Healing with Ancient Practices: Chinese Medicine's Relevance Today.

Anthropologists say that Chinese Medicine is over 5,000 years old, which means that when the pyramids were being built in Egypt, Chinese medicine had already been practiced for a millennium. So, how can ancient healing practices apply to modern life? The answer is complicated. Some diseases, like scrofula, are less of a problem in the post-industrial ages, and other diseases, like malignant bone tumors, often respond better to Western interventions. But in between those ends of the spectrum, Chinese medicine shines as a valuable tool to enhance your life.

For diseases involving hormonal dysregulation, including types of infertility, hypothyroidism, and even recurring panic attacks, TCM (traditional Chinese Medicine) can provide immense relief, essentially by resetting your body’s baseline response to hormonal triggers.

For pain, acupuncture can change the way your neurotransmitters work to signal pain, it can relax tight muscles and tendons, can reduce inflammation, and improve circulation to speed up healing time. Regular treatments after surgeries can get you back on your feet sooner, and help prevent re-injuring problem areas.

Acupuncture is also great at improving the quality of sleep you get at night, thereby improving your body’s ability to heal itself and recover from the micro-traumas of daily living. Our bodies simply cannot do it all unless we take care of them. I tell all my patients that self-care is what turns Kellys and Michelles into Beyonces.

Acupuncture doesn’t cure any diseases. The reason that acupuncture has been used for so long is that it strengthens and balances each individual patient so that our natural immune systems work optimally, and we can live rich and fulfilling lives despite our various diagnoses. I see someone for hypothyroidism, and when she gets bloodwork done, her numbers stay the same. However, she feels better the weeks she comes in for treatments because acupuncture helps her body make the most out of what she can naturally produce. Similarly, acupuncture won’t delay the change for my perimenopausal patients, but it will ease the transition and limit things like dry skin, hot flashes, and mood swings.