Acupuncture is an ancient healing art form, included along with Herbal Medicine, Cupping, Gua-sha, and other various modalities under the umbrella of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It involves the insertion of very fine needles into specific points on the body. These acupuncture points were discovered over many hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

The theory is that energy, known as “Qi,” circulates through the body and when this energy is in proper balance there is health – however if the Qi of the body gets stuck, or accumulates to be excessive, or has been drained and is deficient, disease arises. Acupuncture is then one of the means by which we work with Qi to reshape, restructure, or rewire it’s conduits to restore proper balance and circulation, thereby restoring health.

Qi energy is what animates the body, as well as all things in the universe in various rarefied forms – it is the same energy that moves the sun and moon, that is had by all creatures, and even by things we consider to be inanimate. The quality of the circulation of Qi is the difference between a living, healthy body, and one that is diseased or even dead. Therefore for health, we need proper circulation of the Qi within our bodies, as well as for our Qi to work in harmony with the Qi of the seasons, the environment within which we live, and with that of those we are in contact with. Acupuncture seeks to restore healthy circulation of Qi.

Qi is believed to flow in certain channels or meridians, just as blood flows in blood vessels. If the flow of Qi (or the flow of blood) becomes blocked, and can no longer circulate to a specific part of the body or organ, then disease can result. By diagnosing where in the body the Qi or blood flow is blocked, and inserting a needle in the acupuncture channel that serves that area, the proper flow of Qi or blood can be restored. The needle entering the body allows the body to bring more attention to that specific area, and direct that attention and energy to where it is needed for healing to occur. Thus, for a recent muscular injury for instance, acupuncture alone can bring relief quite quickly by helping to restore the energy and blood flow to the injured area. Often, simple restoration of blood flow is all that is needed to start (or re-start) the healing process. Most people however have long-standing and chronic problems and their organ function is also impaired. Such chronic problems generally take a series of treatments and the addition of herbal medicine, and perhaps dietary or lifestyle changes, before the body can fully restore itself.

Acupuncture has always been used with other modalities such as herbal medicine, cupping and moxibustion. Acupuncturists would also recommend dietary modifications and would recommend gentle exercises such as Tai Ji and Qi Gong. Today with all the toxins that we are exposed to, our poor diets, and the sedentary lives that most of us lead, dietary and exercise modifications have become even more important. We often also need to address underlying nutritional deficiencies with supplements and vitamins in addition to herbs.

The National Institute of Health and the World Health Organization have proven acupuncture to be effective in the following areas:

Addictions
Anxiety
Arthritis
Asthma
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Chronic Fatigue
Colitis
Common Cold
Constipation
Dental Pain
Depression
Diarrhea
Digestive Trouble
Dizziness
Dysentery
Emotional Problems
Eye Problems
Facial Palsy / Tics
Fatigue
Fertility
Fibromyalgia
Gingivitis
Headache
Hiccup
Incontinence
Indigestion
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Low Back Pain
Menopause
Menstrual Irregularities
Migraine
Morning Sickness
Nausea
Osteoarthritis
Pain
PMS
Pneumonia
Reproductive Problems
Rhinitis
Sciatica
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Shoulder Pain
Sinusitis
Sleep Disturbances
Smoking Cessation
Sore Throat
Stress
Tennis Elbow
Tonsillitis
Trigeminal Neuralgia
Urinary Tract Infections
Vomiting

Unlike allopathic medicine, where headaches are treated with aspirin, cholesterol is lowered with a statin drug, and insomnia is treated with a sleep aid without taking into account the individual nature of the person suffering from the problem, an acupuncture treatment is customized to suit the needs of the patient. Different people suffer headaches for different reasons, and so their treatment should not be the same even if we call all headaches by the same name.

First, having filled in a detailed intake form, we will sit down and go through an intake session in which you set out why you are coming in for treatment. We ask you a lot of questions, some of which may seem irrelevant to the problem you are coming in with. This is because we seek to treat the person as a whole, and not just the symptom that you want to get rid of. Chinese medicine views any symptom as being part of a larger pattern of symptoms and the way your body responds to challenges that will help us to diagnose your condition. As many of these symptoms appear unrelated to those of us who grew up in the west, it may seem that your acupuncturist is wasting time asking questions that are unrelated to your main issue, but rest assured, they are all important! We will also ask some questions about bodily functions that you might not want to answer, but Chinese medicine takes everything about the body, including what comes out, as being a clue to the final diagnosis. In other words, yes, we talk poop!

A Chinese medicine intake typically always include looking at your tongue, and checking your pulse. The tongue is thought of as a mirror of the internal organs, and helps to confirm the diagnosis that we have tentatively arrived at from our discussion. We are looking for tongue body color – pale, normal pink, deep red or purple, the shape – puffy, thin, teethmarks or cracks, and the coating – thick, thin, white, yellow or greyish. All of these aspects of the tongue help point towards your underlying condition. The pulse is checked with three fingers, at three depths of pressure. Not only are we checking the speed of the pulse, as in Western medicine, but we are assessing the shape the artery makes against our fingers and whether the pulse under each of the three fingers has the strength that we expect. The most typical shapes that the pulse might have are wiry, where it feels as if a taut guitar string is hitting the fingers evenly, and rolling (also known as slippery), which feels like a pearl necklace going under the fingers.

Once we have completed the intake session and the acupuncturist has arrived at a treatment plan, you’ll lie on the treatment bed, either fully clothed if you are in loose, comfortable clothes such as shorts and a t-shirt, or you may change into a gown, or be draped with towels. If you have come in with back pain, you’ll probably be lying on your front so that we can put needles in your back. For most other treatments, you’ll lie on your back and we’ll treat the front of your body, although if you have low energy or other chronic problems you may have a back treatment where you’re lying on your front every now and then. We like to vary things a bit! Most of the acupuncture points we use are on the lower legs, lower arms, abdomen or back. Some scalp or face points may be used, depending on the issue you came in with.

The needles are very thin and small, and do not hurt. You might feel a slight pinch on some acupuncture points, but that is it. Some people feel a heavy or tingly sensation at some acupuncture points, or a sensation of energy moving up their arm or leg – this is great, because it means you can feel the energy, or Qi, doing something. Many people feel nothing at all but a sense of relaxation, which is also great!

Finally, you get to relax for half an hour or so, while the needles guide your body in healing itself and letting go of stress and pain. Many people report that they feel more deeply relaxed with acupuncture than with any other relaxation method they have tried. And while people don’t generally fall asleep during the first treatment, it’s very common to doze off as you’re lying on the table.

Don’t let a fear of needles or the unknown put you off experiencing the wonderful benefits of acupuncture!