Each acupuncture treatment is custom tailored to your specific needs at the time of your appointment. Our bodies change every day and our symptoms may vary between each treatment, so I do a thorough intake each time a client receives an acupuncture treatment so that I am being the most effective with each of my treatments.
My acupuncture practice in San Francisco provides many services besides just acupuncture. I use a wide variety of healing modalities, including Acupuncture along with Traditional Asian Bodywork massage such as Tuina and Shiatsu, Medical Qigong (subtle energy healing), Hara Abdominal massage, suction cup therapy, moxibustion, Infra-red heat therapy and electrical stimulation to ensure maximum results in the shortest amount of time. I may also use medicated Chinese herbal oils with massage techniques to effectively reduce and eliminate pain and muscular discomfort.
Part of the treatment plan that I give to my acupuncture patients in San Francisco to help resolve their underlying factors include holistic therapies include:
I emphasize the use of
diet, exercises, and meditation as a way for my patients to gain control and become an active participant in their own healing process.
Is Acupuncture safe?
I use high quality single-use, disposable acupuncture needles and I take great care to ensure the highest degree of comfort in each of my patients so that they enjoy a relaxing as well as effective treatment each time they make a visit.
Relaxing the Mind
One of the most effective ways that we can recover from pain, injury and other internal diseases and neurological conditions, is to help get our mind to relax. By relaxing the mind, the body is more capable of healing itself naturally. When we remain stuck in our "fight-or-flight" or "sympathetic nervous system" type of stress response, our pain sensations will become heightened due to the pain inducing effects of adrenaline. This "fight-or-flight" stress response may be due to overwork, negative emotions, staying busy, crowded city streets, improper diet, environmental toxins, stimulants such as sugar or caffeine, or even the stress of being in pain can cause a "fight-or-flight" stress response in our adrenals. This over-stimulation of the sympathetic branch of the autonomous nervous system can result in:
This "sympathetic dominant" reaction to stress will over-stimulate the Adrenal glands to produce excess amounts of hormones such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, aldosterone, and cortisol to power this "fight-or-flight" reaction. After years of this increased demand on the Adrenal glands due to stress or overwork without enough rest, our Adrenals become fatigued from being constantly stimulated and will be unable to support many of our body's energy requirements.
When the Adrenals become fatigued, chronic illness, chronic fatigue and chronic pain will become much more difficult to cure. The body is so tired, however the mind cannot settle down. If you experience lower back aches or pain, this may be due to adrenal fatigue from too much work or the use of too many stimulants such as caffeine or sugar.
When we become stuck in this double-bind of being mentally over-stimulated, creating the drive to do so many things, meanwhile the body desperately needs to rest but is unable to do so because of having too many tasks, thoughts, worries, and other forms of mental or physical activity or stimulation, we may need assistance through acupuncture, massage, nutritional supplements or Chinese herbs to support the adrenals and guide us to relax and rest more deeply.
Anxiety is one of the main reasons people seek acupuncture in San Francisco and Berkeley, therefore I use age old methods to relax the nervous system into the "Para-sympathetic nervous system" which is the "Rest-and-digest" portion of our nervous system. These include Acupuncture, Hara Abdominal Massage, Medical Qigong, and Foot Reflexology. I also prescribe and administer dietary supplements,Chinese herbal formulas, along with dietary recommendations, meditations and special exercises that can help reduce your symptoms and speed up your healing process.
How many treatments do I need?
I tend to recommend a course of 6 to 10 Acupuncture treatments, once or twice per week to most of the patients who receive acupuncture in San Francisco or my Berkeley offices. Often times the pain can be eliminated with just one or two treatments. Many times a health issue requires several followup treatments to achieve the results that we want. In general, the longer you have had a condition, the longer it will usually take to resolve completely.
Why am I in pain?
The human body has a very intelligent system built in to heal itself. When we feel pain, that is the body signaling to the brain that there is an imbalance of some kind in that area. The central nervous system then responds by sending healing agents to the site of trauma or disharmony.
However, many of us tense up when we feel pain, causing our muscles to contract and our blood vessels to constrict, reducing the ability of our body to heal naturally.
Many times back pain is due to muscles that have gotten so stiff and tight that they start to squeeze and pinch the nerves. All that is necessary in order to provide quick back pain relief is to relax those muscles that are in spasm.
Many of us have other underlying factors contributing to our pain condition, such as stress, repetitive straining motions, poor posture, weak musculature, nutritional imbalances, and an inability to relax our nervous system out of the 'fight or flight' sympathetic nervous system, and into the 'rest and relax' parasympathetic nervous system.
In order to relax the body, you must also relax the mind. That is why several various different therapies are used here at Holistic Back Relief Acupuncture in San Francisco and Berkeley, to target the various different aspects of your health condition.
If you have been in constant pain for a prolonged period of time, than you will be in a stress response because pain is very stressful and agitating to our nervous system. We must stop the pain sensations in order to relax the nervous system but then we also have to calm the mind order to keep the pain from returning.
Holistic treatment modalities that I use along with acupuncture include:
