The Art of Acupuncture
Acupuncture is one of the oldest medical treatment therapies in history. The earliest recorded manuscripts and evidence of acupuncture meridians originated in China and dates back to more than 2,500 years ago.
An acupuncturist will select from over 360 acupuncture points along meridian systems within your body, effectively redirecting the flow of Qi to support organ systems, remove blockages and restore harmony.
With so many points to choose from, no two acupuncturists will select the same points to address the same symptoms or disease – and no two individuals with the same symptoms or disease will have the same exact internal conditions. It is this individualized perspective and approach that truly makes the practice of acupuncture an art form based on skill, intuition and theory.
How does acupuncture work?
The human body is essentially an electromagnetic field, generating electric potentials and currents to conduct impulses along nerve fibers, regulate body tissues and organ functions, govern metabolism, as well as many other processes within the body. In Western terms, this concept is known as bioelectricity. In Eastern medicine, this concept of vital life force energy is known as Qi.
Acupuncture has been used for over 2,500 years to essentially rewire and redirect the bioelectric circuitry of the body to regulate homeostasis and stimulate biological responses. An acupuncture needle serves to create a micro-trauma locally, setting off the body’s immune and anti-inflammatory responses and encouraging the body to heal itself.
Acupuncture points are located along nerve pathways in areas with a higher concentration of nerves, vessels and neuromuscular attachments. In fact, 80% of motor points (where the nerve innervates muscle) are actually major acupuncture points!
What happens when an acupuncture needle is inserted?
Once a needle is inserted, sensory neurons are stimulated affecting the connective tissue. Signals then travel to the brain and spinal cord, affecting the Central & Peripheral Nervous Systems. From there, a cascade of signals are activated, stimulating the release of neurotransmitters and hormones which have a systemic affect to regulate the Endocrine, Immune, Cardiovascular and Digestive Systems.
Various acupuncture points can be selected to affect these systems. For example, acupuncture may be used to regulate blood pressure by stimulating the release of vasodilators. Serotonin and noradrenalin can be stimulated for the treatment of anxiety, depression and mood disorders. Sleep and stress disorders may be addressed by regulating the Parasympathetic and Sympathetic “fight or flight” response by decreasing cortisol levels in the body.
Functional MRIs show evidence that certain points such as LI4, which is located on the hand, stimulate certain areas of the brain and effectively shut off pain receptors, thereby affecting the “fight or flight” response. Similarly GB37, a point on the leg which is known in Chinese medicine to be the empirical point for the eye, has been shown in functional MRIs to affect the area of the brain controlling optic function. BL67 on the pinky toe which is often used to turn a breached baby and stimulate uterine contractions, is associated with the S1 dermatome (supplied by the spinal nerve at S1), located directly behind the uterus.
Acupuncture is most popularly known for pain relief. Post-surgically and for injury, trauma or wound healing, acupuncture serves to increase blood flow to the area, reducing inflammation and swelling to accelerate healing by removing obstructions and allowing WBC and other healing agents to reach the site more quickly and effectively. Studies show that stimulation with an acupuncture needle releases opioid peptides and endorphins to produce an analgesic effect. It is for this reason that acupuncture is now being recommended by the CDC and Joint Commission in the current opioid crisis for natural pain relief over opioid medications. It is also recommended by the American College of Physicians as the first line of defense for low back pain.
What We Treat: The Eastern Medical Approach
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes over 90 conditions that have been shown in controlled clinical trials to benefit from acupuncture. Some commonly treated conditions include:
· Digestive issues: acid reflux, constipation/diarrhea, IBS, GERD, Crohn’s, Celiac diseases
· Stress, Anxiety & Depression
· Women’s Health: menstrual irregularity, period or fibroid pain, fertility issues, menopause symptoms
· Allergies
· Palpitations
· Headache/Migraines
· Insomnia
· Skin issues
· TMJ
· Neuropathy
· Pain: neck, shoulder, low back, hip, knee, ankle, sciatica, carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, plantar fasciitis
· Facial rejuvenation: acne scarring, fine lines and wrinkles, loose skin, skin texture, pore size, brown spots and pigment issues, hair growth
Contact
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Call/Text: (212) 547-9477
Email: hello@workinprogressacu.com
Website: workinprogressacu.com
Dr. Erin Lee, DACM, L.Ac.
Doctor of Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine
Licensed Acupuncturist
How Chiropractic Medicine Saved My Life
I’ve been reminiscing lately and realized that after writing all these blogs I never really shared my story, my healing story. At 12 years old I was diagnosed with asthma after landing in the hospital not able to breath after my first NYC trip. Ironic that the air pollution of NYC gave me my first asthma attack and that where I decided to open up my practice 16 years ago. I was a runner throughout middle school and high school and my asthma was getting worse and worse. At 16 years old we were looking for alternatives because my asthma was so bad I had to quite cross country and track. I was sick and tired of the inhalers and emergency room visits. I absolutely hated the prednisone medication….and i was getting worse and worse every year so we were desperate to find a solution. My mom heard of a chiropractor who may be able to help but he was 2 hours away. Well, we were desperate enough to give it a try.
He used muscle testing also known as applied kinesiology to help me find out what toxins were in my body causing the asthma and also directed me in what supplements to take that would support my lungs. With the right nutritional support and lifestyle changes I was asthma free in 2 years and I have not used my inhaler since!
Being so inspired I knew I wanted to do what he did and he was a chiropractor who specialized in nutrition. So I naturally went to chiropractic school. Chiropractic medicine is a health care discipline which emphasizes the inherent recuperative power of the body to heal itself without the use of drugs and surgery. We go to different colleges than medical doctors. We don’t learn about drugs but have more anatomy and physiology and learn how to help the body by working on the muscles, joints and spine. The practice of chiropractic focuses on the relationship between structure (primarily the spine) and function (as coordinated by the nervous system) and how that relationship affects the preservation and restoration of health.
The Goal of Chiropractic Because chiropractic treatments are primarily applied to the spinal region, many individuals incorrectly assume that chiropractors treat only back and neck issues. While we do quickly and effectively eliminate back and neck pain, it’s not the only goal. The objective is to restore and optimize human health by better nerve and blood flow to all areas of the body. We do this by correcting misalignments in the spine, opening up tight muscles strengthening weak ones.
How can the same chiropractic treatment which effectively treats my back pain also optimize my health? The answer can be found by looking into the relationship between the spine and the nervous system.
As you may already know, the nervous system is the master controller of all living cells, tissues and organs; orchestrating and coordinating all cellular functions. The spinal column encases the nervous system (spinal cord and nerve roots) and is responsible for its protection.
Because of this intimate relationship, misalignments in the spinal column can irritate parts of the nervous system. This irritation can result from inflammatory biochemicals released during injury or may result from direct pressure during an injury. In either case, the functioning of the nervous system is negatively influenced as is the nerves themselves and the organs that they go to.
In short, because the body’s innate recuperative powers are affected by and integrated through the nervous system, correcting spinal abnormalities which irritate the nervous system can lead to a number of favorable results in patients suffering from various, seemingly non-spinal health conditions.
What Chiropractors Do Chiropractors are primarily concerned with locating and treating misaligned joints, especially in the spine but could be anywhere in the body. We also want to open up and relax tight muscles not only to help patients get out of pain but also because muscles attach to joints and if they are too tight they can pull the joint out of place and our adjustments do not hold.
At Healing Arts, we use Applied Kinesiology to check the patient’s spine for any misalignments, fixations or other abnormalities (vertebral subluxations). If subluxations or other abnormalities are detected, the chiropractor will generally apply a gentle force in a corrective manner to the affected spinal area using their hands or an activator. Chiropractors use many specialized techniques to identify and treat these spinal abnormalities and optimize overall health.
In addition to spinal adjustive techniques we also use soft tissue techniques, physical therapies, and lifestyle modification programs to help the patient regain health.
We also use the muscle testing or Applied Kinesiology to identify which organs are weak in the body and using these homeopathic vials identify which toxins are causing the organ to go weak and then what nutritional supplement to use to help that organ. This is how we identify the root cause of a person’s health concern.
Chiropractors first got into the nutrition field in the 1940s when they realized that their adjustments were not holding well. What used to take a chiropractor 2-3 adjustments to heal was now taking 12+ adjustments and it wasn’t like they were worse adjusters. So chiropractors started looking for the source and realized that people were becoming more toxic and these toxins were interfering with the nervous system not allowing the adjustments to hold. This time period also correlated with food companies putting more sugar into the food and the birth of canned foods.
Even though chiropractors understood that what you ate and lifestyle changes made a difference in your health it wasn’t until the 1960s that Dr. George Goodheart developed Applied Kinesiology, also known as muscle testing.
The Benefits of Chiropractic
Short-term and regular chiropractic care can offer a number of benefits including but not limited to:
spinal and extremity pain relief
headache relief
increased mobility and range of motion
decreased stiffness and muscular spasms
arthritic joint pain relief
increased joint health
increased performance and energy
increased sense of well being and relaxation
increased balance and coordination
reduced degeneration and risk of injury
enhanced tissue healing
decreased tissue inflammation
We also treat kids and babies and help them with
earaches
trouble sleeping
colic
too much spitting up
constipation