Pandemic Fatigue, or Quarantine Fatigue, it goes by many names. It's that underlying fatigue that we are all experiencing, regardless of how well we sleep. It is an emotional fatigue that has a very real, physical impact. It can feel like low level depression or dysphoria, lack of motivation, your "get up and go" has "got up and went." Psychosomatic symptoms (psyche-mind, soma-body) are symptoms that are caused by the mind but experienced in the body. Many allopathic doctors use this term in a derogatory way, meaning, "it's all in your head, it's not real." Natural or Holistic doctors and pra ..read more

With all of this talk about COVID-19, it is easy to get all worked up. Anxiety and generalized stress are at an all time high. Nothing brings on anxiety like the unknown: will I get sick? Will someone I know and love get sick? How bad will it be? Unfortunately, no one has these answers, but what we do know is that the #1 immune suppressant is STRESS. Stress suppresses the immune system. Yes, you read that correctly. Originally it was a brilliant evolutionary design where in moments of stress, the Sympathetic Nervous System would up regulate, increasing the heart rate, tightening the muscles ..read more

Most people know that exercise is beneficial to your health. If you are not quite convinced, a quick Google search (or clicking the links below) might give you some more reinforcement. Exercise has been shown to help improve the quality of life and health for people with chronic disease and pain, depression and anxiety, osteoporosis, and can even improve your sex life! Any movement that you do will have a positive effect on your body, and you don't need to go to the gym to feel the benefits of movement. One of the reasons that exercise is beneficial is that it increases the circulation of Bl ..read more

What is Dry Needling (DN) and how does it differ from Acupuncture? Acupuncture, as defined by The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health "describes a family of procedures involving the stimulation of points on the body using a variety of techniques. The acupuncture technique that has been most often studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation. Practiced in China and other Asian countries for thousands of years, acupuncture is on of the key components of traditional Chin ..read more

When it comes to pain, not everyone thinks about acupuncture as the solution. With intense pelvic floor pain, the idea of needles anywhere near the pelvic floor can have you running in the other direction. You will be pleased to know that although it is possible to needle the muscles in the pelvic floor, it is not necessary to be able to address pelvic floor pain with acupuncture. One of the benefits of using acupuncture for pain is that there are many ways to treat the body, many ways to see the body and a seemingly indirect treatment can be the most powerful. Case Study 59 year old female ..read more

Cupping is a hot topic among athletes these days, spurred on by the purple spots on competitors like Michael Phelps and Wang Qun at the Olympics and more and more celebrities and professional athletes across numerous sports. The Chinese (as well as Europeans) have been using cupping for thousands of years, for all sorts of muscle and joint pain, as well as for respiratory infections and digestive issues. You can read about the basics of cupping in my previous post, "Cupping and Gua Sha: What are they and what are their benefits?" by clicking here. This post will focus on how cupping works to ..read more

Musings of an acupuncturist treating veterans: I love the vision of people, mostly men but some women, coming into the Veterans Acupuncture Care clinic, a little nervous, a little unsure. Before they’ve been treated they don’t know what’s going to happen. Does it hurt? How will I feel after? Does it hurt? What should I expect? Does it hurt? They walk in, sign in and take a seat in one of of almost a dozen wing chair and couch seats. They sit down, swab their ears with alcohol and await the needles. Within 5 minutes or so of receiving the needles, I see the peace and calm wash over their ..read more

Tui na (pronounced TWEE-nah) is a type of bodywork that falls under the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) umbrella. TCM includes Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, Chinese dietary Therapy, Moxibustion and Tuina. Literally translated, Tui na means "pinch and pull" which doesn't sound particularly appealing, but it is a simultaneously relaxing and invigorating style of massage. It uses techniques like "rolling," "grasping," "kneading," "shaking" and "pressing" in order to encourage the Qi (pronounced "CHEE") to flow through the meridians, or energy channels. It has been around for thousands ..read more

Fall is the most popular time of year for people to get back into the gym. Kids are back at school, the days are getting shorter and colder and many people are raring to get back into shape. Unfortunately, this is also the most popular time of year for people to hurt themselves by doing too much too fast. Going to the gym 7 days a week after sitting on the beach all summer is a recipe for injury. Acupuncture is a great complement to your fitness routine by increasing your energy, improving your sleep and helping you recover and heal, both after workouts and after injury. The first 2 items ar ..read more

Studies say that 1 in 5 soldiers comes back from combat suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Many times they are not initially aware that there is anything wrong, it is their family members who notice first. Maybe they are depressed or anxious. Maybe they are having nightmares or trouble sleeping. Maybe they are self medicating with alcohol, drugs or even getting frequent speeding tickets. Maybe they are struggling to "fit back in" to their pre-combat lives. PTSD doesn't always show up in overtly recognizable ways, sometimes it is more subtle, something only a husband or wif ..read more