Acupuncture: WHAT WE TREAT

AUTO + BIKE ACCIDENTS

Car accidents happen. In this city, known for its biking prowess, so do bike accidents. No matter who is at fault, auto insurance pays for your medical expenses — that includes acupuncture and massage.

Acupuncture is effective at treating pain by increasing circulation and stimulating the immune system. Typically we treat clients one to three times per week, depending on the injuries and pain level. Additionally, it’s common to have anxiety about driving or riding after an accident. Acupuncture is impactful in reducing anxiety to help you get back to driving and riding with confidence.

 For Acupuncture, referrals are not necessary.  If you have received a referral, please bring your referral, claim number, and auto insurance name to your appointment and we will handle the rest.

SPORTS INJURIES

In the first 24 hours after injury, acupuncture is an important part of your treatment plan. Acupuncture helps to keep blood moving, encourages your immune system to respond locally with white blood cells to rebuild cells, dispose of damaged cells, prevent infection, and decrease pain. Muscle strains, sprains as well as knee, shoulder, and back injuries are all commonly and successfully treated with acupuncture. Acute injury with intense swelling or an open wound typically aren’t treated with local needles but rather on the adjacent and distal areas of the body.

WOMEN’S ISSUES

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine have a profound effect on a variety of women’s health and gynecological concerns:

  • amenorrhea or metrorrhagia following contraceptive use

  •  chronic vaginal infections

  • hormonal acne

  • infertility

  • low libido

  • menopausal hot ashes, insomnia, and vaginal dryness

  • painful or irregular menses

  • pain with IUD insertion

  • PMS/PMDDCOSMETIC

Acupuncture is a safe and effective alternative to more invasive cosmetic treatments and a great addition to any skincare regimen. Treatment is aimed at moving blood and body fluids through the acupuncture muscles to improve circulation, oxygenate and moisturize the skin. Using small facial needles creates micro-traumas in the skin which boosts collagen and elastin.

Cosmetic acupuncture is intended to be given in a series of 10 treatments to lessen the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, brighten complexion, reduce age spots and pore size, improve muscle tone, and treat acne and rosacea on the surface of the skin. This is generally 2 times per week for 5 weeks.  Typically the benefits of this series of treatments is said to last 3 years, though some prefer to add the additional of periodic maintenance treatments depending on their goals.  Cosmetic protocols are for the face, neck/décolletage, and abdomen (12 weeks for weight loss & fertility).

FERTILITY

According to Chinese Medicine, difficulties with fertility are impacted by your consciousness, diet and lifestyle, organ systems, and hormone levels. In order to become pregnant, all of these systems must be attuned to support natural fertility. In other words, promoting optimal health overall is the most effective way to attain a healthy pregnancy.

Acupuncture helps to regulate hormones and ovulation, improve ovary function, and thicken the uterine lining in preparation for conception and pregnancy. Since our bodies require 90 to 120 days to develop healthy follicles with mature eggs, it is strongly recommended that you seek treatment for a minimum of three to four months. The reward of this commitment might last a lifetime.  Additionally, it is imperative when choosing an acupuncturist for infertility that you choose a practitioner who specializes in herbal medicine.

Chinese Medicine is exceptionally effective at assisting your body to achieve pregnancy. It is our greatest joy to support you in overcoming your fertility challenges.

PREGNANCY SUPPORT

Choose to make your pregnancy an experience that you can look back on with great joy by treating yourself well with acupuncture. Acupuncture and herbal medicine are gentle modalities to support you through your pregnancy. With carefully chosen acupuncture points and Chinese herbs, we support healthy development and fetal growth.

Many women experience discomfort during pregnancy and find it difficult to know how to balance safe choices for their baby while achieving relief from physical pain or other ailments. Our pregnancy care has had great success in treating morning sickness, heartburn, swelling, numbness and tingling, lethargy, difficulty sleeping, pelvic pain and discomfort, low back and sciatic pain, and breech presentation.  We recommend coming in for treatment in the weeks leading up to your guess date to prepare the body for birth by opening the hips, ripening the cervix, and clearing mental blockages.

MEN’S health

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine have been well researched for the following common ailments of men including

  • premature and delayed ejaculation

  • sperm count, motility and quality

  • sexual relationship concerns

  • low libido and decreased sensitivity

  • erectile dysfunction and impotence

  • frequent, difficult and/or painful urination

  • inflamed or enlarged prostate

The use of acupuncture and Chinese medicinal herbs increases circulation, relaxes the central nervous system, and stimulates immunity, all of which assists in the treatment of pain, mood disorders, physical injuries, and sexual concerns. Worried about where needles might go for some of the above ailments?  Not to worry, for many of the above conditions, needles are not placed in the area of origin.  Specifically in the case of sexual concerns, no local needles are used and no physical examination is required. For the treatment of pain, muscle tension, and injury, local needles are also used.

PAIN

Trigger point therapy, also referred to as dry needling, is a type of acupuncture that is focused on the anatomy of your muscles. It’s our job to identify the muscle or muscles that are leading to your pain then stimulate them to cause a muscle twitch response. This twitch forces the muscle to release the tension and lactic acid that has been causing your pain. Like all acupuncture, it is rare for clients to feel one hundred percent better after one treatment. Often they feel at least fifty percent better after one treatment and one hundred percent better after four to ten, depending on the severity, location, and length of time they have been suffering from pain.

Imaging involves the use of acupuncture at the wrist, ankle, knee, and elbow joints, though other joints may also be used, along with additional needles used on the legs and forearms. The placement of the needles depends on the area of your pain. We will often avoid needling directly into your pain site, instead using acupuncture points on other areas of your body or the other side of your body. Imaging increases circulation, stimulates the nerves and central nervous system, and restores the bodies homeostasis.

Therapeutic massage, focused on the specific area of your pain, is an effective option often recommended in conjunction with an acupuncture treatment plan. Instead of a whole body spa-style massage, we will spend the majority of your visit on the specific area(s) of your discomfort and pain. This is an intensive approach involving the superficial facia layer (the layer of thin muscle right under your skin), which contains more nerves than the deeper muscle layers. This style of massage also utilizes trigger points (in this case with pressure).

PEDIATRICS

Kids are some of our favorite acupuncture patients. Without the years of built up stress, pollutants, processed foods, and poor lifestyle choices, children’s bodies quickly respond to acupuncture and Chinese herbal therapies. We have been successful in treating the following ailments in children:

  • ADD/ADHD

  • allergies

  • bed wetting

  • behavioral issues

  • frequent colds/flu

  • hormonal changes

  • insomnia

  • pain

  • poor digestion

  • skin disorders

  • teething

Though children can often quickly become ill or develop a reaction to irritants in their environments, they also get better quickly. Especially with younger children, we often don’t use needles but instead stimulate the points with an acupuncture point stimulator that vibrates on the skin, or use non-insertion needles or tools known as shonishin.