I love helping my patients and I take great pride in making sure they obtain their health goals. All too often people are told that because their complaints do not fit into the customary medical framework there is really nothing wrong with them - despite the fact they feel awful. I use acupuncture, nutrition and herbal medicine to keep people healthy so that they don’t have to wait to have a named clinical condition. These treatment modalities can detect imbalances and correct imbalances long before they become an identifiable health crisis.

I find that patients who eat well for their body type and needs respond quicker to acupuncture treatments. Nutrition is an important foundation and if one doesn’t eat well, often an acupuncture treatment offers less results.  I believe nutrition is a key to physical health. I also believe that acupuncture helps with emotional health and facilitates the process of self-care. Each of these treatments has its individual merit of treating at a different level in addition to their synergistic effects. Most patients do a combination of nutrition and acupuncture as together they are very powerful modalities for healing.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is just a small part of the system of medicine developed in China two thousand years ago.  Chinese medicine itself is a comprehensive system consisting of self-cultivation (Chi Kung and martial arts including TaiChi), Herbal medicine, nutritional therapies, massage (TuiNa or Shiatsu in Japan) and meditation to promote long lasting health. There are more styles of acupuncture than there are languages in the world. I practice mostly "Kiiko" style acupuncture developed by my teacher Kiiko Matsumoto, but I’ll use other styles of acupuncture for certain conditions.

For acupuncture treatments I use micro-thin disposable sterilized needles inserted into certain points on the skin. There is a lot of controversy over what these points are, however there is no controversy that used in the correct combination they can bring about powerful healing effects. In Chinese medicine the points lie along pathways called meridians. There is a lot of modern research underway to uncover the physiology of these meridians.  One theory is that the meridians lie along the fascial planes of the body.  The fascia is a three dimensional matrix of tissue that covers our entire body and recent research has shown it contains intricate cellular signaling.  Certain meridian systems correspond very well with fascial planes.  Also over 80% of the major acupuncture points lie within fascial boundaries between muscles and bones. Because the vast majority of my needle insertions are shallow and into the superficial fascia I am of the belief that the meridians written about 2000 years ago correspond to the fascia system.

Acupuncture can adjust and stimulate your body’s healing energy to improve the health of your inner or outer body; organ function within the interior of the body or musculoskeletal, more exterior conditions.  Acupuncture performed correctly helps bring the body back into homeostasis or balance.  Acupuncture is adaptogenic.

As part of your treatment I frequently use an herb artemesia vulgaris (Mugwort) or moxabustion to stimulate certain points or warm an area.  I’ll also use electro acupuncture for certain pain conditions as well as cupping for back pain.  I love using my hands so many times for back, neck or extremity pain I’ll do Asian bodywork known as TuiNa. For people who are too anxious or sensitive about acupuncture needles I offer massage, magnets and moxabustion as  alternatives which are also very beneficial and effective on the acupuncture points.  The majority of people fall asleep at some point in the treatment because it is so relaxing.

Functional Nutrition

Functional Nutrition is sort of a super-modern complement to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).  TCM nutrition looks at health based on an individual’s constitution, symptoms they present, and diagnostic observation to make dietary and lifestyle recommendations. Functional nutrition is similar in that it also incorporate other modern methods of diagnosis such as blood, urine and saliva testing to address the whole body system rather than seeing the body as separate components.

In my nutrition practice, I use your diet history, a symptom survey form, blood testing, TCM diagnosis, and a lot of discussion to assess your health.   This combination help uncover physiological imbalances and assist in painting  a clearer picture of what nutritional approaches would serve you best.   I don’t believe in one type of nutrition fits all as we are all individuals.

If you’d like to know what foods are optimal for you, I will guide you through dietary and lifestyle modifications specific for your body and where you are in this particular moment.  If you wonder if the supplements you are taking are doing you any good, I can develop a protocol with Chinese herbal medicine and/or supplements to help bring your body back towards balance.