Inger’s Blog

For today’s blog, I’ve chosen a handful of recent articles selected from the Journal of Chinese Medicine to show the efficacy of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. As more and more people choose acupuncture and Chinese medicine to treat what ails them, there has been a demand for more research on it’s effectiveness. I hope you find this selection of articles intriguing:

• Osteoarthritis and Chinese Medicine: An Overview of Theories and Evidence
• Nurturing Life in Classical Chinese Medicine: Sun Simiao on Healing without Drugs, Transforming Bodies and Cultivating Life
• The Treatment of Pelvic Pain with Acupuncture: Part 1
• The Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease by Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine
• Acupuncture Therapy in Diseases Failing to Respond to Western Medicine: Six Case Reports
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Treatment by Traditional Oriental Medicine
• Acupuncture in the Treatment of Premenstrual Syndrome
• The Treatment of Psycho-emotional Disorders by Acupuncture: with Particular Reference to the Du Mai

—Inger

Hello.

Below is a letter I recently received from a patient after a single treatment. With the permission of the patient, I’d like to share that letter with you here. This letter reinforces for me why I do what I do: resolve people’s pain, whether physical or psycho-emotional, and share new ways of living informed by Chinese medical perspectives:

Dear Inger,

I just wanted to write to thank you for treating me yesterday.

When I came to your office, I could barely put any weight on my right foot due to hip and sciatic nerve issues.  What you accomplished in one appointment was nothing short of miraculous.  After being in excruciating pain for nearly a week, 24 hours after seeing you I am literally pain free!

I came to you because I was told by my primary care physician that it would take weeks in physical therapy to accomplish this (he spent 5 minutes with me before proclaiming this).

While I believe there is a place for my primary physician, I want you to know that I see it’s equally important to receive care on a regular basis from my L.Ac. for both prevention, and treatment.

With gratitude,

A.D.

The symbol yin yang

 “The root of a quiet body must be supplied by food.”     —Sun Si-maio

Most people begin the new year with numerous resolutions. I‘d like to suggest that you keep things simple by focusing on eating in a balanced manner. The quote above means that the root of good health depends on a proper diet. Chinese medicine is based on the concept of yin and yang. Yin and yang are in a dual relationship and rely on each other. When our body becomes out of balance—if we eat improperly, for example—yin and yang become out of balance. If improper diet and unbalanced eating habits become a regular pattern, then over time disease will occur.

Here is another statement about eating from Chinese medicine:

“If drinking and eating lose their discipline, cold and warmth will not be proper and the spleen and stomach will therefore be damaged.”

In other words, if you eat too many foods that are either too hot or too cold in nature, cold and warmth will be unbalanced. Overeating hot foods causes heat to accumulate in the stomach, while overeating cold foods will damage the spleen and cause it to be vacuous.

This statement shows that yin and yang become out of balance via eating too much of something. On the other hand, not eating enough food is detrimental to your health as well:

“If grains do not enter, in a half day, the qi declines, and in one day, the qi is scanty.”

Your qi (your body’s vital energy) will have declined if one does not eat for half a day. And if one does not eat for a whole day, then one’s qi is insufficient for health. Yin and yang are out of balance due to lack of foods entering the body.

To help support you in 2012, I plan to regularly post about food, diet, and the energetic properties of foods from a Chinese medicine perspective. Feel free to follow these posts on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/IngerJLac

Or you can find my posts on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Inger-Johnson-LAc-Acupuncture-Chinese-Medicine-Practitioner/218850764799964

Happy new year to you! Here’s to a year focusing on balance!

—Inger

“Is it possible to discuss acupuncture in a way that makes sense to even the most Westernized brains?”

This article answers that question and tries to explain some of the theories behind acupuncture:

http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/09/a-healthy-poke-demystifying-the-science-behind-acupuncture/245816/

—Inger

Dear friends,

Acupuncture is an incredible medical service with many health benefits. Acupuncture can relieve and cure illness for a fraction of the cost, has very few side-effects and short recovery time. By including this option in Medicare-Medicaid, many people will be able to afford to heal their bodies, while reducing the cost to the overall program.

Please help sign this petition on the Whitehouse.gov website. 25,000 signatures of support are needed by Nov 4th, 2011. If you want real change in our health care system or have family members who depend on Medicare-Medicaid, why not offer another health care option and help improve their quality of life?

Feel free to forward this petition to those you know.

Link to petition website and instructions:

1. Click the website

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/add-acupuncture-medicare-medicaid-save-resources-and-end-much-suffering/4GN8703p

2. Click “Create account” and type-in your information ( first/ last name, city, zip code )

3. Confirmation through your personal email

4. Click “submit petition”

Thank you very much for your support!

–Inger