If you're like me, spending hours on end parked in front of a screen, you might be all too familiar with that nagging back pain. It's no secret that sitting for prolonged periods can wreak havoc on your back, but have you ever wondered why? The Impact of Sitting on the Back Understanding the Mechanics When I'm working with patients who complain of back pain, I often find that they can't pinpoint a single injury or event that caused their discomfort. Instead, their symptoms creep up on them, often after long periods of inactivity like a cross-continental flight or hours hunched over their lapt ..read more

In my practice, nearly all my patients come in with a pre-existing Western Medical diagnosis of a imbalanced/pathological state, such as GERD (acid reflux) or insomnia. I always take this information in, as it’s useful, and as an American who culturally grew up in the western medical system, I can understand quickly what the patient is trying to convey to me about how they feel and why they are there.  However, I then generally proceed with what I fondly call my “TCM Interrogation”, where I will ask all sorts of questions that may or may not seem to be related to their chief complaint. F ..read more

From my perspective, one of the biggest barriers between the general public and widespread acceptance of Oriental Medicine practice is language. There is a language to this healing tradition that sound not only foreign, but downright scary to a western ear. Liver Qi Stagnation? Erupting Blood Toxins? Yin Deficiency? All of these sound like the patient may have serious cause for alarm and should be headed to the ER, not the acupuncturist’s clinic.  Now what if I said “Stress and Anxiety”, Rashes, and normal perimenopausal estrogen loss?  Is this better?  In many cases these ..read more

In this article, I want to talk about how acupuncture and associated Oriental Medicine modalities can help with shoulder pain.  In the first part, I will share my journey with shoulders and acupuncture, as this is the body part that got me interested in acupuncture to start with! In the second part, I will discuss the most common conditions I have seen in the clinic and what some modern research is finding about acupuncture as a treatment for common shoulder conditions.  The shoulder pain I most commonly treat in the clinic comes in mostly three forms: soft tissue tears (rotator cuf ..read more

Acupuncture for Anxiety Anxiety is a mental health condition that affects millions of people in the United States. While there are many treatments available, some people are turning to acupuncture as a way to manage their anxiety. Acupuncture has been used for centuries to treat a variety of conditions, and research shows that it may be an effective treatment for anxiety. If you're interested in trying acupuncture for anxiety, be sure to talk to your doctor to see if it's right for you. What is anxiety disorder and what are the symptoms? Anxiety disorder is a mental health condition that is ch ..read more

Acupuncture for Insomnia and Better Sleep Insomnia is a common problem that affects millions of people. While there are many pharmaceutical solutions available, they often come with unwanted side effects. Acupuncture is a natural treatment that can be very effective in treating insomnia and other sleep disorders. When used correctly, acupuncture can help to regulate the body's natural sleep-wake cycle. It is also thought to be helpful in reducing stress and anxiety levels, which are often major contributors to poor sleep. There's no need to suffer from insomnia any longer. Try acupuncture toda ..read more

Acupuncture for Back Pain Over 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain. Nearly one-third of American adults experience chronic pain, and almost one in five surveyed Europeans indicated they have moderate or severe chronic pain. According to the participant in a study, the three most common sources of chronic pain are low back pain (29%), neck pain (16%), and severe headache or migraine pain (15%). (Citations at end of article) Chronic pain is a key driver in the current opioid crisis. Pain medications can initiate a vicious cycle, because while they suppress pain signaling rece ..read more

What is the meridian system? Does it really exist? There have been a great many efforts by modern scientists to “find” the TCM meridian system using modern diagnostic tools such as MRI. None of these has been able to point to a single system, such as the nervous system, or circulatory system, which has led many skeptics to shout “Aha! Its all a hoax! Millions of people over thousands of years were simply affected by the placebo effect!” However, this placebo theory falls apart when examining how acupuncture has been effectively used on animals, who have no preconceptions. Furthermore, as my fi ..read more

What happens during an acupuncture treatment? During an initial acupuncture session, I conduct a very detailed intake on each patient. Some of the questions will be rather ordinary, but others may seems unusual, or unrelated to the patient’s condition. However, the TCM interview is designed to evaluate the patient from a very broad perspective that can provide clues for why a condition either developed or is stubbornly continuing despite seeing other more conventional doctors. In TCM we firmly believe that people are whole individuals, not just a conglomeration of parts. My experience has show ..read more

In my last post, I started exploring the general question of “how you define health”— and then used a metaphor of an internal traffic system in the body. We all know what traffic looks like when the roads and traffic management systems are in good repair. I likened disease and trauma in the body as akin to breakdowns in traffic systems- and like traffic, sometimes issues are caused by big wrecks, and sometimes because of normal wear and tear on the system. So where am I going with this and what does it have to do with Chinese medicine? Undoubtedly, one of the greatest unparalleled strengths ..read more