This post comes to you on the suggestion from this post earlier this week.

I don't believe I've talked about Moxibustion in this blog, which is a bit of an oversight.  See, I'm allergic to the smoke associated with the burning of moxa (mugwort) and so didn't even think about writing about it!

Thanks, Carolyn, for bringing it up as a topic!

As I mentioned in passing above, Moxibustion is the burning of the herb Moxa.  Moxa is the western herb mugwort.  The fluffy herb can be burned several different ways:

• Loose Moxa can be pressed into a little ball shape and placed on the handle of the needle and burned.
• Loose Moxa can be pressed into a little cone shape and placed on a patch of ointment directly on the skin.  The cone is then allowed to burn until the patient begins to feel heat and then quickly removed.  In China they will allow the moxa cone to burn to the point of blistering, creating a scar.  This is called scarring moxa, and for, hopefully, obvious reasons isn't practiced in the US.
• Moxa can be purchased in a cigar-shaped stick which is then burned and held over the skin.  There are two forms of moxa sticks: green moxa, where the herb is pressed together and rolled into the cigar; and a moxa stick where the moxa has been made into a charcoal cigar.
• Loose Moxa can be burned inside a special box (a moxabox) with holes in the sides to allow smoke to exit, which is then held over the skin.

So what is the purpose of burning moxa?  Moxa is an extremely warming and moving herb so it can be used for many reasons:

• Body Aches - Pain is caused, in Chinese medical theory, by a lack of proper movement of energy.  Moxa, when burned over the area will get that energy moving and decrease the pain.
• Skin Rashes - Some skin rashes are also caused by Qi not moving properly, so moxibustion may be indicated.
• Turning a breech baby - When burned on certain points, moxa can be very successful in turning breech babies.  Many nurses and midwives even know of this technique and will recommend that their patients find an acupuncturist to get that baby in the proper position!
• Cold conditions - Okay, so this reason for using moxa doesn't have a singular biomedical equivalent, so we'll discuss it a little bit.  In Chinese medical theory, the quality of something being cold will cause its energy to move more slowly.  If that cold is inside our bodies, it will cause our Qi to move more slowly, often causing pain.  Cold can be one of the contributing factors to pain.  There are many conditions where cold can be a factor, such as menstrual cramps, digestive troubles, infertility, diarrhea and more.  Moxa, because it is both warming and moving, is perfect for counteracting the effects of cold in the body.

So, while I don't use Moxibustion in my practice because I'm allergic to the smoke, I have sent moxa sticks home with patients who could really use a little warming over their abdomens.  Sometimes there's nothing better than a hot stick of moxa in the morning!

This week is National Headache Awareness Week.  Acupuncture can be used to both ease the pain of a current headache as well as prevent future headaches.

It doesn't matter what type of headache you experience, either.  Be it your run of the mill headache, tension headaches, migraines or cluster headaches.  They can be related to stress or hormones.  No matter the cause or type of headache, Chinese medicine has a way of getting them out of your life!

Below are some acupressure points that you can massage in order to ease your headache.  For best results, find a licensed acupuncturist who you can work with to determine your Chinese medical diagnosis and get to the bottom of your pain.

Large Intestine 4 (LI4) is a point that strongly moves Qi in the body.  This point can also be used to specifically treat disorders of the head - perfect for headaches!  Do not massage this point if you are pregnant.

Du 20 is a great point for treating many disorders of the head, based on its location.  This point will be especially effective if your headache is near the acupuncture point!

Heart 7 (Ht7), as well as all of the rest of the points along the crease-lines of your wrist, are great for treating headaches that are located in the base of your neck.  There are several acupuncture micro-systems that portray the hand as your head, with the wrist crease representing the back of the neck where it meets your head.

If your headaches are located at your temples, massage them!  Tai Yang is an acupuncture point located in your temples!

And, like massaging your temples, feel free to massage the areas where you experience pain.  We have many many acupuncture points on our heads, (which would make for a very long blog post!) so chances are you'll be massaging one or more!

Portland is one of the pet-friendliest cities in the US and Spot Magazine's Top Dog Competition helps highlight Portland's best pet-friendly businesses!  The competition is by popular vote, one vote per person, please.

You can do your part to help - vote Thrive Acupuncture as one of Portland's Top Dogs!

It's pretty easy, here's what you do:

• Go to http://www.spotmagazine.net/top-dog-voting-form/
• Enter "Thrive Acupuncture" in the "Holistic Wellness Practitioner" category
• Enter your other favorite businesses under the appropriate categories
• Click "submit"
• Tell everyone you know to do the same!

Thanks for showing Portland that there is more to living than just surviving!

This is Toby.  He's coming to see me for arthritis.  He's 16 years old - he looks GREAT for his age, right?

People ask me, all the time, HOW I do acupuncture on pets.

Don't they move around?

Do they bite you?

Do you have to anesthetize them?

Nope!  Just look at Toby!  He hardly even notices that the needles are in!  Some dogs will lay down and fall asleep.  Some do move around (and this is fine!).  My main goal (aside from making them feel better via acupuncture and herbs, of course) is to make sure that they're comfortable and unstressed when they come visit me.

A stressed animal is preventing the acupuncture from working to its full potential, so keeping a relaxed environment is KEY to speedy healing.

Stay tuned for video of my buddy Benny who's being treated for post-surgical pain in his knee, and you'll see just how relaxed most dogs are during their treatments!

In a small study (200 women) it was found that acupuncture can be a great adjunctive therapy in place of some or all oxytocin used to help the uterus contract following a c-section.

But this isn't the exciting part of this story, believe it or not.  The exciting part is that this was "discovered" because of a shortage of drugs getting to the hospitals.  Adequate supplies aren't getting to the hospitals because of the war that has been raging for so many years now.

Doctors are opening their minds to other therapies in times of shortage and are finding great uses in them!  While I would rather that the doctors be open-minded in times of plenty as well, this sure is something!

Doctors and hospitals of the world, please take a look at what the Iraqis have done.  Please take note that you could decrease expenditures, decrease side effects and discover many more treatment options by accepting acupuncture as a powerful healing modality.

So by now, you've heard a ton about how great acupuncture is for humans.  Here's a story of how well it has worked in man's best friend!

I've treated several pets with various types and stages of paralysis and in every case the pet has experienced at least some amount of relief from their symptoms.

Acupuncture is often used to treat chronic, long-standing conditions, but there are many cases where it can be used to treat emergency-type conditions with great success!

People often ask me how long it will take to treat their current health problem.  And my answer is always this:  It depends.  On many things.

• How quickly your body responds to acupuncture (some people's energy just changes quicker than others')
• How quickly your body responds to MY acupuncture (every patient will respond differently to different practitioners)
• How often you receive treatment (more frequent treatments mean less backsliding, and more steps forward)
• Are you interested in being treated with herbs as well?  (Herbs really help speed the healing process)

And to me, one of the most important questions is:

• How deep is your health hole?

I know... this sounds like a really weird question.  Let me explain myself.

There are two basic types of health complaints - acute and chronic.

Acute health complaints are something that has shown up quickly, won't last that long if left to its own healing, but you'd really like to get through as quickly as possible.  That sprained ankle, or recovering from surgery, or a cold or flu.

Chronic complaints are those that have taken time to build up.  Yeah, you had allergies as a kid, but as you've aged they just seem worse year after year.  Or you used to only have 2 headaches a month, but over the last couple of years you're up to 10!

Chronic complaints are usually due to this "Health Hole."  We've spent time not addressing the cause of the health concern, and it just seems to keep getting worse.  And I'm not saying that we haven't addressed the problem at all.  If we're talking about allergies, sure we've taken antihistamines, we vacuum our house rather than sweep to keep the dust amounts down, etc.  But these don't address the underlying cause of the disease process, and so year after year, that hole keeps getting bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper until we're absolutely miserable.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are a great way to start filling in your health hole, and depending on how deep your health hole is, is how long it'll take for you to be truly healthy.  The deeper the hole, the more time it'll take.

So, be patient with yourself and your practitioner if your healing seems to be going a little slower than you'd like.  As long as your general trend is toward health, you're going in the right direction.  It takes time to regain our health after leaving that health hole to its own devices!