ORTHOPEDIC

ACUPUNCTURE

Originating in ancient China, acupuncture is perhaps one of the oldest medical systems in the world. It has developed through continuous practical experience over thousands of years. IN Simple Terms:  Acupuncture does TWO things #1 It helps to move blood or increase circulation. This all depends on where we choose to put the hair-like thin needles in the body. When we place them in the body, we are encouraging the blood to move anywhere we direct it to, it could be your head, your feet or your internal organs. When we move blood, we are moving nutrients to these diseased body parts or organs. The other thing that happens when we move blood IS, we are decreasing inflammation. Inflammation is simply just retention of waist. So, it’s important that we move this out of the body.  #2 Acupuncture retrains your brain to do this all by itself. So, with acupuncture unlike medication, we are not trying to replace function, we are simply trying to restore function so that you can return to full health. In our experience when we have restored function to the diseased area, you will be better able to face challenges and recover from stresses, your pain or discomfort will be less if not resolved and your sports performance will surprise you. Healthy choices become easy; creativity, joy, mental focus and better sleep come naturally.

Dry needling is an acupuncture style that is focused on muscles and anatomical needling instead of traditional acupuncture points. It often incorporates myofascial trigger point release of muscles which in some cases corresponds with traditional acupuncture point locations. It is called “dry” needling because acupuncture needles are solid and do not contain any fluid in them like hypodermic needles (“wet” needles). Dry needling involves a specific needling technique that seeks to identify and release areas of myofascial constriction to deactivate trigger points and release tight bands of muscle.

DRY NEEDLING IS A SPECIALIZED ACUPUNCTURE STYLE

Dry needling is a specific acupuncture style. It differs from the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) style many people associate with acupuncture where acupuncture points are used in accordance with Chinese medicine principles to alter physiological processes in the body. Research has shown that needling acupuncture points can reduce inflammation, promote blood circulation, and activate certain parts of the brain depending on the point used. Dry needling does not rely on Chinese medicine principles and instead is focused on anatomical needling based on muscle locations and trigger point referral patterns. Trigger points have been around long before recent research labeled them as such. Acupuncturists have been treating tight, hyperirritable bands of muscle for many centuries by using acupuncture techniques that penetrate the muscle tissue and cause the muscle to twitch involuntarily which loosens the muscle and restores it to a more normal state.

Yes, absolutely! Erica has extensive training in dry needling, far beyond what is required to perform this technique. Dry Needling is simply just a subset of Acupuncture. Erica’s approach to DN is different than one you might find from a non-acupuncturist. She looks at the entire body and tests for muscles that may be inhibited or what we call “not firing.” When a muscle is not firing (or not communicating properly) it’s surrounding muscles end up doing more work and often causing stress on them which ultimately creates what is called, a trigger point (or tight band). An acupuncturist is always looking at the whole-body picture. If we were to simply treat where your pain or discomfort was-often times it will return. When we take a systemic approach, our goal is treat the underlying cause so that your pain or discomfort does not return.

We offer Acupuncture, Relief Bodywork, Massage, Herbal Consultations, Custom Herb prescriptions, Supplements; We have a natural pharmacy on site and online, we ship all over the US and give you access to our online pharmacy so you can order high quality/professional grade supplements delivered right to your home. We also offer Estim (electrical stimulation), Cupping, Vitamin Injections-like B-12 or our famous Immune Boom or B Energized vitamin cocktail injection. We also do a large array of comprehensive lab testing which includes lab reviews and we design custom protocols for you based on your results. With multiple disciplines to draw on, we can treat and prevent illness by looking at the whole picture.

The fees vary because our clinic offers multiple services, and Erica won’t know which service is best for you until after your initial exam and treatment. We typically offer 20% off prepaid care plans once we determine the best course of treatment based on your goals and objectives.

Everyone responds differently to treatment and since we have never treated you before we do not know if acupuncture works for you and if it does, how quickly you respond. Some experience results after the first session and others require 3-4 sessions to take notice which is why after Erica does your initial exam and treatment, she will design a rate of response (ROR) program for you to help us determine the number of treatments you will likely need to reach your goals.

The relief you experience after the treatments will last progressively longer after each session allowing us to space out subsequent visits farther and farther apart. Think of acupuncture as building a fire, first we need to light the kindling and coax it to keep on burning, once the logs ignite, we simply just need to maintain the flame to keep us warm.

Our goal is to:

• Achieve results quickly
• To reinforce those results and
• To maintain those results

Once you are where you want to be, our focus changes to keeping you running like a well-oiled machine and preventing any breakdowns. It is typical to stay on a maintenance program 1 X/month, or every 5-6 weeks and sometimes just a treatment at the change of the season.

No, we do not submit to individual carriers, however we would be happy to send you a Superbill ( this is a fancy receipt that you can submit to your insurance company for possible reimbursement)