Tag: pain

By Elena Tate “Getting regular massage therapy and acupuncture has allowed me to manage my pain without the use of opioids,” said Ms. Jeanette Jones. She has been regularly receiving massage therapy and acupuncture by Pacific College interns at the Initiative for Women with Disabilities (IWD) for over 10 years. She, like millions of others, …

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“Shenocide” is a coined word, describing the killing of the spirit or shen. Opioid addiction, which effectively destroys the patient’s shen, is responsible for a growing number of deaths worldwide. Opioid addiction has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Some relevant statistics: In 2011, an estimated 4 million people in the US used opioids …

Continue reading ““Shenocide”: Three Protocols for the Treatment of Psychospiritual Aspects of Opioid Addiction”

In a new study, the largest of its kind to date, researchers compared the effectiveness of acupuncture and cognitive behavioral therapy (using sleep restriction, stimulus control, cognitive restructuring, relaxation training, and education) for the management of insomnia in a group of 160 cancer survivors. Both reduced the severity of the insomnia over 20 weeks, and …

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Previous studies have shown that acupuncture can reduce inflammation, but the actual mechanism of the reduction is still not well-explored. In this new study, researchers conducted an investigation of distal electro-acupuncture at LI 4 on inflammatory pain in the hind paws of mice. Instead of simply testing whether acupuncture would reduce inflammation, they were attempting …

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By Ann Wang, CMD, LAc Without a doubt, the work that has brought me the most joy in my 39 years of practice has been helping my patients to conceive and to bring healthy babies to term. Fertility has become one of my specialties not only because of my growing experience in the field but …

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PCOM-SD’s acupuncture clinics for the homeless were recently featured in an article by the San Diego Union-Tribune. Check out an excerpt below or read the full article! The Growing Importance of Alternative Therapies for Homeless Communities Free clinics commonly offer homeless and low-income people medical and dental services, but some San Diego clinics also offer …

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Headaches can be a real pain! Here’s a guide to identify what kind you’re dealing with, and the best way to treat it.

A handshake, a hug, a massage- touch helps people from all walks of life connect. This connection can help reduce stress and improve health and wellbeing.

By Kiiko Matsumoto, LAc & Monika Kobylecka, LAc In the United States, as many as 50-70% of kids wear braces; many adults also use these and other orthodontic devices. Requests to take pressure off a painful or tight TMJ are all too common in our practices. While wearing enamel-protecting night guards shields the teeth from …

Continue reading “Think about the “Chin Point””

One of the four categories of examination in Chinese medicine is the “looking diagnosis”. Observing the patient’s skin tone, the Shen in the eyes, and checking the tongue are all elements of creating a clear, effective diagnosis. Observing posture can add a layer to the examination that is insightful, especially given the frequent occurrence of postural distortion in modern times. We can start looking at our patients as soon as we greet them in the waiting room. How do they sit, stand, and walk? What kind of posture do they have? Instinctively, many of us sense that a slouching or hunching patient has a qi deficiency.