Non-needle options

Acupuncture works extremely well for chronic conditions, especially those involving pain. According to Chinese theory, acupuncture is “bu tong,” which translates as “no pain.” While some people are uncomfortable at the idea of being treated by the insertion of needles, you should know that the needles are very thin — about like a cat whisker!

Most times, people are unable to accurately guess the number of needles put in during a treatment. They tend to underestimate significantly because they are unable to feel most of them.

Even so, if you are convinced that a non-needle treatment is more fitting for you, you have several other options at East Wind.

Chinese Herbal Medicine
Chinese herbal medicine involves the use of natural substances of plant, animal and mineral to balance imbalances, which creates health. Unlike Western herbalism, which uses herbs individually, Chinese medicine uses combinations of herbs in formulas, many of which were developed centuries ago with adjustments and modern adaptations over the years.
Diseases that are classified as warm or hot are cooled by certain herbs and herbal formulas. Conversely, when there is a condition of cold within the body, we treat with warming herbs and formulas.

Pain comes from stagnation. In Chinese medical theory it is said, “If there is pain, there is not free flow; and if there were free flow, there would not be pain.” Thus, it is that pain is stagnation and certain herbal formulas are designed to create movement of blood and other vital substances (like qi), which makes them useful for pain.

Herbal ingredients that serve as “envoys” are used to guide the effects of the herbs and formulas to specific parts of your body such as your head, neck, lower back or extremities, for example. Other herbs serve as harmonizers to take away any harshness a formula might have.

Most problems can be addressed through Chinese herbal medicine. As a matter of fact, there are Chinese medical practitioners who do not do acupuncture at all and treat all conditions with herbal medicine alone. My teacher, Chang Wei-Yen (aka Jimmy) of Hacienda Heights, Calif., is a famous example of such a practitioner.

Health Coaching
In today’s world of conflicting and just plain misinformation, it is easy to become confused about what things promote health and what things cause problems.

Health coaching involves individual appointments to come up with strategies and tactics to develop habits that will lead you to your health goals. Dietary habits are most often thought of first since what we eat influences our physiology and ability to function in so many ways.

Additionally, stress, sleep, exercise, and meditation habits can play crucial roles in getting out of pain and down the path of reaching your health goals. Additionally, the reliance on “will power” is a strategy that just doesn’t work in the long-term. Our health coaching will help you understand how to “hack” your physiology by making changes in your habits and your environment so that your new habits become part of who you are.

Nutritional Guidance
So much of our health depends on what we eat! One of the greatest sources of inflammation is our diet with sugar being the biggest culprit, followed by anything else you are sensitive to.

Inflammation is the fire that results in pain and what we eat tends to pour gasoline or water on the fire of inflammation.

Our weight is also a function of what — as well as when — we eat. Increasing the time between the last meal of the day and the first meal of the following day is a highly effective strategy for quelling many chronic diseases.

We offer many lab testing options so that you will know exactly what to eat and what to avoid.

Correct Testing
In Western medicine, which is governed by strict controls over diagnostic processes (that are designed to justify treatment), any “services that seek to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong and enhance the quality of life” are considered medically unnecessary by Medicare (MCM 2251.3).

Since it is exactly our intent to prevent disease, promote health as well as prolong and enhance the quality of life, most of what we do is not covered by insurance. Only acupuncture for specific conditions is typically covered.
Thus, when we do lab testing, we are not looking to make a diagnosis; rather, we want to see where your biggest “wellness” issues are. We want to know what systems are the least well. Then we want to implement strategies to improve the function and overall wellness of those systems.

So the tests we run are different from the tests typically run by a medical doctor. Likewise, your insurance typically won’t pay for the tests. We have, however, negotiated extremely good pricing on your behalf, and we don’t inflate the price of the labs.

We typically will look at 35+ blood and urine lab values as well as gut health indicators in the stool and hormonal indicators in the saliva. These are WELLNESS-oriented tests that we believe to be the correct tests to guide you in enhancing your quality of life!

Moxibustion
Also known as “moxa,” moxibustion evolved in the northern part of China and is intimately connected to acupuncture. The Chinese word for acupuncture is “zhenjiu,” which translates as acupuncture and moxibustion.

Moxibustion is the process of warming the surface of the skin with the wool of the mugwort plant. Moxa is usually administered indirectly through a cigar-like moxa pole, which is held in close proximity to the skin as it smolders; rolled into balls and placed on the handle end of an inserted acupuncture needle, again as it smolders (classic scene in Steven Seagal’s “Hard to Kill” movie); or burned on an insulated platform that sits on the skin or applied directly to the skin in “threads” (Japanese style).

Moxibustion is famous for its effectiveness in getting a malpositioned fetus to turn when applied to the outer aspect of the fifth toe (Bladder 67).

Learn everything that you need to know about acupuncture by navigating other pages on our website.

– What is Acupuncture?
– Acupuncture Benefits
– Acupuncture Research
– Pulse Diagnostic