Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Blog

Boost Your Lifestyle to Combat Chronic Pain: 3 Tips for Immediate Relief by Jackie Waters

People who live with chronic pain know that every aspect of daily living is made more difficult. Simply getting up and out of bed in the morning is a feat for those who are in pain all the time. Yet, there are steps chronic pain sufferers can take at home to minimize their pain; we share tips for boosting your lifestyle to combat your chronic pain here, in the hopes that each day becomes more manageable for you.

1. Change Your Surroundings

Chronic pain may be caused by stress and emotional issues in addition to physical injury. People with chronic stress often have chronic pain because their muscles are tense and constricted, which leads to fatigued and inefficient muscles over time. Since many people with chronic pain spend a great deal of time at home, making changes to your surroundings at home is an effective way to reduce your stress and minimize your pain.

One of the first things you should do to lower stress levels and minimize pain is declutter your home. Studies show that clutter reduces your ability to focus and process information well. By concentrating on getting rid of the clutter, you will feel better by donating items you no longer need and knowing that you have more open spaces to enjoy at home. You won’t feel boxed in or trapped by your belongings, and you will enjoy having more natural light entering your home.

Acupuncture and Stem Cells: A New Way of Treating Pain with Regan Archibald

Last weekend we had a course with Regan Archibald on acupuncture, stems cells, and bonghan ducts. Turns out, several studies have shown that acupuncture does impact stem cell proliferation AND what we believe to be channels/meridians are actual treadlike microscopic anatomical structures called bonghan ducts (discovered by and named after Kim Bonghan from North Korea).This class was revoluntionary and is at the forefront of integrating Eastern and Western medicine. THE ENERGY IN THIS CLASS WAS INCREDIBLE!! GET EXCITED EVERYONE! We are finally getting to a point where the acupuncture channel system can actually be proven.

Here's some golden clinical pearls on the acupuncture impact on stem cells from the class. A freebie for you!
• Adrenal malfunction: Ki-3,Ki-6, Ki-7, Ki-27, Sp-6
• Thyroid malfunction: Li-16, Li-17, Sj-5, Lu-7, Liv-3, Liv-5, UB-12, Du
• Pituitary/hypothalamus malfunction: Du-20, GB-1, GB-20, Ear Shenmen, Yintang,
• Pineal Gland: ST 4, Yintang, GB 10, Liv 5
• Ovaries: Ren 2,3,4, Ki-,12,16, Liv 5, Li-16, Bl-32
• Liver: Liv-3, Liv-5, Liv-13, Gb-34
• Heart: Ht-3, HT-7, Ht-8.

Check out Regan's class for more information on stem cells and how they can be positively impacted by both acupuncture and herbal medicine.

Part 1: Acupuncture and Stem Cells: A New Way of Treating Pain, Part I
Part 2: Acupuncture and Stem Cells: A New Way of Treating Pain, Part II

If you are an Annual Gold Pass Member, find all of Regan's videos here to begin your complimentary viewing.

~Donna Chow, L.Ac.

Cupping – A Non-Pharmaceutical Therapy, a component of traditional Chinese medicine by Daisy Dong, LAc, CMD (Denver, CO)

On August 8, 2016, NYtimes.com posted an article titled “What are the purple dots on Michael Phelps’s? Cupping has an Olympic Moment.” In recent years, professional doping scandals have worried many athletes who did not use drugs but won their competitions fairly. Many athletes have soft tissue injuries or muscle fatigue from training hard daily. An increasing number of sportsmen look for non-drug therapies for quick healing and have discovered cupping as one of the quickest modalities in traditional Chinese medicine to relieve muscle and tendons ache, soreness, or tiredness. The result of effectiveness ranges from a few minutes to relief until the next morning. Some people, including medical students, have asked me where I lecture the elective course of “Introduction of Chinese medicine”. I lecture at the Health Science Center, in the University of Colorado Denver. They were also interested to know why some people showed the marks and some do not.

Before answering this question, let us first take a look at the history of cupping therapy. The first official record of the cupping therapy was written by a Taoist and herbalist, Mr. Ge Hong (281-341 AD) in China in his book: A Handbook of Prescription for Emergencies. During that period of time, cups were actually animal horns to eliminate pus in the skin or soft tissues. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 AD), the book complied by Mr. Zhao Xuemin titled Supplement to Compendium of Materia Medica dedicated an entire chapter on cupping. This book emphasizes the value of this therapy and mentioned to place fire inside of pottery or bamboo cups, etc. Today, the most popular cupping methods are fire cupping in special glass jars or pumped cupping without fire.

Body-Feedback Acupuncture with Michelle Buchanan

Body-Feedback Acupuncture is a system in which a practitioner uses palpation techniques to identify root meridian imbalances which compromises health. This unique system not only helps the practitioner easily find the root problem but also helps to formulate an individualized treatment plan using classical acupuncture point prescriptions and herbal formulas.

In other words, this is an easy way to figure out a person's root issue just by seeing how he/she responds to certain acupuncture points on their body.

See if any of your meridians need attention by checking if any of these points are tender on you: LU-5 or LU-10, LI-5 or LI-11, ST-36 or ST-41, SP-2 or SP-9, HT-3 or HT-8, SI-5 or SI-8, UB-40 or UB-60, KD-2 or KD-10, PC-3 or PC-8, SJ-6 or SJ-10, GB-34 or GB-38, LV-2 or LV-8.

To get started and learn this acupuncture system from Michelle Buchanan, take the following courses in order. Once you've completed the two introductory courses, click here for a link to her bio and all her courses.

1. Identifying and Treating The Root Meridians
2. Scalp & Facial Needling and Supporting Root Meridian Imbalances

If you are an Annual Gold Pass Member, find all of Michelle's videos here to begin your complimentary viewing.

~Donna Chow, L.Ac.

Master Tung's Acupuncture: Top 20 Points for Immediate Result with Dr. Henry McCann

"Most definitely the most pleasurable presentation on Tung-style acupuncture presented here."

"This was my first class with Dr. McCann and I will say I enjoyed this class as much as some of the other greats I've experienced here. Getting the theoretical background and understanding the why of acupuncture goes much
farther than just data points. Thank you."

"Easily the best speaker so far hosted by Lotus. This year's roster is excellent. Truly some of the best
presenters I've heard yet."

"I really enjoyed him. He kept my attention and I like that he gave history of the points at the beginning."

"Dr. McCann is amazing! He is a staggering source of TCM knowledge."

These are some of the comments from Dr. McCann's class in February 2016. Many people who are new to Master Tung's acupuncture always ask, "Where do I start?". Master Tung's acupuncture is a completely different (for the most part) system from the traditional points that were taught in school. Why do people use Tung acupuncture? Because it works! Because patients can feel their pain melt away instantly!

Who is Master Tung and why did he decide to share his family secret with all of us? In this course, Dr. McCann begins the class sharing Tung's family history, the characteristics of Tung's acupuncture, and rules of diagnosis and treatment. The second half of the class is filled with details of secret clinical tips of the top 20 Tung points! If you are new to Tung acupuncture, this is a GREAT course to start with as Dr. McCann holds your hand and walks you through this beautiful journey of the Tung acupuncture system!