Acupuncture
What is Acupuncture ?
Every culture has had their own healing methodology:
Western biomedicine has its roots in greek humoral theory while Chinese medicine is rooted in ancient concepts of yin, yang, qi, and blood.
Acupuncture is the ancient practice of using needles to bring back balance to the body’s own stores of yin, yang, qi, and blood.
Acupuncture needles are inserted into specific points along primary channels or meridians that form a pathway and connect through the various layers of tissues to particular organs.
From a western perspective, the meridian pathways can be thought of as working as dermatomes in biomedicine.
The needles being inserted into specific points along the pathways allows the practitioner to manipulate the yin, yang, qi, and blood of the patient to remove blockages tonify constitutional deficiencies, and/or drain excesses to help bring them back to balance, thus utilizing the patient’s own inner body wisdom to restore the patient’s health.
What Are the Benefits of Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a gentle treatment that allows one to relax while resting on the table for the treatment.
Acupuncture helps restore the natural balance of one’s body and helps heal the body in ways that biomedicine is often ineffective.
For example: say a patient has been having a lot of stress that has resulted in back pain.
If that patient were to seek western medical treatment, they may be taken to an MRI, and told that there isn’t any visible reason for the back pain. Offered an NSAID like ibuprofen and was sent home without the underlying condition being addressed at all.
Now if that same patient sought acupuncture, their acupuncturist would identify and treat the underlying constitutional imbalance that led to the back pain while also treating the stress response in the body. Thus helping bring the patient back to better health on their own without the addition of pharmaceuticals.
What Conditions is Acupuncture Good For?
Acupuncture can treat pretty much any condition which is part of what makes it such an excellent and versatile treatment modality.
With that said, here are some common conditions that we treat here at Felek acupuncture:
Digestive issues, depression, stress, anxiety, women's health, fertility, prenatal and postpartum care, headaches, acute/chronic illnesses, autoimmune disorders, pain conditions, and much more!
How Is Acupuncture Treatment Performed?
While the method of acupuncture treatment administration varies by the style of acupuncture being utilized, the most basic explanation is that very thin, single-use, stainless steel needles are inserted into the flesh at specific points.
Once all of the required needles are inserted, the patient is left to rest while the qi is allowed to circulate, lasting about 45 minutes.
Are There Any Side Effects of Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is generally speaking very gentle and results in almost no negative side effects. A patient may experience some residual tenderness or mild bruising where the needle was inserted. Omit, the cumulative “side effect” of acupuncture is an increased sense of well being and good health.
What are the types of Acupuncture you apply?
1.Kiiko Matsumoto Style (KMS) Acupuncture
Kiiko Matsumoto Style (KMS) acupuncture is a Japanese acupuncture method that utilizes a systematic, easy to learn, palpatory method that is designed to provide instant feedback for the practitioner.
When using this system, the palpation sequence followed both establishes a diagnosis and suggests several treatment options that might be effective for treating a particular patient.
KMS addresses the patient’s health issues from several levels. KMS offers a more holistic approach to treating a patient’s chief complaint that allows for a deeper look into the structural and/or constitutional imbalances which often underlie a patient’s symptomatic complaints.
The practitioner is able to assist in more complete and lasting healing through utilizing this palpatory technique as it helps treat the symptoms as well as the root issue.
2. Master Tung’s Acupuncture
Known for its simplicity, ease of use, and exceptional clinical efficacy, Master Tung’s Acupuncture was originally passed down exclusively within the Tung family until Master Tung Ching-Chang broke this tradition and accepted his first disciple outside the family in 1962.
Since then, Master Tung's system has gained a tremendous amount of momentum and popularity due to its incredible clinical results. Master Tung’s Points are primarily located on the extremities and needled with the intention of affecting an injury or pain on a different part of the body than the local area.
In this system, the practitioner chooses a few select, powerful points and aims the channel energy toward a deficiency or pull it away from excess.
These point prescriptions are special in that, in many cases, the patient notices instant relief upon insertion of the needle.
3. Orthopedic acupuncture
Orthopedic acupuncture is a subset of acupuncture that combines Traditional Chinese Medicine with structural and myofascial manipulation to treat pain, soft tissue injuries, postural imbalances, and other general musculoskeletal disorders.
Orthopedic acupuncture requires advanced training in both fields of traditional Chinese medicine and modern biomedicine in order to obtain optimal results when treating these types of musculoskeletal disorders.
A TCM diagnosis and treatment plan can be generated to implement orthopedic approaches to treating a patient’s injuries by evaluating musculoskeletal conditions and the biomechanics of orthopedic conditions.
Treatments focus on balancing the channels and collaterals using traditional tuina manual therapy, gua sha, cupping, internal and external herbal medicines, and specialized acupuncture and moxibustion techniques.
4. Electroacupuncture
Electroacupuncture is the application of electrical current to acupoints on a patient to stimulate the inserted needles more than can be accomplished by hand. Its origins are a bit murky.
Some sources assert that electroacupuncture was first used by physicians in France and Italy as far back as the early 1800s while others attribute its discovery to Japanese scientists in the 1940s who were interested in making bone fractures heal more. Others claim that electroacupuncture wasn't developed until 1958 when acupuncturists in China began experimenting with it as a form of pain relief.
Regardless of its murky origins, it has become a useful tool for moving qi and blood as well as reducing pain.
Electroacupuncture is especially useful for the following conditions:
Acute pain,
Neuralgia,
Limb / joint pain,
Soft-tissue injuries,
Post-surgical pain.