Gracey Holistic Health

Acupuncture

Healing without breaking the skin

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Acupuncture falls under the umbrella of Chinese medicine. It’s’ a needling technique that has been used for thousands of years to treat a variety of illnesses and injuries. The needles are used to stimulate acupuncture points throughout the body to help restore balance or heal a patient.

There are a variety of factors that influence how practitioners use acupuncture, including but not limited to:

  • The size of the needle
  • The pressure used with the needle
  • The depth of insertion of the needle
  • The location of acupuncture points stimulated

While I do practice traditional Chinese acupuncture, which involves inserting hair-thin needles into the skin, my speciality is a lesser-known practice of non-insertive acupuncture called Shakuju Therapy.

Shakuju Therapy

Shakuju Therapy is a type of acupuncture where a small, thin blunted needle is used to stimulate acupuncture points without breaking the skin. I call it acupuncture without the puncture. The theory was developed in Japan by a leading acupuncturist Dr. Shoji Kobayashi. I had the privilege of learning directly from him and am now honored to one of eight selected, certified teachers outside of Japan to teach it.

What does shakuju mean?

Dr. Kobayashi calls his practice “Shakuju Therapy” because it combines two concepts: “shaku”, a deeper and more fundamentally important form of system imbalance and “ju”, a more superficial, less critical manifestation of imbalance.

According to him, “when people are born, they are warm and when they die, they become cold.” When illness or disease strikes, this is when the body starts to become cold or depleted. Stimulating the movement of this vital energy creates warmth, allowing the body to start to heal itself or restore balance. In so doing, the shaku and ju are diminished and hopefully removed.

In Western medicine, this “vital energy” encompasses all biological processes that are interdependent on communication even at the cellular level. Proper function of these processes are dependent on proper circulation, as for instance, sufficient blood flow is vital to one’s wellbeing. Therefore, Shakuju Therapy can assist a patient in maintaining better homeostatic balance and recover from an illness by restoring proper circulation.

Non-insertive acupuncture

Think of the needle as a conduit for directing a message for the circulatory systems. All the practitioner has to do is intently focus on directing the appropriate message through the needle to encourage flow to a particular area of the body. Through my practice, I have found that patients heal just as effectively with non-insertive acupuncture. Suitable stimulation of a targeted acupuncture point on top of the skin is enough to create warmth for the body to start to heal itself.

Get help from Gracey Health

There are added benefits of receiving a non-insertive acupuncture treatment. To name some, it’s gentle enough for prenatal and geriatric care and for those who are needle shy.

When combined with other complementary therapies and holistic health care advice, non-insertive acupuncture could be the right treatment for you. Stop in to our Belmont or Brookline office to find out.

Make your health care work for you

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Think of all of the people who help improve and maintain your health. You may have a primary care physician. But you could also have a nutritionist. And a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. And a personal trainer. And another specialist, perhaps. Each professional in your health care network has a particular background, set of skills, and expertise. When combined together, you receive the best of all worlds.

Holistic medicine isn’t trying to replace your doctor or your routine. It can be integrated into your existing health care routine for a variety of conditions.

For example, your doctor may prescribe medication to reduce the frequency of migraines, while your acupuncturist can help reduce the pain or stop a migraine dead in its tracks. Or your surgeon might fix a broken bone, while your physical therapist helps with mobility and your acupuncturist helps with post-surgery pain and recovery.

Start with the whole picture of your health

It’s important to understand all aspects of a patient’s healthcare network. That’s why when I see a patient for the first time, I make a point to learn their history, including treatments currently being received or prior treatments, medications being taken, and health goals that a patient is working towards.

With that information, I can better understand which services will serve you best. In so doing, I’ll focus on how to build the existing work you’ve received, offer new perspectives to treatment and collaborate, as needed, with your other health care practitioners.

Talk about your treatment plan

Everyone in your healthcare network is working for you. That’s why communicating about the treatments that you are receiving is important. But communication or collaboration can be difficult when not everyone is speaking the same language.

If you are trying to talk with your doctor about acupuncture, you might need to phrase the treatment in Western medical terms. But this can be hard to explain.

That’s why I’m happy to talk with your doctor personally to explain what the treatment is from a biomedical point of view. Because the more that everybody knows, the more that everybody can help you. That’s why integrated, holistic health care can work so well—it’s a patient-centered team approach.

Types of holistic healing services

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In an earlier blog post, I’ve talked about how holistic medicine treats the mind and spirit in addition to the body. I’ve also mentioned how my practice offers acupuncture and other complementary treatments.

But what are these treatments? And how do they work to heal the body in ways that you might be unfamiliar with? Check out the list below to learn more:

Japanese, non-insertive, and auricular acupuncture

These styles of acupuncture differ in the size and shape of the needles, the way the practitioner uses the needles, as well as where the needles are stimulating the body.

  • Japanese acupuncture: The stimulation of acupuncture points throughout the body using thinner needles and a gentler technique with shallow insertion. Needles are generally placed on different points of the body along meridians.
  • Non-insertive (Shakuju Therapy) acupuncture: The stimulation of acupuncture points along the meridians of the body without insertion of the needle into the skin.
  • Auricular acupuncture: The stimulation of acupuncture points on the external ear surface for the treatment of health conditions throughout the body.

Stretching, aromatherapy, essential oils, mindfulness, fitness and dietary consultations

While we don’t necessarily think of stretching or dietary consultations as holistic treatments, there are numerous benefits to these that impact your health beyond your body.

  • Stretching: A natural therapeutic treatment to alleviate muscle or tendon tension. This includes kinesiology taping, which helps provides stability and support to muscles and other soft tissues by microscopically lifting and gently stretching the skin, and correspondingly increasing blood/lymph circulation and reducing inflammation.
  • Essential oils: The use of aromatic plant oils to elicit a certain physiological and psychological reactions from the body.
  • Mindfulness: The practice of being present.
  • Fitness consultations: A service where your physical health is assessed to provide guidance for improving physical fitness, whether it be tai chi or more traditional forms of exercise like jogging to lifting weights.
  • Dietary consultations: A service where your physical health is assessed to provide guidance for improving food choices and eating habits.

Moxibustion, tui na, gua sha, reiki, and cupping

Some holistic healing services are still unfamiliar in the western medicine vocabulary. While less mainstream, many patients have found relief and healing through these techniques.

  • Moxibustion: The process of burning dried mugwort, also known as moxa, on parts of the body or on needles inserted at acupuncture points. The warming and therapeutic properties of moxa is said to strengthen the immune system and to bring more qi (sometimes understood as blood flow) to a bodily area.
  • Tui na: A therapeutic form of massage to knead, roll, press, and rub at meridians, acupressure points, and groups of muscles and nerves.
  • Gua sha: A process to improve circulation by scraping the skin to stimulate microcirculation of the soft tissue
  • Reiki: A technique to regulate the qi in a person’s body by laying hands on the patient.
  • Cupping: The application of cups on the body to create suction and stimulate blood flow.

Integrative medicine and traditional chinese medicine

These holistic healing services are an approach to care, rather than specific healing practices.

  • Integrative medicine: Patient centered healthcare that addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences. Integrative doesn’t necessarily have to mean alternative medicine.
  • Traditional chinese medicine: A way of looking at the body that focuses on improving the amount and circulation of qi (the body’s vital energy) through various techniques.

Get help from Gracey Health

There are many ways to get help and get healthy. Stop in to our Belmont or Brookline offices, and we’re happy to talk about which healing services may be right for you.

How to set a healthy resolution

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We’ve all had the best intentions January 1st—to go to the gym, to stop eating sweets, to mediate more, to learn a new language, to spend more time with the family. But for many of us, that resolution doesn’t make it to December 31st. We’re only human, after all!

So how can you keep the momentum going with your New Year’s resolution this year?

Focus on what to do, not what you want

If your resolution is to “get healthier,” great! But that’s not very specific. To get started:

  1. Clarify what the resolution means. Maybe that involves improving your mood, losing weight, or cutting the junk food, or all three!
  2. Find the actions that you can take. Perhaps that means getting your baseline health measurements. Perhaps it’s reading a nutrition book. Or maybe it’s going to the gym three times a week. Once you find a way to turn your resolution into behaviors or actions steps, you’ll find it’s (a little) easier to hold yourself accountable.

Short-term process over long-term progress

Thinking of that big end goal can be very daunting. That can lead to stress and anxiety, which oftentimes sets us back from our goal instead of helping us move forward!

Focus on the process and steps required to get to where you want to go, instead of on the goal itself. For example, it’s far easier (and more self-affirming) to focus and congratulate yourself for going to the gym three times a week than by focusing on your target goal weight or the vague concept of “healthier.”

When you can break your behavior down into smaller chunks of time and be present to the process of what your doing, you’ll feel more empowered while still making progress and likely enjoying the challenge.

Check-in constantly

The best way to evaluate whether your process is working or not is to keep track. Perhaps you find that you don’t get to the gym as much as you’d like because you sleep in frequently. Once you know what’s making your process (and progress) difficult to achieve, you can adjust either the process or your routine to keep yourself on track.

In this example, maybe that means getting to bed earlier.

How Gracey Holistic Health can help

While we can’t help you with every New Year’s resolution, the most popular resolutions focus on health and well-being. Gracey Holistic Health focuses on healing the body, mind, and spirit. With health and lifestyle coaching, we can help you plan out how to reach that resolution. And with offices in Belmont and Brookline, we’re always close by if you need help getting back and staying on track.

Treat yourself this holiday season

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Just because it’s the most wonderful time of the year, doesn’t mean that the holiday season is all holly and lights. Holidays provide an easy way to see how our lives have changed (or haven’t changed) from year to year. They can stir up feelings of sadness, loneliness,  stuckness, and anger. Sometimes, they’re just downright stressful. And that takes a toll on your mental and physical health.

That’s why the greatest gift you can receive this year can’t be wrapped in a bow or put under a tree. But it is one you can give to yourself.

Treat yourself to self-care.

What is self-care?

As we discussed in the last blog post on holistic health, a more comprehensive view of health care should address the whole person – body, mind, and spirit. Self-care is a mode of healing that you can provide to yourself and that can improve your health holistically.

Self-care is about knowing what you need and taking the time to do those things that provide you with meaning, comfort, or joy. It’s about taking care of yourself and being as giving to yourself as you are with others (especially this time of year!). It’s truly about self-empowerment!

Need a list to check twice? Here are some ideas and habits for treating yourself this holiday season.

Start a mindfulness routine

The mental and physical benefits of a mindfulness routine are well documented. New research supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and published in the journal Spine even shows that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can be a cost-effective treatment for chronic low-back pain.

Starting your routine is as easy as taking a deep breath. Then taking another. Then doing that for 1 minute. I teach all my patients a qigong breathing exercise that brings this to light and serves as a reset for all mind-body systems.

If you want to get more serious about mindfulness, there are a lot of really good mindfulness tools out there. Here are just a few:

Choose who you spend time with

You can’t pick your family, but you do hopefully have control over who you spend time with. Take the opportunity to grab a cup of joe or tea with an old friend or go for a walk with a close family member. Perhaps you even choose to spend some quality time with yourself!

Find your escape

This doesn’t have to be to the beaches of Tahiti. Perhaps it’s into a really cute cat video on YouTube or into a good book.

Listen to your body

Sometimes our bodies need rest, sometimes our bodies need movement. Take a moment to reconnect with your body and find out what it needs. A really great workout at the gym or even a 20-minute moderately fast paced walk can be just as rejuvenating as an extra hour of sleep.

And if you feel like you need a little extra help, we’re open for business until December 23rd and reopen December 27th. Acupuncture can help treat stress as well as pain.

But if we don’t see you until the new year, from our practice, happy holidays to you and yours!

Holistic medicine: Treatment for all of you

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Picture this: you blow a tire on your car and have to take it into the shop. The mechanic replaces your tire. Two days later, your car breaks down because the mechanic didn’t inspect it for other possible issues.

Frustrating, right? Unfortunately, some doctors, because of their specialized focus, miss how all systems are doing. This means that their patient’s overall health may go unchecked—like the mechanic in the story above.

A great mechanic would fix the immediate problem, conduct a brief inspection of the car’s health, and (as needed) fix it or offer suggestions for proper care while it’s in the shop.

In short, that’s what holistic medicine can do for your health!

What does holistic medicine mean?

The American Holistic Health Association defines holistic medicine as “the art and science of healing that addresses the whole person – body, mind, and spirit.”

Healing the body

My practice offers acupuncture and other complementary treatments to heal the body. These therapies are becoming more common, with some 2016 Summer Olympics athletes like Michael Phelps seeking these treatment options.

Healing the mind and spirit

While western medicine has advanced treatments for healing the body, it only takes one grueling 5-hour trip to the emergency room to understand that the spirit can oftentimes be threatened as the body is being healed.

It makes sense, then, that healing the mind and spirit starts with a meaningful patient-practitioner relationship. This relationship is fundamental in Eastern medicine practices and has been shown to have real, measurable results.

In a paper titled “Relieving Pain in America“ published by the Institute of Medicine:

“One factor in the success of a placebo—or any pain treatment, for that matter— is the prescriber’s empathy or skill in communicating with the patient. Evidence suggests that for patients treated with placebo pills, a positive relationship with a practitioner improves outcomes (Kaptchuk et al., 2008) and, in a sense, engages the brain to help in pain control by instilling optimism and confidence. Because placebo use could undermine trust, Kaptchuk and colleagues (2010) told patients they were receiving a placebo, and the treatment still produced statistically significant improvements in terms of mean global improvement scores, reduced symptom severity, and adequate relief at both an 11-day midpoint and 21-day endpoint (Kaptchuk et al., 2010).”

But what do mind and spirit treatment options look like?

In my practice, I provide lifestyle coaching for that purpose. Diet, exercise, and mindfulness are important facets of how you live your life. These lifestyle factors are linked with your health holistically, and improving even one can put you back on the right road towards better health.

Gracey Holistic Health

My practice focuses on addressing these three key aspects of health, and I employ multiple approaches to help my patients holistically. Periodic tune-ups offer an opportunity to check-in with yourself to insure that your systems are running well. As my patients know, that’s why I offer seasonal tune-ups.

So, if you prefer optimal performance then you need to keep yourself well-tuned. On that note, if you think it’s time for a full-body tune-up, I’m your mechanic.

The science behind acupuncture

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Did you know that acupuncture is at least 2,500 years old? This form of  complementary medicine has been used as a method for treating mind and body ailments since well before any modern medicine—like penicillin—was discovered.

While the scientific medical community has a ways to go with researching and understanding how eastern medicine translates into western modes of medicine, the underlying principles for understanding and treating the human body has remained largely the same.

Western and Eastern medicine: Effective in different ways

In simplest terms, your doctor’s job is to maintain and restore your health by helping to prevent and treat any illness. If you went to the doctor feeling sick, you probably went through a battery of tests, like getting your blood pressure taken or having your chest listened to with a stethoscope. The doctor does this to learn how your body’s working and provide a diagnosis. One symptom can hint at signs of a larger problem.

The same is true in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). When I first meet a patient, I’ll listen for pulse and test other measures to see if the body is functioning properly. The mind can also have very powerful effects on the body (see how gratitude can affect health). That’s why I also ask a series of intake questions to better understand the root cause of the problem.

While western medical practitioners may give you a pill that interacts with your body to create different chemical reactions, eastern medical practitioners use points on the skin to stimulate different reactions throughout the body.  

But while both of these forms of medicine look at the body as a system and try to understand where the system goes wrong (and treat the underlying problem in different ways), there has been far more structured research around what makes western medicine “work.”

Studies show…

Even though TCM is far older than what we understand as “medicine” today, the practice still has a way to go in terms of being methodically documented and analyzed through well designed research.

Acupuncture skeptics point to evidence from literature reviews that factors like expectation and belief may play important roles in the beneficial effects of acupuncture on pain. Ted Kaptchuk, Professor of Medicine and Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, has been a leading figure in placebo studies, with a background himself in East Asian studies and Chinese Medicine.

So if belief and expectation are important parts of the body as a system, does that make the treatment any less valid (or helpful)?

In a 2015 study, researchers found that acupuncture improved symptoms for patients in palliative care. According to the paper, “acupuncture effectively reduced symptoms of pain, tiredness, nausea, depression, anxiety, and shortness of breath, and enhanced feelings of well-being.”

In another study from March 2016, researchers found that consistent acupuncture treatments appeared to offer significant relief of physical disability and pain for veterans with Gulf War Illness.

So what’s happening?

In short, we don’t totally know yet.

A 2010 scientific review in Neuromodulation concluded that acupuncture stimulates the nerves of the skin and muscles, “modulating the imbalance” between different parts of the nervous system.

Another scientific review from Anesthesia and Analgesia showed that acupuncture is linked to higher levels of some types of endorphins (the “feel good” chemical produced by the nervous system) at the same time that patients reported decreases in their pain levels.

Prove it to yourself

If you have never tried acupuncture before, and are uncertain how it might work for you, let me show you! In addition to traditional (insertive) acupuncture, I practice a gentle, non-insertive style of acupuncture that does not break the skin. A recent study shows that it’s gentle enough to use on newborns.

Along the way, I will help you try to understand as best I can. But just because we may not fully understand the physiological mechanisms that underlie acupuncture, doesn’t mean that it can’t be a valuable treatment option for you.

Give thanks, get healthier

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The holiday season is almost upon us. While it can come with stress and sadness, it also provides an opportunity to reflect on the gifts and graces we’ve already been given.

Good gracious

In my practice, I offer lifestyle coaching in addition to acupuncture and holistic medicine. Perhaps not surprisingly, I teach the practice of gratitude to help you improve your own health. And it’s a powerful tool.

Being thankful is linked with mental and physical health

A study published in Personality and Individual Differences in 2012 found that physical health was strongly linked with gratitude. Grateful people were reported to experience fewer aches and pains and feel healthier than other people, essentially because gratitude improved psychological health. Additionally, better psychological health meant that people were more likely to seek medical help when it was needed. This, in turn, improved overall health outcomes.

Grateful people sleep better

Perhaps someone you know has suggested you start a gratitude journal. Before you write off the idea, consider your quality of shut-eye. A 2011 study published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being found that spending a short amount of time before bed on a gratitude journal reduced worry and pre-sleep arousal, improving sleep compared to those who didn’t journal.

Gratitude increases resilience

Mother-in-law getting on your nerves? Building your resilience for stressful situations is easy as being appreciative. The journal  published a study in 2006 that found that grateful Vietnam War veterans were more mentally resilient and felt the impacts of post-traumatic stress disorder less than vets with lower levels of gratitude.

The mind-body connection

During a medical crisis or difficulty, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by pain and frustrated by the slow process of healing. Simply prioritizing your health enough to seek treatment is a gift that you’ve given to yourself to be grateful for. In many ways, you’re helping to treat yourself.

So, while Thanksgiving is the perfect time to start your practice of gratitude, remember that it’s one you can continue for yourself through the rest of the season and into the new year.