Acupuncture aids the activity of the body’s pain killing chemicals, relaxes tight muscles, decreases inflammation, and releases endorphins. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) philosophy believes pain is due to stagnation or blockage. The stagnation could be qi stagnation, blood stasis, food accumulation, water retention, or any other blockages. Pain can happen at almost any part of the body and have a wide variety of qualities such as chronic, acute, dull, sharp, nauseating, and pain with burning or cold sensations. Acupuncture, cupping, tui na, and gua sha, treats pain by breaking-down stagnation, reopening the body’s channels, harmonizing internal organs, and restoring the free flow of qi and blood.
A survey by NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institute of Health) found pain was the most common reason that people used alternative medicine. Commonly treated ailments include back pain, neck pain, arthritis, joint pain, and headache.
TCM treatments are safe, effective, and have minimal side effects. Dr. Li is an experienced acupuncturist, with licenses from both Oregon and Washington states. She can also relax the body with cupping (glass cups are placed on skin to create suction and encourage blood flow), tui na (Chinese message), moxibustion (burning of mugwort, a spongy herb, to release pleasant heating sensation to the skin) and gua sha (scraping skin with a spoon to release tension). Please look under the “Services” tab of top website menu to learn more about these treatments.