Posts Tagged ‘Acupuncture’

Acupuncture in Cold & Flu Season

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Yes, the crisp air is here. Maybe like me, you’ve felt it the past few mornings as you saw your breath in front of you on a chilly walk to your car. Maybe also like me, you are OK with the colder weather as it means no more hurricanes (at least not this year – I hope you are all doing OK and fared well through the recent storms).

As welcome as this autumn chill may be, it also means that peak cold and flu season is upon us. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that peak flu season is usually between late November and early March. Each year, we all battle it – the kids fight it off at school, you steer clear of handles and germy phones at work…but, nonetheless, between 5% and 20% of Americans will get the flu this year and more than 200,000 will be hospitalized for seasonal flu symptoms.

Many doctors and the CDC recommend that you get a flu vaccine, especially if you are very young, older than 60 or already susceptible to the flu due to any other conditions or illnesses. Many of my patients take this route.

Still, for those that do get a flu vaccination as well as for those that choose not to, Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture can be great ways to keep your immune system strong and hold the seasonal flu at bay.

Here are my tips for using making it through flu season happy and healthy:

Drink plenty of fluids – water is best. Your body needs to stay clean and if there is any virus working its way into your system, flushing it out with plenty of water will help. Also, if you do catch a cold or are battling the flu, staying hydrated will help combat any fever.

Keep moving – this is more a preventative tip, but remember that a healthy body is less likely to succumb to colds and flu. Even if you only walk 20 minutes every day, keeping your body moving and your system in good shape is the best way to stave off illness. (And it’s great for stress, muscle tone and weight loss, too!)

Acupuncture can help – rebalancing the body’s energy and regulating your Qi will help stimulate the immune system, which can help fight off colds and the flu virus.

Eat (and drink) well – a balanced, healthy diet will keep you body fueled and provide you with critical vitamins and minerals that can protect against colds and flu. Here are some great foods to eat to keep your body strong against the flu:

  • Apples are great for the digestion and can also be cooked. They really help to keep the lungs moist.
  • Pears help stop coughs and aid the body in the expulsion of phlegm and heat in the lungs.
  • Aged tangerine peel in Chinese medicine is known as chen pi and is one of the most commonly used Chinese herbs. It helps expel excess phlegm and mucus, as well as harmonize digestive complains such as nausea and vomiting to prevent illness.
  • The inner bark of cinnamon is known as Rou Gui. This commonly used spice is very warming and is effective if your ailment includes a feeling of cold or cold with shivering. I also offer patients ready-made and customized herbal medicines that can be used during flu season to prevent illness.

So, follow these tips to avoid the autumn flu season and stay healthy.

 

And, enjoy the last few days of this crisp fall air…it will be winter before you know it!

 

 

Here are some additional resources that may be interesting and helpful:

DrOz.com article on acupuncture and the flu

AcuFinder.com article about herbal treatments for colds and flu

Livestrong.com article outlines Top 10 Foods to Eat to Avoid the Flu

 

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History of Acupuncture

Friday, October 12th, 2012
historical acupuncture text

acupuncture and Chinese medicine has an interesting and long history

So, you are thinking about trying acupuncture to help improve and maintain your health? Or, perhaps you are a long-time devotee of the approach to balancing your energy and improving your well-being? No?  Maybe you are a skeptic?

No matter what your relationship with or thoughts about acupuncture are, I think you may agree that its origins and history are fascinating. I’m often asked by my patients, friends and colleagues and collaborators in the “Western medicine” field about the history of acupuncture. Here is a brief overview.

Most researchers and historians agree that Chinese medicine and acupuncture predate recorded history. In fact, sharpened stones and bones that date from about 6000 BCE have been interpreted as instruments for acupuncture treatment and the philosophy that shapes and drives current acupuncture theory is at least 2,000 years old.

The pivotal texts that reframe and reshape Chinese medicine and acupuncture from a supernatural medicine to cohesive somatic preventative practice were compiled during the Warring States period (475-221 BCE) and the early Han period (206 BCE–220 CE). These are known as the “Huang Di Nei Jing” or “The Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine.” They have a very conversational style and are written as a series of questions that are posed by the Yellow Emperor to a learned physician named Qi-Bo. They emphasize Daoist philosophy, including yin-yang theory and nature’s five element doctrine. The first book is commonly known as the “Su Wen,” or “Fundamental Questions” and covers the theoretical foundation of Chinese Medicine and its diagnostic methods. The second book is named “Ling Shu,” or “Spiritual Axis/Pivot” and is essentially a detailed acupuncture manual. These texts were revolutionary for the time due to their systemized content. The “Huang Di Nei Jing” departs from the commonly held societal shamanistic beliefs that disease was caused by demonic influences. These “conversations” between the Yellow Emperor and Qi-Bo revolutionized Chinese medicine and laid the foundation of a complete holistic medical system, emphasizing the premise that disease develops due to natural causes of diet, lifestyle, emotions, environment, and age.

Throughout the history of China, acupuncture and herbal medicine continued to advance and develop into a nuanced medicine. The Tai Ping, Imperial Academy, was very instrumental to this process. The Imperial physicians were often the “cream of the crop” physicians and scholars in Chinese medicine. They created criteria for excellence in medicine by developing detailed models for disease transmission, treatment and prognosis. Depending on the historical period, often societal and social constructs made their way into the medicine. Confucianism and moves back to renewed interest in mysticism often show up in the recorded medicine of the time.

Chinese medicine and acupuncture in the modern era was again morphing in the 1950’s. Chairman Mao declared that Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine would be united and acupuncture became widely available in all hospitals. “Barefoot Doctors’ were also trained in a very elementary manner to employ the use of Chinese medicine and acupuncture so that some form of healthcare could be deployed to meet the challenges of the rural populations. At this point in history, only 2% of China’s population lived in cities.

Acupuncture made its way to the U.S. in the early 1970s. In 1971, New York Times reporter James Reston was treated with acupuncture during a visit to Beijing and wrote an article about how it helped treat post-operative pain. The following year, the first legal acupuncture center in the U.S. opened in Washington, D.C. and in 1973, the IRS allowed taxpayers to take acupuncture treatments as a medical expense deduction.

Now, nearly 40 years later, acupuncture has become more mainstream and is rapidly growing in use and acceptance. Building on its thousands of years of history and practice, acupuncture is continuing to impact patients’ health and overall well being.

 

Sources and more interesting information:

https://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/The+History+of+Acupuncture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture

http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/5/662.full

 

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The Olympics and Acupuncture!

Sunday, August 12th, 2012

If you’re like me, you’ve been watching the athletes in London go for gold and wow us with their amazing speed, strength and grace. When I watch, though, I must admit that I take a special interest in the athletes’ training regimens, the way they treat an injury or favor a sprain…I’m interested in how they take care of their greatest athletic resource – their bodies.

In reading about this year’s Olympic athletes, I’ve found that many of them are using traditional Chinese medicine and, specifically, acupuncture to prepare, train and compete. Athletes from all over the world – the US, Japan, China, Australia, the UK and South Korea – are all employing TCM and acupuncture at the Games.

The Japanese triathlon team swears by it and an interesting article in The Examiner gives even more insight into their approach:

“If an athlete feels pain, we use acupuncture as first aid,” explains Minoru Yajima, medical advisor and physiotherapist for Japan’s Triathlon team. Most of Team Japan’s medal winning medical strategy is preventative and based on a time tested Japanese tradition – shiatsu massage.

USA’s own wonder vaulter McKayla Maroney has been using it to treat a broken toe, according to NPR:

Since that dismount [injury], Maroney has reduced her training to ice the injury and undergo electronic stimulation and acupuncture therapy, to speed healing.

Numerous track and field athletes have traveled to the Olympics with their acupuncturists, including US runner Dee Dee Trotter. US pole vaulter Jeremy Scott uses acupuncture in his treatment regimen for a knee injury and track and field competitor Amy Acuff is not only a five-time Olympian, but a licensed acupuncturist herself! She has attributed some of her long-term success in the strenuous, high injury sport to acupuncture.

Also, the South Korean athletes use it almost exclusively for pains, strains and muscle injuries. Athletes on their volleyball and handball teams use acupuncture to recover rapidly from injuries and the athletes have said that it helps boost their performance, as well.

Now, I know that we are not all Olympic athletes and we may not be making it to the next summer games in Rio de Janeiro (as competitors, anyway), but it is interesting to see the world’s elite sportsmen and women employing more and more traditional Chinese medicine treatments and acupuncture. If this trend continues, I expect that I will be working with an even greater number of local athletes, runners, cyclists and even just ‘weekend warriors’ in the years to come.

Long live (healthy) sport!

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Acupuncture: The Hot New (Effective) Beauty Regimen?

Sunday, August 5th, 2012

I see a lot of patients in my practice that are battling serious diseases – cancer, heart failure, diabetes – or very painful injuries – torn ligaments, back pain. These patients have found that acupuncture can help relieve pain, ease symptoms and strengthen their body to better fight the disease or condition.

But, it should be noted that acupuncture has been shown to be effective in helping ease less life-threatening conditions – fatigue, stress and even some of the signs of aging. Yes, you heard me right…acupuncture is becoming a hot new beauty treatment!

This should not come as a surprise as acupuncture is designed to free up the flow of the body’s natural energy, or qi. When it is able to do so, the body can relax, function properly – in short, it is rejuvenated and you can actually look younger and more vibrant.

Take for instance, this WebMD article about “Acupuncture is the New Facelift.” In the patient example discussed in the piece, a woman has 30-40 thin acupuncture needles applied to her body and face, which stimulates the production of collagen and elastin and “plumps up” the skin for a youthful glow and fewer wrinkles.

Another recent article in O Magazine had editors investigating and sampling new beauty treatments and regimens to report back to readers on the experience and their effectiveness. They spoke to a cosmetic acupuncturist, who said that the treatments can  “result in firmer skin, a reduction of wrinkles and a tightening of the jowls.” She went on to say that her patients have reported “healthy side effects, such as improved digestion, better quality sleep, increased energy and a sense of overall well-being.” The editor’s final assessment: “Hey, doc, sign me up!”

Now, is acupuncture a fix-all for wrinkles or aging? Is it the fountain of youth? No, of course not…but, increasingly, people are turning to acupuncture as a key component of more effective beauty regimens and a step in improving overall health. And who doesn’t want that?

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Finding Relief with TCM: Acupuncture for Pain

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

When I think about the most common ailments my patients are battling, pain is definitely at the top of the list. Whether it’s migraines, neck pain, joint stiffness, arthritis or lower back pain, dealing with pain is an everyday occurrence for many.

Pain is – unfortunately – extremely common. In fact, a national NIH survey found that more than 25% of U.S. adults had experienced some sort of pain lasting more than a day. Often, an aspirin, acetaminophen or other over-the-counter pain medication can keep the aches at bay, but for serious pain, stronger medications can be prescribed. To avoid these medications’ risk of side effects or addiction and because they are looking for an alternative approach, more and more people are turning to acupuncture for pain treatment.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) analysis recently showed that pain or musculoskeletal complaints accounted for 7 of the top 10 conditions for which people use acupuncture. The most common condition was back pain, followed by joint pain, neck pain, severe headaches and recurring pain.

And…there’s an increasing body of scientific evidence showing that acupuncture is working.

A 2010 study was able to shed some light on exactly how acupuncture helps relieve pain – the study looked at mice and found that the insertion of an acupuncture needle activated pain-suppressing receptors near the insertion site. It also showed that the insertion and movement of the acupuncture needles released adenosine, a naturally occurring compound that boosts the response of the receptors, increasing pain relief.

Other clinical studies have showed promising results for acupuncture for pain in: lower back pain, menstrual cramps, fibromyalgia, headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome, neck pain and tennis elbow.

In short, using acupuncture for pain is on the rise and I am seeing more and more patients benefit from this approach. If you are coping with pain, a licensed acupuncturist may be able to help.

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Acupuncture for Weight Loss

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

It’s something we all must manage on a daily basis. It affects every aspect of our health from how well we sleep at night to how strong our heart is…

It’s our weight.

Today, more than one out of every three U.S. adults are obese and this number is rising every year. Obesity-related conditions are reaching epidemic levels and include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. In 2008, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion (yes, with a “B”).

As people struggle to find ways to reduce and then maintain a healthy weight, acupuncture for weight loss has shown promising effects and could be a key to stemming this rising tide.

In fact, a 2009 review article published in the International Journal of Obesity analyzed 31 different studies of acupuncture for weight loss and the treatment of obesity and looked at its effects for more than 3,000 people. The results showed that people that used acupuncture for weight loss or to treat obesity had a significant reduction of average body weight, compared to placebo or sham treatments.

Exercise and a healthy diet are still the foundation for reaching and maintaining a healthy weight, but traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture are emerging as effective, non-pharmaceutical methods that could help countless Americans in their own personal “battle of the bulge.”

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Ahhhh-choo! Acupuncture and Seasonal Allergies

Friday, April 20th, 2012

acupuncture helps seasonal allergies

chinese medicine helps seasonal allergies

Ahhh…daffodils, robins and budding trees. It’s spring! We must rejoice…right?

Well, most of us will happily greet this warming up and greening of our surroundings, however for the 35 million Americans that suffer from seasonal allergy symptoms like sneezing, runny nose and dry or itchy eyes, the welcome is far more reluctant.

And, this year, it’s even worse. Our very mild winter and early warm temperatures mean an earlier bloom for many flowers, plants and trees, which – you guessed it – can mean earlier and increased amounts of pollen and more seasonal allergies. In fact, CBS 2 in Chicago just did an interesting segment on what this year’s early spring means for allergy sufferers – you can see it here.

So, what’s a spring-lover to do? Well, acupuncture could be the answer.

Acupuncture has been shown to be a safe and effective way to combat the symptoms of seasonal allergies. In 2004, a study published by Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology showed that patients treated with acupuncture for six weeks and given a Chinese herbal medicine formula to take daily saw improvement in their allergy symptoms, higher energy levels and improved emotional well-being. The study was covered, along with tips about how acupuncture can be used to treat allergies in this Seattle Post-Intelligencer article.

In acupuncture, there are seven key pressure points that can help bring relief to seasonal allergy sufferers. By focusing on these points, an acupuncturist can help relieve and reduce symptoms like runny nose and sinus pain or headache. Six of these points are found on your face and the seventh is on your left foot. To get started, you can even stimulate these pressure points on your own – here’s a recent Huffington Post health blog post that tells you how.

Chinese herbal treatments can also help. I have worked with patients for years to not only treat the symptoms of their seasonal allergies – which in Traditional Chinese Medicine are sometimes referred to as the “branches” – but also to strengthen their overall systems throughout the year – or the “root”.

Herbs that can be used for seasonal allergies include butterbur, which is known in Chinese herbal medicine as ping hua feng dou cai and was featured in a recent paper in British Medical Journal. The study showed that butterbur, when taken four times daily, can be just as effective as antihistamine drugs in controlling hay fever symptoms, but without a drowsiness side effect. Other Chinese herbal medicinals used to treat seasonal allergies include Cocklebur Fruit, or cang er zi, and Angelica Root, also known as bai zhi.

Now, go enjoy this glorious weather!

 

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Empirical Point Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture Practice Launches “Healthy New Year 2011”

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Chinese New Year - Year of the Rabbit

Staying healthy with acupuncture and Chinese medicine

Empirical Point, LLC, a leading Philadelphia Chinese Medicine and acupuncture practice, today announced the launch of its “Healthy New Year 2011” campaign, designed to give patients more hands-on information and real-world tips about how to live healthier in the new year. This new program is kicking off today, the first day of the Chinese New Year, with a series of online information and news. More information can be found at www.philadelphia-acupuncture.com.

“The new year usually brings with resolutions and promises to improve our health. It also brings a renewed commitment to living well and living healthy,” stated Sharon Sherman, M.S.O.M., D.OM., L.OM and founder of Empirical Point. “Empirical Point was founded to deliver on that commitment – to provide patients with a Chinese medicine and acupuncture practice dedicated to improving their health. I don’t just treat patients. I work with them to get to the root of their ailments and to then map out an interactive and holistic plan to improve their overall well being. This Healthy New Year 2011 program is just one more way for us to provide the latest news and tips to our patients on how to be well.”

The first topic tackled by the Healthy New Year 2011 program is “Alternative Medicine – Not So Alternative Anymore” which will look at the growing use and success of alternative medicine in the U.S. While Chinese Medicine and acupuncture have been used for thousands of years, they are just now really taking hold in many Western cultures as effective medical treatments. Through the Empirical Point website, blog and social media and events at our offices, the practice will explore and offer up information about the growth of alternative medicine – and how it may be helpful for patients who may have not yet considered it for common conditions like stress or chronic pain.

The Healthy New Year 2011 campaign will go on to address the following topics later this year:

• Pain – How to Address and Relieve it with Chinese Medicine

• Building a Strong Immune System…and a Stronger You

• Stressed?  How to Relieve Anxiety and Be at your Best

About Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture

Chinese Medicine is one of the oldest complete medical systems practiced today – encompassing acupuncture, Chinese herbs, nutrition and other modalities – and is recognized as an effective, empirical science. Acupuncture has been in use for over 2,000 years, and is one of the most commonly used medical procedures worldwide. Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture are regularly used to safely and effectively treat a wide range of health challenges, especially the treatment of acute and chronic pain management. Today, the use of and demand for acupuncture and Oriental Medicine is increasing in the United States. Recent reports conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), USA Today, ABC News and Stanford University all point to increasing numbers of Americans using acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. The most recent CDC study found that nearly 3.3 million U.S. adults and children had used acupuncture in the previous year.

About Empirical Point, LLC

Empirical Point’s overarching mission is to empower patients and to optimize their health and well being. Using her extensive Chinese Medicine and acupuncture training and expertise, founder Sharon Sherman has been treating patients and growing the practice steadily since 2001. Ms. Sherman has the highest level of licensure possible – an achievement rivaled by only 8% of her peers in Pennsylvania – and has logged more education and continuing education hours than the vast majority of other practitioners. Ms. Sherman is also licensed in New Mexico, which has one of the most arduous licensure processes in the U.S. Empirical Point welcomes patients at its Center City and Chestnut Hill offices in Philadelphia. For more information, please visit www.philadelphia-acupuncture.com.

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