Category: Research & Articles

Pediatrics as a specialty is one of the oldest topics discovered in the Chinese medical literature. Sabine Wilms discusses that as early as the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), there is mention of pediatric treatments in at least 19 volumes within the Imperial Library, (Venerating the Root, Part 1, 2013). Sun Simiao was a notable author in the early Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) who emphasized the treatment of children and women above any other medical issue.

Katy visited our center with a seemingly disparate collection of symptoms that were causing her distress. She described a pattern that was episodic in nature and involved abdominal bloating, belching, acid reflux, loose stools, shallow breathing, and palpitations. A cardiologist had ruled out serious heart disease and she’d been offered beta-blockers for what had been diagnosed as pre-ventricular contractions (PVCs) and occasional tachycardia.

We are presently experiencing a quantum evolution in our perceptions of the aging process, which involves the elimination of outmoded ideas about what it means to be elderly. This paradigm shift has been facilitated by half a billion Baby Boomers1 worldwide who have provided a powerful stimulus for a collective change to the ‘face of aging’. This is not the previous silent generation, but an outspoken, entitled demographic, which, by force of their sheer numbers, is amending existing conscious and unconscious social contracts.

There is a rise in the incidence of mood disorders. Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, rage, eating disorders, substance abuse, and many more are becoming common. There are also moods secondary to complaints, such as the fear and anxiety that may accompany a diagnosis like cancer or infertility; the disappointment of training for an event, only to get an injury; the difficulty of living with conditions like pain, insomnia, and trauma. There are also everyday concerns for our finances, reputation, relationships, family and friends, the environment, and more.

What is a marriage? Two people joining together to be more than either one alone. Of course, that’s just one aspect of a marriage. In addition to the union of two people, we use the term “marriage” to describe other types of joining, such as a marriage of form and function, marriage of words and art, or the provocative William Blake title of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. This article discusses the marriage of acupuncture and psychology.

Acupuncture and aromatherapy are two individual modalities that have been used for thousands of years to successfully treat a gamut of conditions and diseases. But what happens when they are combined together in one treatment? Is the treatment session more effective? Is there no difference at all? Does it increase patient satisfaction and comfort? I set out to answer these questions in 2011 while obtaining a doctoral degree in acupuncture and Oriental medicine. Here I will share with you what I discovered and suggest that yes, combining aromatherapy with acupuncture can make a treatment more effective.

One of the four categories of examination in Chinese medicine is the “looking diagnosis”. Observing the patient’s skin tone, the Shen in the eyes, and checking the tongue are all elements of creating a clear, effective diagnosis. Observing posture can add a layer to the examination that is insightful, especially given the frequent occurrence of postural distortion in modern times. We can start looking at our patients as soon as we greet them in the waiting room. How do they sit, stand, and walk? What kind of posture do they have? Instinctively, many of us sense that a slouching or hunching patient has a qi deficiency.

The classical Chinese medical system views health and disease through the “eight-principle and six-syndrome” differentiation methods. In ancient times, Chinese medical experts identified groups of symptoms as patterns, and associated them with specific formulas. Eventually, with repeated clinical success they recorded these patterns as “formula patterns”. Later, during the Eastern Han Dynasty between 40 to 200 AD, Zhang Zhongjing recorded all of this clinical experience handed down from generations in theShang Han Za Bing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases), which was later edited and separated into the Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage) and the Jin Gui Yao Lüe (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet).

Tendonitis is the single most diagnosed chronic connective tissue disease in Western medicine. It affects every major joint within the body and can make the most well conditioned athlete limp to the sidelines, as the pain can be overwhelming. Whether it afflicts a professional golfer or weekend tennis player, tendon pain is a huge problem affecting all sports. In our everyday lives, tendon pain also creates major problems. According to statistics of Workers Compensation injuries in California, repetitive motion disease (aka tendonitis) is the leading diagnosis for claims and disability in the state.

I would describe Five Element or Five Phases theory as both a context and a lens, applied with intent to diagnose and treat a patient. “Five elements” and “five phases” are terms that have been used interchangeably, with slightly different meanings. “Five elements” describes five compository forces occurring in Nature, namely, earth, wood, metal, water and fire. Some scholars prefer to use the term “phases” rather than “elements,” in order to convey the morphing and co-affecting properties of the elements, and avoid portraying them as being static.