Gentle Tiger Acupuncture

This part of the page is dedicated to asking the nuts and bolts questions about oriental medicine and all the different details that come together to make up an amazing body of medicine that covers a wide range of illness, sickness, disease and trauma. Stay tuned to this page as it will be updated regularly and with vigor!

April 27th, 2010 – below this there are some questions from March and above, eventually you’ll see f.a.q. after today’s date. I think these f.a.q.’s are pretty cool. Read on and learn.

Q: What is acupuncture?

A: Acupuncture is the insertion of fine needles into the body at specific points known to be effective in the treatment of specific health problems. These points have been mapped by the Chinese over a period of two thousand years. Recently, electromagnetic research has confirmed their locations.

Q: Does acupuncture actually work?

A: Acupuncture has been in existence in the orient for approximately 3,000 years. Today, in Asian hospitals, it is still the treatment of choice for non-life threatening medical problems because it has no adverse side effects on the body. It’s easy and accurate to rationalize that if it was not effective, it would not still be used today in medical clinics throughout the world. Every day more doctors are referring patients to an acupuncturist to relieve a variety of symptoms that modern medicine is unable to help. Professional athletes are turning to acupuncture for the quick relief of pain; cancer patients for the relief of pain and the negative side effects of Chemotherapy; laborers for the relief of backaches and carpal tunnel syndrome; and pregnant mothers for the relief of morning sickness. The NIH is also doing research that is accessed at www.nih.gov and follow the appropriate tabs to find out what they’re discovering with acupuncture.

Q: What problems can be treated by acupuncture?

A: The World Health Organization has said that acupuncture is suitable for treating the following:

1. Pain Relief:

Headaches, Migraines, TMJ, Trigeminal Neuralgia, Neck, Shoulder, Rotator cuff, Back, Scapula Pain; Leg, Arm, Foot, Hand, Heel, Toe, Finger Pain; Tendonitis, Tennis & Golfer’s Elbow, Carpal Tunnel, Bursitis, Arthritis, Joint, Sciatic, Knee, Gout Pain; Fibromyalgia, Raynaud’s Disease, Shin Splints, Sprains, Strains, Sports Injuries; Paralysis, Neuropathy, Abdominal, Chest, Groin Pain

2.Circulatory Problems

Irregular Heartbeat, Palpitations, Heart Pain; Hypertension, Hypotension, Valve Disorders, Poor Circulation

3. Internal Medicine

Insomnia, Digestive Disorders, Cold & Flu, Bronchitis, Asthma, Pneumonia, lBS, Gastritis, Nausea, Vomiting, Ulcers, Hernia, Hepatitis, Jaundice, Constipation, Diarrhea, Cirrhosis, Diabetes, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Gall Stones, Kidney Stones, Infections, Anemia, Allergies, Fever, Inflammation

4. Gynecological Disorders:

Menopause, Menstrual Problems, Endometriosis, Mastitis, Infertility, Sterility, Breast Tenderness, Labor Induction

5. Other Disorders:

Neurological ,Visual , Hearing, Stress

There are other issues that acupuncture helps with, but are not “official” with the National Institute of Health, such as Restless Leg Syndrome, muscle spasms, Morton’s Neuroma and more…

Q: Does acupuncture hurt?

A: In most cases you do not feel the needle enter the skin. At some points there may be very minimal discomfort, but most people do not consider it a pain. It’s more a “sensation”. In China, acupuncture is considered “bu tong”, painless. The needles are the diameter of a hair; several of them would fit into the head of a hypodermic needle. Once the needle is in the skin, it is gently handled until you feel either a very mild buzzing sensation radiating from the needle, a warm sensation, a distension sensation, or a feeling of heaviness. Sometimes that feeling is achieved merely with needle insertion. This is an appropriate therapeutic sensation. These sensations are not painful and you may slightly feel their presence.

Q: How deep do the needles go in?

A: The depth of the needle placement depends on the nature of the problem being treated; the location of the points selected; the patient’s age, constitution and size; and the style of acupuncture that the acupuncturist practices. Depth may vary between 1mm to 5 inches. In any case, the degree of discomfort is the same – painless.

Q: Are the needles clean?

A: Only single-use sterile surgical stainless steel disposable needles are used at Gentle Tiger Acupuncture. The one legal variation of this is the allowance for reusable sterilized stainless steel needles, but even when I was in Oriental Medicine school several years ago, this practice wasn’t encouraged, nor taught. At Gentle Tiger Acupuncture, the needles are used once, and then gently dropped in a biohazard container located in each treatment room. This eliminates the possibility of transmitting a communicable disease via a contaminated needle. Also, if I use a needle on your hand, I will not re-use that same needle during the same treatment on your foot, because very simply put, the germs, bacteria, etc. on your hand are not the same as the germs, bacteria, etc. on your foot and while highly unlikely increase the risk for cross-contamination.

Q: How does acupuncture work?

A: Modern western medicine cannot explain how acupuncture works. Traditional acupuncture is based on ancient Chinese theories of the flow of Qi (energy) & Xue (blood) through specific meridians that cover the body (from head to toe, meeting in the toes and fingers to create a single loop that runs throughout the body), similar to how nerves and blood vessels do. According to ancient theory, acupuncture allows Qi to flow to areas via the meridians where it is deficient and away from areas where it is in excess; thus establishing a harmonious energetic balance of the body.

One can draw a simple analogy of how acupuncture works by comparing it to the electrical system of a house. There are wires running through all of the walls of your house. (There are meridians running all through your body.) The wires are connected to circuit breakers, switches, appliances, and outlets. (The meridians are connected to other meridians, organs, tissue, and the main circuit breaker, known as the brain.) Electricity runs through the wires at all times, allowing everything electrical in the house to function properly, similarly Qi & Xue run through the meridians at all times, allowing the body to function in a healthy manner.

If you have a short, loose wire or bad connection somewhere along the wiring line, problems begin to appear in the house such as lights flicker or will not work, you lose all power, or an electrical fire breaks out. When pain, loss of proper bodily function, fatigue and low energy appear it’s easy to determine that Qi & Xue have stopped flowing correctly. If you flip the circuit breaker in the house, or repair the damage along the path of the wire, normal electrical function in the house will be restored. Proper selection of acupuncture points (which function as circuit breakers), based on tongue and pulse analysis along with thorough questioning will restore normal Qi and Xue flow, leading to normal body functioning. The pain will cease and health/homeostasis will be your experience.

March 26, 2010 – let’s start with some easy stuff. I was just updating my “about” page and I included a small glossary but as I was reviewing it for grammar and spelling errors I realized that the glossary was becoming its own animal, so I decided to cut and paste some of those terms to this page. read on!

Tui Na – (pronounced “twee” “nah” or “tway” “nah” – emphasis on the second syllable in both cases) uses massage and manipulation in conjunction with acupressure and is used for both acute or chronic musculoskeletal conditions, as well as some other conditions. It is an integral part of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Moxibustion – is a therapy I use that utilizes ”moxa”, a.k.a. mugwort. The mugwort is usually aged and ground up to a fluff, burned as is, but applied a few different ways

1. in a box specially designed to hold the moxa while it burns.

2. or the fluff is pinched and placed on the end of an inserted needle. It is then set alight and burns until out on the end of the needle.

It’s also processed into a stick that resembles a cigar, but is not smoked. This stick of Moxa is held over the skin, never on the skin to warm regions and acupuncture points in order to stimulate circulation through the points and facilitate well-being and healing