Points North Community Acupuncture The direction you've been searching for

About Acupuncture

Chinese Medicine is a complete medical system which includes acupuncture, herbal remedies, dietary therapy, body manipulations/massage, and qigong- a form of moving meditation. This medicine is at least 3,000 years old and is the primary care for more than one quarter of the world's population. The ancient people who discovered these amazing medical modalities, were meticulous observers. They discovered pathways (or meridians) through the body, along which lay powerful points that, when stimulated, produced dramatic effects. With modern technology, we have been able to begin understanding why acupuncture works for so many different issues. We are gaining more insight into the unique properties of acupuncture points and meridians. At their first acupuncture appointment, many patients ask me "What does it do?" The short and simple answer is "It restores homeostasis." Homeostasis is your body's basic job description, the internal balance of every system. In a fundamental sense, all disease is a disturbance of homeostasis. The fact that acupuncture can be so simple yet so powerful, is in its ability to incite the body's own homeostatic restoration. Acupuncture stimulates the peripheral nervous system, which effects the central nervous system, which regulates the autonomic nervous system. (very) Generally speaking, the results of this are pain relief, relaxation, and inflammation reduction. Specific aspects of this include regulation of blood pressure, increased pain tolerance, optimization of gastric and intestinal motility, temperature regulation, and reduction/reparation of the effects of chronic stress. There is also an immediate increase in blood cell production causing strengthened immunity and energy.
Acupuncture's effect on pain, discomfort, and anxiety can be dramatic indeed. Some experts summarize this as "descending control normalization of the serotonergic nervous system". For the scientifically inclined, there is an excellent article here. For those with less neuroscience in their backgrounds, there is a more general article here.

 

 

About the Acupuncturist

Sarah E. DeLaForest, LAc graduated from The American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in 2011 with a Master's Degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. She is a Diplomat of Oriental Medicine through the National Council for Certification in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. As such, she is fully board certified in acupuncture as well as Chinese herbal medicine. Sarah's practice method emphasizes Dr. Tan's Balance Method and Master Tung style acupuncture.