With the healthcare reform debate continuing, one approach that is widely agreed upon by medical doctors, naturopaths, and Chinese medicine practitioners is that it is far better to prevent illness than to treat it once it has taken root within the body.  Chinese medicine focuses on this preventative approach.  I have stressed on my web page that Chinese medicine is not just about acupuncture.  It includes the five modalities: acupuncture, tui na (Chinese therapeutic massage), dietary therapy, Chinese herbs, and qi gong (exercise). When you come in for a treatment, I may apply tui na (for example, after your acupuncture treatment), as well as prescribe herbs. I am also likely to discuss ways for you to cultivate your qi in your everyday life, through eating balanced meals and exercising regularly. Of course, my recommendations from a Chinese medical perspective are made in response to your unique health status and state of being. Although preventative medicine is good for all, preventative approaches are not the same for all! Write me or make an appointment if you’d like to discuss appropriate preventative medicine for you.   

—Inger

By the way, I have found myself prescribing fewer raw herbs and more herbs in the capsule and tablet form. Unfortunately, people don’t seem to have enough time to prepare raw herbs these days. It requires at least one-half hour of boiling and simmering and must be done several times per week, based on the number of bags of raw herbs prescribed.  With the capsules and tablets, patients don’t have to worry about preparing herbs and they can take them to work, ensuring they will get their properly prescribed dosage for the day.  

I’ve noticed that there’s quite a bit of foot traffic on Western Avenue. Most folks live in the condos in the surrounding the area and are often on foot versus driving, which is a wonderful thing. Because my clinic is on the street level, curious people often pop in and ask me questions about acupuncture and my practice. I love these conversations because I enjoy helping people who are seeking new information and new approaches to health.

Lately my treatments have been focused on chronic back pain, allergies, smoking cessation, insomnia, and stress and anxiety abatement.  I am quite pleased with my space so far and am looking forward to treating more people to resolve their ailments and improve their quality of life.

—Inger

Dear Inger,

AWB Executive Director, Diana Fried, and AWB Haiti Operations Manager, Julia Raneri arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Wednesday morning, February 3. We wanted to send you a brief report as soon as possible from the field.

Diana says:

“We were able to land here after all and didn’t need to do the grueling drive from the Dominican Republic. There are lines and crowds of people waiting for food distribution and buildings flattened everywhere. Everyone has heart breaking stories to tell. We have already given several treatments. Roger Brierre, friend of Jean and Eric, our generous and lovely Haitian hosts, is driving us around in his truck. Now and then the ground under the truck moves, and Roger says his heart jumps because he fears it is another earthquake.

We are going to an orphanage this afternoon, and are scheduled to meet with the economic advisor to the Prime Minister today as well to discuss the needs here. We will also be checking in with the UN, which is coordinating NGO’s in Haiti, and going to the general hospital.”

Kimberly Marin, an acupuncturist from Davie, Florida, along with a Sarasota news anchorwoman, are also traveling with Diana and Julia. Ms. Marin made the connection for AWB to fly into Haiti with the assistance of Dr. Ali Tahiri of Sarasota, Florida and a group of doctors who are going in to treat the Haitian people. We are grateful for their dedication to AWB’s work and guidance and support for AWB’s first journey to Haiti.

The goal of Diana and Julia’s trip to Haiti is to learn how, when, and where AWB can be of greatest service in Haiti, and how to set up a disaster recovery effort  that is most appropriate for what is actually happening: now, and as the situation unfolds. AWB wants to make sure our timing and strategy for intervention are  well considered, so we can provide what is needed, when it is truly needed, rather than further straining circumstances that are already fraught with unimaginable difficulties. We also want to make sure we will be taking our volunteers into a situation where risks can be well-managed and their safety can be protected.

We will provide more information as it becomes available. Diana is in touch via email on her Blackberry and service may be intermittent.

Roger Brierre, Diana and Julia’s current guide, sends a message:

“We want to say to all American people and the government of the United States that have been helping Haitians that we really appreciate their help. However the earthquake was so devastating to our people. Please do your best to keep helping the people of Haiti.”

Trauma recovery will definitely be needed as the rubble clears, and survivors have water, emergency medical care, food, and shelter.

Here is an excerpt from the New York Times on January 28:

“Meanwhile, government health officials on Thursday reported that the psychological impact of the disaster is becoming more apparent in the symptoms being seen at general clinics run by Doctors Without Borders.

One, in the rural town of Leogane near the epicenter of the Jan. 12 earthquake, reported that about half of the people receiving treatment were suffering from mental trauma….

The International Medical Corps, which is overseeing operations at the general hospital in Port-Au-Prince, also brought in a mental health specialist to help begin dealing with emerging concerns of post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems.”

Thank you to all who have donated for AWB’s Haiti Disaster Recovery Project to help us bring trauma relief into Haiti.

Thank you especially to Blue Poppy Enterprises, Inc. for raising $725 for this effort by donating a percentage of their sales between January 29 and January 31 to the Haiti Disaster Recovery Project.

Acupuncture Media Works is now running a fundraiser as well. For every set of “Acupuncture in a Nutshell” booklets you purchase they will donate $6 to Acupuncturists Without Borders for the Haiti relief effort.

Thank you also to Helio Medical Supplies, Inc. and Golden Flower Chinese Herbs for their generous donations of needles, herbs, and other supplies for this project.

Please continue to provide your support. We need $20,000 to launch this effort.

Amount raised so far for Haiti Disaster Recovery Project:

$16,535.00 cash
$  2,400.00 in kind (acupuncture supplies)

We still need to raise an additional $3,465.00. Please help us reach this goal!

Here are some other ways you can help us raise funds:

1. Add this link to your emails, web site, and facebook page to help us raise funds:

http://acuwithoutborders.org/donate_haiti.php

2. Sponsor an event for the public, providing free acupuncture treatments, with suggested donations for the Haiti Disaster Recovery Project. Dozens of acupuncturists around the country are now organizing these events!

We have an information and promotions kit that will make it easy for you to coordinate an event like this.

To receive this kit, email info@acuwithoutborders.org.
(ALL HAITI VOLUNTEERS…PLEASE READ BELOW FOR PROGRAM UPDATE)
*********************************************
Other related news:

*** Taxpayers will be able to deduct donations for Haiti earthquake relief on their 2009 returns instead of waiting until 2010, under a bill approved by Congress.

*** If you would like to do a fund-raising event for our Haiti project, please email info@acuwithoutborders.org for an event kit.

—Inger

HAITI PROJECT UPDATE 1/26/2010

We have just gotten news that our first exploratory team to Haiti will be leaving on Wednesday, February 3 for the Dominican Republic. Diana Fried, AWB Executive Director, and Julia Raneri, AWB Haiti Operations Manager and NADA registered trainer, will be going on a private plane with a group of doctors to the DR and going by truck from the DR to Haiti.

The doctors are very much wanting to have us with them, to help them with pain treatments, trauma, acupuncture anesthesia and to help the exhausted responders. They are doing many amputations in the field, and have warned us that it going to be extremely challenging both physically and emotionally. We will be going to rural areas that have not received many, and in some cases any, services and that were destroyed by the earthquake.

This group is generously offering us 2 seats on this flight. They have asked for us to help with gas for the plane. We would like to raise $1,000 immediately that we can give to them to support the flight to Haiti. If you would like to contribute to this important first flight, please click on to this link: http://acuwithoutborders.org/donate_haiti.php

We do not yet know if this where is our ground operations will be based. We have been working hard and around the clock and have been in contact with many organizations and individuals on the ground in Haiti, to find a secure and reliable way that we can set up and send teams. This is a HUGE job, and will take some time for us to get all the pieces we need in place to start sending teams. We hope to have things in place in the coming weeks, and our upcoming trip will be a large step in this direction.

      We are working closely with contacts at orphanages, street clinics,
     Port-au-Prince General Hospital, Dominican Republic Red Cross, and many
     other grass roots organizations and international medical teams.

To those who have written asking about the status, please have patience as we continue to work out details. It is a complex and difficult situation, to say the least. We will be in touch with you as soon as possible once we have details worked out.

We have received close to 200 applications from acupuncturists who want to volunteer in Haiti. Thank you to all who have sent information. We will be getting back to people on an individual basis, via email and in some cases phone, to move our volunteer plans along. As mentioned earlier, our priority will go to those who have been to an AWB training and/or have been in the field volunteering with AWB, and are AWB members.

 CLICK HERE TO DONATE FOR HAITI EMERGENCY RELIEF EFFORT: http://acuwithoutborders.org/donate_haiti.php
(100% of your donation will go to the Haiti program)

—Inger

For this reason, I am very excited to announce I will be moving my practice to a wonderful new clinic space in Belltown, two blocks south of the Olympic Sculpture Park! The clinic is in a brand-new building with a street-level entrance right on Western Avenue. I will no longer be sharing treatment rooms with other acupuncturists but instead will have two rooms available to me, enabling me to better serve you. I will have my raw herbal and granule pharmacy, as before. This new space allows for far more scheduling opportunities. I can be available more than three days per week and after 5:00pm as needed.

The new address:

Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine Center

2701 Western Ave.

Seattle, WA 98121

The building is on the northwest corner of the intersection of Western Avenue and Cedar Street.

My telephone number (206.227.0752), email address (ingerj.lac@gmail.com), and website address (www.ingerjohnson.com) remain the same. The website will be updated shortly with new address information.

I hope to have the opportunity to treat you at my new location. Take care, and here’s to the New Year!

—Inger

Come to the Book Fair at the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine (SIOM) on Wednesday, October 7, 2009, between 11am and 5pm in the break room. Representatives of People’s Medical Publishing House (PMPH), China’s largest medical publisher, will be exhibiting books, charts, and DVDs for sale at discounted prices. We welcome faculty, students, and the general public.

Titles to be exhibited include books on

• Clinical Practice of CM series on specific conditions, including Infertility, COPD, Stroke, and more
• Acupuncture theory and practice textbooks, exam preparation materials, and clinical research
• Chinese Massage Therapy
• DVDs on specialized topics
• Books for the general public on Diabetes, Arthritis, Migraine, Asthma, Endometriosis, and more
• Tibetan Medicine
• Dictionaries and Reference books
• The Illustrated Atlas of Commonly Used Chinese
  Materia Medica (deluxe 3 volume set)
• Wall Charts of Acupuncture Points (body, scalp, ear)

All at 20% discounted prices or more!

The PMPH web page will list detailed information about their products.

The address to SIOM is listed on their web page.

—Inger

A couple of weekends ago, I had the privilege to participate in Dr. Kubota’s first seminar in the United States on a Japanese style of acupuncture: the Ishizaka Ryu-school.  Those of us attending felt extremely honored to be in this first group and to learn this special treatment method.  In this post, I’ll share an overview of this acupuncture style as well as discuss Dr Kubota’s needling technique.

History of the Treatment Form Used in Ishizaka Ryu Acupuncture & Single-Needle Acupuncture

Dr. Kubota began the seminar by describing the history of Japanese acupuncture and how single needle acupuncture came about.  Japanese acupuncture originally came from hands-on healing methods, such as Shiatsu, An-Ma, Do-In, and Te-Ate (all of which are loosely translated as “massage”).  One old Japanese massage technique used a finger-pressure point method, pressing various tender points along the body.  Over time, this method incorporated a stone needle to press the points.  A metal needle then eventually replaced the stone needle.  Soon the single-needle acupuncture treatment was born.

Single-needle acupuncture’s method is to quickly insert and withdraw a needle superficially along various pressure points.  The needle is moving, much like the rhythm of a massage, all the way down the spinal column.  This unique style of acupuncture technique was called the “Irie Ryu” method during the Azuchi-Momyama Period (1582–1600 AD).  This model became “Ishizaka Ryu Acupuncture” (1770–1841 AD) and then “Kubota Zone Acupuncture,” which Dr. Kubota invented (2003–present). 

Ishizaka Ryu Acupuncture Is Distinguished by Its Inclusion of Dutch (Western) Medicine

What I found unique about Ishizaka Ryu acupuncture is that it has a history of inclusion of Dutch Western medicine.  According to Dr. Kubota, this was the first time classical Asian acupuncture and Western medicine were combined.  With the presence of Dutch medical doctors in Japan, Dr. Ishizaka had access to Dutch anatomy charts, rarely seen in his part of the world, and he applied them to his extensive studies.  He combined this knowledge with the Irie Ryu needling technique to form his “Ishizaka acupuncture,” in which there was a particular emphasis on the spinal column and the two meridians running down the spine, Urinary Bladder and Du-Mai–Governing Vessel, which were long known to Chinese acupuncturists.  There are more than 300 acupuncture points in the spinal area, including those meridian points, Hua Tuo Jia Ji points (other classical Chinese points), and “newfound points.”  As you know, in the Western medicine view, nerves start in the brain and move down the spinal cord.  The brain and spinal nerves regulate the entire body.  Dr. Kubota explained that both Western and Asian medicine agree on the importance of the spinal area.  

The Ishizaka Doctrine

The Ishizaka Doctrine was based on Dr. Ishizaka’s belief that a single treatment system—one focused on the spine—would heal all conditions.  The practitioner uses the one-needle, in-and -out technique of needle insertion all the way down the spine to resolve issues.  Based on his research and clinical experience, Dr. Ishizaka found the human body suffered from blockages caused by everyday life—for example, too much alcohol or fatty foods, working long hours and not getting enough sleep, injuries that never resolved, and stress.  Toxins build up within the body and become knots in the spinal area—all due to physical and/or emotional stress.

Dr. Kubota: A Student of Ishizaka Ryu Acupuncture and Originator of Zone Acupuncture

As far as Dr. Kubota knows, Dr. Ishizaka never indicated his diagnostic techniques in any text or writings.  Dr. Kubota believes Dr. Ishizaka’s diagnostic technique was primarily via massage of the back, a method that can only be taught through observation in a clinical setting.  After more than 30 years of practicing this style of acupuncture, Dr. Kubota created “Kubota Zone Acupuncture.”  The Kubota Zone Acupuncture Chart is the primary diagnosis chart for this style of acupuncture.  It is currently listed in Cyndi Dale’s new book, The Subtle Body, published by Sounds True in 2009.

Learning This Treatment Method

After the fascinating lecture portion of our weekend, we were taught the needle technique by observing Dr. Kubota in action, treating one of the volunteers in our group.  I noticed immediately the lovely rhythm and style Dr. Kubota has as he applies his needle technique. It was a fascinating combination of massage and needle technique all at once—something one must really see to understand.  After observing, we then partnered up and practiced this new method on one another.  Dr. Kubota walked to each treatment table, patiently correcting our needle technique.  He stressed the importance of relaxing your own body while inserting the needle.  He said, “You are like a willow in the wind.”  He gave very clear suggestions on how we can improve our technique.

The techniques I learned easily complement the treatment methods I am currently using in my private practice.  Many of my patients have a primary complaint of chronic pain.  This style of acupuncture is extremely effective in stopping pain and can easily be combined with other treatment modalities.  I see this as yet another tool to add to my clinical toolbox.  Again, I feel honored to have spent a weekend working directly with Dr. Kubota!

If you would like more information about Dr. Kubota and his Zone Style Acupuncture, see his web page: http://www.naokikubota.com/index.html.

—Inger

A TRADITIONAL Chinese medicine developed in Shanghai has received a permit from the United States Food and Drug Administration to conduct clinical tests on American hepatitis C patients who have developed fibrosis….

—Inger

The beginning of the book focuses on theory: specifically, the relationship between the individual organs (and their functions) and the channels. The format is easy to read, with beautiful illustrations that succinctly depict the often complex and detailed Chinese medicine theories. Each chapter includes a follow-up question posed by Jason to his teacher, Dr. Wang Ju-Yi. It reminds me of the question-and-answer format of the Huang Di nei jing (The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic), in which Huang Di poses the question and Qi Bo answers.

The second portion of the book discusses channel theory. I especially appreciate this section because it stresses ways to apply the theory directly to your clinical practice. I use applied channel theory in addition to asking questions, checking the pulse, looking at the tongue, and palpating the abdomen. Applied channel theory is yet another diagnostic tool for me to use to come up with an appropriate treatment plan for my patients.

Here’s a sample pdf from the book.

—Inger