Many physical problems have a mental-emotional component to them. The reverse can also be true. As an acupuncturist I try to see both aspects to a person’s conditions, so we can treat both the root and manifestation of the issue. It’s not always clear what causes...
Last week a patient visited with neck, shoulder and jaw pain. As we’d playfully say, he’d come to me so I could “dismantle the bomb” threatening to go off in his body. We’d brought him back several times from debilitating pain, tension and inflammatory crisis....
Trauma can leave its remnants throughout the body and mind. For example, physical trauma due to injury, if it fails to fully heal can result in periodic rheumatism (joint pain). Emotional trauma that fails to fully heal can also leave remnants. Such remnants can periodically...
Toxic buildup is one of most common causes of recurrent, residual and chronic illness. Chinese medicine discusses toxic buildup in depth in the medical classics Su Wen (Simple Questions) and Ling Shu (the Spiritual Pivot). These are the two books upon which most of Chinese...
Back pain is perhaps the most common ailment modernly treated by acupuncture. It can result from many sources. Back pain that doesn't respond to standard Western treatment can be rooted in psychosomatics: the mind impacting the physical body. But acupuncture is also very effective in...
