Traditional Chinese Medicine as a Lifestyle

Here at TKI, our Oriental Medicine Department focuses on women’s health. Specifically, our practitioners have backgrounds in fertility. We also focus on cancer treatment-during and following cancer therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation. Along with these specialties, we do treat women, men, and children for all disorders and symptoms. While all of this is our focus, in the big picture, we are using Oriental Medicine to treat our patients from a holistic point of view leading to optimal health. No matter the presenting complaint that our patients come in with, we are always treating the mind, body, and spirit at the same time.

Acupuncture and all of the modalities we use within Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are some of the best tools and therapies to use to create a healthy and lasting lifestyle. Along with acupuncture, TCM includes Chinese herbs, nutrition, tui na (Chinese deep tissue massage), and several other modalities.  We educate our patients on the importance of using all of these therapies together to treat symptoms-but not only to treat the symptoms. With TCM, we treat the “root” and “branch” of any illness. The root being the cause of the presenting symptom; the branch being the symptom. By using acupuncture and the like treatments, we see lasting results with diminished symptoms because we are treating all aspects of the illness and every part that is involved in it: mind, body, and spirit.

Along with regular acupuncture treatments, we make herbal and nutritional recommendations. By educating our patients how they can take charge of their health on their own by choosing specific foods, taking Chinese herbs and certain supplements, they learn how simple and effective this can be. Foods, herbs, and supplements help to balance the yin and yang of our bodies to bring about overall health and balance. By using nutrition and herbs on our own is one way of weaving these tools into our lifestyles. Tui na is also a therapy technique that we sometimes teach to our patients to do on themselves at home to decrease symptoms. For example, we have a specific point on the hand that is wonderful to treat headaches so for a patient who experiences frequent headaches, we may recommend this specific point for them to do on their own at home to help reduce and prevent headaches.

Along with treating presenting symptoms that patients come in with, we use TCM as a preventative medicine. Acupuncture and herbs are effective tools to use to prevent illnesses. As we progress through different stages of our lives, our physiology changes-hormones, metabolism, etc. So by using TCM to maintain our body cycles and fluctuations, we can adjust easier and feel at our best everyday. Also, if a patient has a family history of any specific condition, we pay close attention to that in our treatments to keep a patients’ health at their optimal level.
We have patients who come in on a monthly basis and also when the seasons change. The energetic channels in the body that we are treating with acupuncture are associated with the different seasons. It is best to pay attention to our bodies and how the seasonal cycles affect our health-all of our bodily systems: immune, digestive, cardiovascular.

TCM is an effective option to treat acute and chronic illnesses. By integrating TCM therapy treatments into our routines, we can create a healthy lifestyle for ourselves and our families.

Caroline Jung, L.Ac., MSOM, Dipl. Ac.