers to just being temporary relief of symptoms, not actual healing. Your wonderful body has the ability to heal from anything but it has to have its functionality restored first. Changes you make in your daily routine and what you stock in your household, are the key to removing the toxic blockages because you cannot clear an accumulation by continuing to add to the pile up. We will work on this together.
Acupuncture
Needles &/or Laser
Acupuncture needles are ever so thin, solid, and made of stainless surgical steel. The material interacts with and conducts the qi of your body; the size is delicate so as to make contact with the energy but not damage tissues. A pinch or stinging sensation may be felt at the surface of the skin upon first contact but is usually not felt after that. The practitioner angles the needle, controls depth and may maniplulate the needle a certain way, all to get a particular effect, or to impart a certain instruction or request to the body consciousness.
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​Sometimes we might layer in laser light with a needle treatment, or only use laser light on particular patients or particular treatment sessions. Lasers manufactured for the express purpose of stimulating qi are acceptable in the field of Acupuncture. The Clinic has acu-laser pens within the color range spectrums of Red, Green, & Blue. The pens are carefully calibrated to precise frequencies shown to ellicit better results than other frequencies within the same color spectrums. Each of these colors, Red, Green, & Blue, is shown to give a different result and/or penetrate to a different level. The energies of the lasers used in acupuncture are gentle yet require only a few seconds at each point.
Moxabustion
In Chinese herbalism there are hundreds upon hundreds of herbal substances known to have benefits when used correctly, but for moxibustion only one herb is used - mugwort. The fluffy fibers of the mugwort leaf are collected excluding stems and veins. We take the highest quality leaf fibers, roll them into tiny cones and skillfully burn the prescribed number on the points we have selected for treatment. While needles are excellent for directing and instructing the qi, moxa is fantastic for energizing and nutrifying the blood. From the O. M. perscpective, many root causes of ill health are problems residing in the blood. Our practice which may differ from other Acupuncture clinics uses moxabustion often.
Chinese Herbal Medicine
Formulas Tablets & Decoctions
Chinese Herbalism can be used as a stand alone profession to meet most patientt health needs if studied and applied diligently. Do not underestimate the power of a correct diagnosis paired with an appropriate formula. By herbal formula I mean a recipe of herbs prescribed again and again over hundreds of years, with many practitioners over the ages engaging in rigorous discourse over the perfect blend and outlining what the synergisms are that make certain combinations of herbs outstanding treatments for certain illnesses. I find herbs + acupuncture to be extremely effective at helping patients achieve health goals.
Tui Na
Chinese Medical Bodywork
Tui Na (pronounced twee naw) is an ancient Chinese form of bodywork. It is pushing and pulling strategically to relax the nervous system, move excess energy in the head, shoulders, and neck to the rest of the body, and release blocks to recieving treatment. Often, if time permits in your acupuncture session, Tui Na can be done in a general maner, for a few minutes, to prepare the body to accept and respond to the requests made from the acupuncture needles to elicit different behavior and a different response from what the body has been doing.
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Tui Na may be requested as a stand alone treatment. Another alternative method to work Tui Na in to an appointment, is for the majority of the treatment to be spent receiving Tui Na, ending with moxa and needling on just one or two acupuncture points.
Fire Cupping, Pump Cupping,
& Gua Sha
Cupping and guasha can be used to release something just at the surface level of the skin like being on the cusp of catching a cold or it can be used to treat musculoskeletal pain.
Gua sha is a technique of steady controlled preasure applied uni-directionally along an area of congestion with a flat blunt object to release the trapped congestion up to the most superficial layer of skin where it will slowly fade away. This is not bruising - which is tissue damage. This is a detoxification process. What has come to the surface needed to come to the surface.
Cupping employs suction and therefore can uniquely lift tissues up. This removes impaction and knots. It allows lymph, stagnating blood, and most importantly toxins to rush into the area to slowly be released over the next few days. Important to keep gua sha and cupped areas covered for a day or two, avoiding exposure to wind, drafts, AC blasts, and cold as the body is open and releasing.
Injection Therapy of
Homeopathic Solutions
Injection Therapy, in the scope of O. M., allows for intramuscular, intradermal, & subcutaneous injection of purified homeopathic substances manufactured under strict quality control, especially for injection. Hyperdermic needles are used for this. The Clinic uses the thinnest guage hyperdermic needles that will properly penetrate the tissues involved and to reach the desired depth and angle without bending. It is found to be especially effective when an acupuncturist uses expert knowledge of the channels and acupuncture points to decide where to deliver these special healing substances. Homeopathy is the real "safe & effective" substance to inject into tissues. We never inject into the blood stream.
