TCM stands for Traditional Chinese Medicine. It consists of five branches: acupuncture, herbs, massage, nutrition, and exercise. Acupuncture itself includes several modalities besides needling such as heat therapy (moxabustion) and cupping.
TCM has diagnosed, treated and prevented illness in millions of people for over 3000 years.
Acupuncture is virtually painless, since the needles are micro-fine. Discomfort, if felt, is mild and brief. Most sensations feel like warmth, tingling or pressure. Most people report their experience extremely relaxing, and many fall asleep.
TCM provides another way to view, diagnose and treat the whole body and mind.
The majority of chronic complaints take 5-15 sessions. Acute conditions may only require one treatment, while degenerative conditions may require ongoing therapy. TCM focuses on correcting under-lying imbalances. While relief of symptoms may occur with few treatments, correcting the imbalances generally takes longer, but effects are long-term.
Success rates depend on the diagnosis, age and overall health of each individual. They are very high on average.
Some companies cover acupuncture. A superbill for you to submit to your insurance company is available on request, and insurance discounts honored.
They are powerful medicinal substances that work internally to restore balance and promote healthy functioning organ systems. Usually a prescription of 3-16 different herbs is put together by the practitioner, uniquely tailored to treat for the individual.
Prescribed by an herbalist, yes. They do not have the side effects of pharmaceuticals and they do not interact with most prescription drugs. Your acupuncturist will be aware of and avoid those interactions.
Acupuncture has been used as a primary healthcare system for over 2000 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has found acupncture to be effective in treating a long list of disorders including:
• Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
• Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
• Biliary colic
• Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
• Dysentery, acute bacillary
• Dysmenorrhoea, primary
• Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
• Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
• Headache
• Hypertension, essential
• Hypotension, primary
• Induction of labour
• Knee pain
• Leukopenia
• Low back pain
• Malposition of fetus, correction of
• Morning sickness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Neck pain
• Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
• Periarthritis of shoulder
• Postoperative pain
• Renal colic
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sciatica
• Sprain
• Stroke
• Tennis elbow
The WHO compiled a second list of diseases and disorder that acupuncture has been shown therapeutic for:
• Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
• Acne vulgaris
• Alcohol dependence and detoxification
• Bell’s palsy
• Bronchial asthma
• Cancer pain
• Cardiac neurosis
• Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation
• Cholelithiasis
• Competition stress syndrome
• Craniocerebral injury, closed
• Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent
• Earache
• Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
• Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
• Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
• Female infertility
• Facial spasm
• Female urethral syndrome
• Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
• Gastrokinetic disturbance
• Gouty arthritis
• Hepatitis B virus carrier status
• Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3)
• Hyperlipaemia
• Hypo-ovarianism
• Insomnia
• Labour pain
• Lactation, deficiency
• Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
• Ménière disease
• Neuralgia, post-herpetic
• Neurodermatitis
• Obesity
• Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
• Osteoarthritis
• Pain due to endoscopic examination
• Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein-Leventhal syndrome)
• Postextubation in children
• Postoperative convalescence
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Prostatitis, chronic
• Pruritus
• Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
• Raynaud syndrome, primary
• Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
• Retention of urine, traumatic
• Schizophrenia
• Sialism, drug-induced
• Sjögren syndrome
• Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
• Spine pain, acute
• Stiff neck
• Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
• Tietze syndrome
• Tobacco dependence
• Tourette syndrome
• Ulcerative colitis, chronic
• Urolithiasis
• Vascular dementia
• Whooping cough (pertussis) |
