What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is one of the oldest, continually practiced, scientifically proven, literate medicines used in the world today. The written literature stems back over 2,500 years. While it is still not considered mainstream in the United States, over 25% of the world’s population uses Traditional Chinese Medicine to maintain and regain balance in their health.

How Can Acupuncture Help So Many Conditions?
The reason acupuncture can help so many different illnesses is because it views the person as a whole and not separate parts. Chinese medicine also takes into account a person’s environment, diet, genetics, and emotions when assessing the person’s state of health. The whole purpose of the evaluation is to determine where, why and how the individuals Qi, or life force, is being blocked. This blockage is what ultimately over time causes the symptoms of the dis-ease to appear. Because of these different diagnostic methods, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners can often explain the cause of symptoms that typical Western medicine can not.

Hypertension is a perfect example. In more instances than not, Western medical doctors can not explain why a person is suffering from high blood pressure. They call it essential hypertension. This problem has several root causes in Chinese Medicine. Once the acupuncture physician determines the correct pattern, they can fix the underlying problem with herbs and acupuncture. As the root cause is corrected, the hypertension goes away.

In order to correctly identify the causes of an illness, the acupuncture physician will look at a person’s tongue, pulse, and breathing patterns, as well as their face, skin tone, diet, and overall demeanor to discern the body’s imbalances. This process usually is more time consuming than a typical Western medicine office visit. It is not uncommon to spend 1 ½ to 2 hours with your acupuncture physician on your first visit. Subsequent visits take much less time and usually last from 30 to 45 minutes. Typical methods that may be used to re-establish homeostasis in your body are:

1. acupuncture
2. herbal therapy
3. cupping (suction cups)
4. moxibustion
5. Tui Na (Chinese massage)
6. dietary changes
7. lifestyle changes

There are a variety of other methods that may be used as well. If other procedures are necessary they will be discussed with each person as needed.

In trained hands Chinese Medicine is a very safe medical treatment that can be used to effectively restore balance to the entire person. Don’t hesitate. Call Kimberly Marin AP, RD TODAY and take your first step on your path to wellness.