Chinese Medicine Services

Acupuncture

What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient technique used to stimulate the healing mechanisms of the body.

During the course of an Acupuncture treatment, hair- thin, sterile, needles are inserted into specific points of the body. These points gently alert the body to an area that requires healing and so the body sends resources to that area to bring that disharmony back into balance.

What Does Acupuncture Feel Like?

Many people have developed a fear or dislike of needles because of the use of large, hypodermic needles in Western medical settings. However, Acupuncture needles are smaller and thinner; in fact you can fit 14 acupuncture needles inside of a usual injection needle! Patients are often pleasantly surprised to find that Acupuncture treatment is quite comfortable. There is usually a slight prick as the needle is inserted and then initial sensations of heaviness, dullness, or mild ache which are quickly replaced by the warmth and movement of the body's subtle healing mechanisms. Most people find Acupuncture to be a relaxing and minimally-invasive way to treat illness and promote health. 

Is Acupuncture Safe?

Acupuncture is a method of treatment that has been used in China for more than 1000 years with great success. In the modern era, every licensed practitioner of Acupuncture in the state of Oregon has graduated from an accredited four-year graduate program where they were trained in safe and effective needling techniques. In addition to hundred of hours in the classroom, these acupuncturists also had hundreds more hours of practical experience and observation by expert practitioners to hone their skills. While all medical interventions carry some level of risk, the risks of acupuncture are usually limited to local bruising or slight bleeding at the site of the needle insertion and the National Institutes of Health have declared acupuncture to be a safe and effective medical treatment for a variety of conditions.

How Often Is Acupuncture Needed?

The frequency that acupuncture is needed depends heavily on the case and what is being treated. For acute problems, such as pain related to injury, or post-stroke sequalae, it is ideal to have acupuncture several times a week and as close to the date of onset as possible. In these situations, the sooner and more frequent, the better. 

In more chronic cases, more time may be preferable between treatments. Many of these details also depend heavily on the practitioner's style of intervention, their use of herbal medicine, and other techniques. As a patient, it is very important to communicate with your practitioner and have a clear understanding of how your treatment is being planned. At Root & Branch, we use the Initial Consult to create a clear treatment plan for every patient. We find that this method not only allows us to measure accurately the results of an intervention, but also to keep patients active and aware of their own healing process. 

Other Tools & Techniques

While acupuncture stands as a primary method of intervention for Chinese Medicine practitioners, we also use other techniques during treatment, such as moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, bodywork, and more. For more information about these techniques, please see the Other Techniques section. 

Herbal Medicine

Chinese Herbal Medicine offers complete coverage for every kind of ailment and disease making it unique among natural or alternative therapies. Until the 20th century, Chinese Medicine and the herbs it uses were known just as Medicine with no special tags or monikers. It was and remains, the best way to heal your ailments.

Herbal medicines are prepared individually for every patient so that they can be tailored to that patient’s specific needs and to address the exact symptoms of disorder that the patient is experiencing. As a patient, you would come in to the clinic for an initial assessment where one of our practitioners would listen to your problem, ask a series of questions, perform some physical assessments, and then write for you an herbal formula targeted to your exact condition.

How herbs are administered in Chinese Medicine will depend on the circumstances or a given condition. Herbs may applied topically to the skin or they may be given to add to a foot soak. They may even be added to a pillow or cushion for aroma therapies. But by far the most common method of administering herbal medicine is through making a decoction, aka herbal medicinal tea.

How Are The Herbs Prepared?  

When making a decoction, the whole plant materials soaked in cold water s to re-hydrate them completely. Then, they are placed in a pot and brought to a boil. The temperature is moderated down to a simmer and then the herbs are allowed to simmer for a set amount of time (depending on the formula). Once completely extracted, the herbs are strained out and composted, while the liquid is consumed for its therapeutic effects. Because of modern technologies and preparation methods, formulas can also be made from instant-tea powders called granules which can be quickly dissolved in water for people on-the-go. Herbs are even made into less customized pills for more generalized conditions or for constitutional problems that require slow and steady modification.

How Do The Herbs Taste?

The taste of the herbs will be different depending on which herbs are prescribed in the formula. Herbs range from being quite bitter, to sweet and even to spicy. In Chinese Medicine, we believe that the flavor of the herbs actually activates an essential part of the healing process. While many herbal formulas are not ideal in their taste, most people report that their herbs are easily tolerable, and even enjoyable in many cases. Interestingly enough, the person's experience of tasting their herbs and embracing the changes offered by the plants and minerals they are drinking often represents an important point of transformation within the healing process. And of course, sometimes a spoon full of sugar (or honey) does help the medicine go down :)

Chinese Medicine Nutrition

Everyone knows that nutrition plays a key role in the development and maintenance of good health and long-term wellness. And we also know that there are a wide variety of opinions of what constitutes good eating. At Root & Branch we use Chinese Medicine principles to help patients get a grasp on what kinds of foods and what sorts of preparations will help them achieve their health goals. These principles are very different than looking at specific chemical constituents or assessing numbers of calories or grams of fat. We look at food with a wider and more inclusive viewpoint that includes the tastes and flavours of different foods, the way that you might prepare them, what you have time and money to actually accomplish, and ultimately how to make lifestyle changes instead of focusing on dieting. 

Removing Fear from Food

So much of our understanding about nutrition has mostly to do with what FOODS TO AVOID. There are endless blog posts and well-meaning wellness warriors out there with a thousand loosely supported reasons for why you should never eat a particular kind of food and maximize some other sort of food or nutrient. The biomedical science on this topic is an ever moving target whose actual research is often very revealing but unfortunately is not well-packaged for the general public. 

At Root & Branch we rely on the literally thousands of years of clinical knowledge collected in the annals of Chinese Medicine texts in order to inform our nutrition conversations so that we can talk about what to add into your eating rituals and how it could help. We talk about how to assess if some change is actually helping. And yes sometimes we do need to talk about what foods to reduce or avoid but all of our guidance is organized as a change for a specific amount of time or for as long as a symptom persists. 

We firmly believe that healthy bodies are able to assemble a virtually limitless variety of foods and to find vigor in the process

Other Techniques

While the most well-known Chinese method of therapeutic intervention in the West is Acupuncture, it is certainly not the only one. At Root and Branch, we combine other techniques such as Bodywork, Moxibustion, Fire Cupping, Gua Sha and Infrared Heat Therapy in private sessions, to tailor each treatment to a patient's needs. These modalities allow Chinese Medicine to unfold in its dynamism and reach its full capacity in healing.

Moxibustion

Moxibustion is an elegant therapy initiated by carefully burning an herb called mugwort (or "Ai Ye" in Chinese) on or around the skin. Through artful positioning and technique, moxibustion's effects compliment and match the effects of acupuncture itself (acupuncture being a more "Yin" therapy, while moxibustion being a more "Yang" therapy). 

The warmth, comfort, and beauty of the treatment makes moxibustion a quick favorite of patients. 

Many of the more traditional medicine practitioners in Japan, specialize in moxibustion as a sole therapy. The practitioners at Root and Branch, combine moxibustion with acupuncture and other techniques to achieve the desired result.

Bodywork

Literally, "working with the body," Bodywork is a form of "hands-on" therapy, commonly referred to as massage. While bodywork is often thought of as an enjoyable treatment for rest and relaxation, it can also be used in the promotion of wellness and the elimination of disease. 

Many of the practitioners at Root and Branch use Shiatsu, a style of Japanese bodywork, or Tuina, a style of Chinese bodywork along with Acupuncture and other techniques.   

Fire Cupping & Gua Sha

Fire Cupping and Gua Sha are additional techniques that can be used to open up the body, and liberate pathology from deeply within the tissues. 

Fire Cupping is a very simple procedure. It is done by taking a glass "cup," placing and then quickly removing, a lit flame beneath its concave surface, and finally, setting the cup on a portion of the body (such as the back, or a shoulder). The rapid removal of the flame, creates a "sucking" effect to the skin. This effect, allows the cup to "draw out" tension, and stuck substances from the fasha and up to the skin. The skin can then release this matter, in the form of petechiae (red/purple dots on the skin) or "sha" in Chinese.

Fire Cupping has grown in it's popularity since the most recent Winter Olympics, when the U.S. swim team famously showed up with "cupping marks" on their bodies. While certainly useful in its the capacity to speed up recovery time for athletic performance, cupping can also be used to assist the body with acute onset cold and flu conditions, as well as many other things.  

Gua Sha is the process of moving a tool, such as a porcelain spoon, across the muscle and skin of a person. Similarly, Gua Sha attempts to draw out stuck substances within the fasha. The practitioners at Root and Branch use both Fire Cupping and Gua Sha to fit patient needs.