Yes. Chinese Medicine works to balance the body from the root cause of the disease. When therapies are combined often the body heals faster. Most herbal medicines can be taken along with western pharmaceuticals. Please inform us of all prescriptions and supplements you are taking so we may find the safest and most effective route for your treatment.
Most patients say the insertion of the needle is painless. Acupuncture needles are tiny, thin and flexible, about the size of a cat’s whisker. They are solid stainless steel and have a conical shaped tip. They are made to displace tissue unlike hypodermic needles that are made to cut tissue. Once the needles are inserted, some patients may experience a mild tingling or a sensation of fullness, along with an increased sense of relaxation. This is quite normal and suggests that the treatment is working.
Each patient and condition is unique. The treatment plan is customized according to your needs. The length of treatment depends on how long the condition has been present and how quickly the patient responds to treatment. Generally if a condition is more acute, patients respond faster than if the condition has been chronic.
Chinese Medicine theory states Qi, or life energy flows throughout the body. The Qi flows from organ to organ along pathways we call meridians. Symptoms of illness occur when our Qi becomes imbalanced, excessive or deficient. Stimulating acupuncture points with needles, heat, our hands and fingers, frees the flow of Qi and returns it to a more balanced state. The meridians are the pathways of communication between the organs and all the tissues of the body. Modern meridian theory says that the meridians are actually in the fascial connective tissue. Connective tissue is everywhere in the body linking the biggest bones to the tiniest cells.
Dr. James L. Oschman summarizes the current view of connective tissue and meridians as follows:
“The connective tissue and fascia form a mechanical continuum, extending throughout the animal body, even into the “innermost parts of each cell. All the great systems of the body—the circulatory, the nervous system, the musculoskeletal system, the digestive tract, the various organs—are ensheathed in connective tissue. This matrix determines the overall shape of the organism as well as the detailed architecture of its parts. All movements, of the body as a whole, or of its smallest parts, are created by tensions carried through the connective tissue fabric. Each tension, each compression, each movement causes the crystalline lattices of the connective tissues to generate bioelectric signals that are precisely characteristic of those tensions, compressions, and movements. The fabric is a semiconducting communication network that can convey the bioelectric signals between every part of the body and every other part. This communication network within the fascia is none other than the meridian system of traditional Oriental medicine, with its countless extensions into every part of the body. As these signals flow through the tissues, their biomagnetic counterparts extend the stories they tell into the space around the body. The mechanical, bioelectric, and biomagnetic signals traveling through the connective tissue network, and through the space around the body, tell the various cells how to form and reform the tissue architecture in response to the tensions, compressions, and movements we make.”
(Quoted in Hara Diagnosis: Reflections on the Sea by Kiiko Matsumoto and Stephen Birch, p. 164). Excerpt From: Paul Grilley. “Yin Yoga.”
At least an hour prior to your appointment eat a light meal. Avoid stimulates and alcohol. After your treatment allow some time to relax and integrate the full effect of the therapy. Regular treatments as part of your ongoing self-care is the best way to keep the body healthy and full of energy.