Gentle Holistic Health Care

East Asian or Chinese Medicine has evolved from a folk medicine into an evidence-based holistic health care modality. Our approach is geared toward men and women and combines gentle acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, gua sha, cupping, moxibustion, herbal medicine, nutrition, and lifestyle guidance. 

Proven Effective and practiced for over 5,000 years, Eastern medicine has an important place in modern health care. According to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 51% of medical doctors understand the efficacy and value of acupuncture, and refer their patients to acupuncture more than any other alternative care. In the past 60 years, many scientific studies have explored how it works and why; see Modern Research for some examples. 

Scientific Research: How Acupuncture Works

Neurotransmitter Theory: Acupuncture affects higher brain areas, stimulating the secretion of beta-endorphins and enkephalins in the brain and spinal cord. The release of neurotransmitters influences the immune system and the non-nociceptive system. 

Note: Nociceptive pain is the body's natural defense against harmful surfaces or actions. On the other hand, there is neuropathic pain. This pain is the result of damage to the nervous system and is often chronic. Unlike nociceptive pain, neuropathic pain does not need to develop in response to any outside stimulus.

Autonomic Nervous System Theory: Acupuncture stimulates the release of norepinephrine, acetylcholine and several types of opioids, affecting changes in their turnover rate, normalizing the autonomic nervous system, and reducing pain. 

Vascular-Interstitial Theory: Acupuncture effects the electrical system of the body by creating or enhancing closed-circuit transport in tissues. This facilitates healing by allowing the transfer of material and electrical energy between normal and injured tissues.

Blood Chemistry Theory: Acupuncture affects the blood concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, and phospholipids, suggesting that acupuncture can both raise and diminish peripheral blood components, thereby regulating the body toward homeostasis. 

Gate Control Theory: Acupuncture activates non-nociceptive receptors that inhibit the transmission of nociceptive signals in the dorsal horn, “gating out” painful stimuli.

What to expect at your first visit

At our first appointment we'll discuss your goals and review any lab tests or diagnostic imaging you already have. We'll feel your wrist pulses and look at your tongue, and you will have acupuncture. You'll rest with needles in for about 30-45 minutes. We may recommend lab testing, or herbal/nutritional supplements to further support you. 

Our practice has a huge focus in women's health, and within that we address acute and chronic pain, your mental and physical response to stress, quality of sleep, menstrual cycles, fertility, pregnancy, hormone regulation, digestion, perimenopause, and more. We help men with tension, pain, injury, digestion, headaches, sleep, bladder and prostate issues, and more.