Acupuncture: What to Expect

This is where the fun and relaxation begins.  After your initial evaluation, you will be provided with a holisitic plan of care designed specifically for you.  Your treatment may include Acupuncture, Cupping, Tui Na (Oriental Massage), Infared heat and/or Moxibustion.  Kellie Osmon, MS, L.Ac. will determine which combination of therapies will benefit your specific health concerns and administer them in our comfortable, relaxing environment with dimmed lights and soothing music.  You are sure to leave your treatment feeling refreshed and ready to face the world.

Acupuncture Frequently Asked Questions

What is Acupuncture?

The ancient Chinese believed that there is a universal life energy called Chi or Qi present in every living creature. This energy is said to circulate throughout the body along specific pathways that are called meridians. As long as this energy flows freely throughout the meridians, health is maintained, but once the flow of energy is blocked, the system is disrupted and pain and illness occur. Imagine rivers that flood and cause disasters or an electrical grid short-circuiting that causes blackouts. Acupuncture works to “re-program” and restore normal functions by stimulating certain points on the meridians in order to free up the Chi energy.  While this classical understanding of Acupuncture has merit and is the backbone of Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis and treatment, modern science is starting to reveal numerous physical and neurological reflexes as well as disturbances in the natural electromagnetic properties of the body that may help to further explain our understaning of this remarkable healing technique. 

How do Chinese Herbs work?

After diagnosing a pattern of disharmony and administering acupuncture treatments, Kellie Osmon, MS, L.Ac. often recommends an herbal formula chosen from over a thousand common herbal formulas.  Herbal medicine has a long history in the Orient. The first Chinese material, the Shen-Nung Herbal Classic, was begun during the Stone Age and completed in the later part of the 5th century B.C., from which some important formulas originated.
In this herbal classic, herbs are categorized into three groups. The first group is called “food herbs” which are eaten as part of one’s diet for general fortification, prevention and maintenance. The other two groups are called “medicinal herbs” which are dispensed to each patient as an individual formula based on one’s constitution, environment and medical condition.  Medicinal herbal therapy works in concert with acupuncture by providing the nourishing support for the energetic “re-programming” and “re-balancing” efforts of acupuncture.

What is Traditional Chinese Medicine?

Traditional Chinese Medicine has its origin in an ancient philosophy which views a person as an energy system in which body and mind are unified, each influencing and balancing the other. Unlike allopathic medicine, which attempts to isolate and separate a disease from a person, Chinese Medicine emphasizes a holistic approach that treats the whole person. Many people have found Traditional Chinese methods of healing to be excellent tools for maintaining optimum health and preventing illness.  For more information on acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine visit www.acupuncture.com.