In China, Acupuncture is used for a great variety of conditions that focus on reducing both the pain and stress responses in our bodies. Acupuncture excels at resetting the chemical and hormone mechanisms which cause our bodies to feel tight, painful, anxious and sluggish in their functional abilities. It can help us sleep more deeply, increase circulation in injured areas, and increase the efficiency and movement of our digestive systems. Acupuncture produces immediate feelings of calm and well-being. Patients leave relaxed, with reduced pain, and sleep deeply the night after treatment. Acupuncture is a convenient and effective way to deal with tension and pain in the body and the many myriad of disorders that can arise from chronic stress and anxiety.

Chinese herbal medicine uses formulas of medicinals that are combined in groups of four to twelve in an attempt to tailor the medicine to the particular needs of the individual. This concept in completely separate from western herbalism which uses single plant products to affect a single symptom. Examples: Valerian root sedates a restless person or Chamomile makes one drowsy. The Chinese medical approach is rather different and attempts to address the problem from its root cause not its manifestation on the surface. A second key difference is the the quality of production, craftsmanship, and care which go into cultivating Chinese medicinal plants. One can easily buy a “natural” product at Whole Foods but they have no idea where/how it was grown. Who tested it for pesticides, heavy metals, and who ensured plant authenticity.

It is important for all of us to question the products we buy and the purity of their ingredients. Would you want to know you are taking a safe product that actually contained the ingredients it claimed? Especially when said products often are imported from other countries? One should always buy these products from a professional in the field, not just a person with an Acupuncturist license, but someone who has actually committed themselves to the life of study in the field of Chinese herbal medicine. Remember, plants are medicine and all medicinal products contain the risk of side effects. You would not go and buy pharmaceuticals without being told so by a qualified practitioner of medicine and so I encourage patients to approach plant medicinals in the same way, with a prescription.

It must be noted that ALL internal medicine disorders are treated in China with herbal medicine and not necessarily acupuncture. Internal medicine is a broad category of diseases that includes some of the main medical fields that we know of in the west. Think Endocrine, Respiratory, Gynecological, Immunological, Urinary, Cardiology, Pediatric and the field Fertility medicine when you think of Chinese Medicinals. Often our conditions require daily administration of medicine and that is most effectively accomplished with internally administered medicinals. These formulas offer the benefit of daily care without the need for semi-weekly visits to the clinic and thought often not ideal in taste, they are the preferred means of treating chronic internal diseases of the body in China.