What Kind of Care Can I Expect?
At our clinics, you will be asked to describe your primary & secondary health problems. You’ll answer questions about your health and stress factors. During the consultation, I will bring awareness to your lifestyle, diet, work & family health history, injuries & surgeries you’ve experienced and offer some palpation assessment.
We’ll spend a little time with the Acugraph technology, a modern day instrument that will assess the end of each of the primary meridians/ channels located at the end of the toes & fingers. These acupressure points can be doorways to evaluate the health & vitality of each of the meridians.
The ancient way of assessing the health or impairment of the meridian energetics & their respective organs has been done for centuries through skilled pulse taking. The new technology of the Acugraph measures the exact life force of each of the meridians & put into a charted graphics with each meridian or channel. It’s helpful to visually see all of this on the computer screen, in a chart form with the right & left sides of the body. You’ll be able to see how your body’s own life force has its own energetic credits or debits. Are these primary channels or energetic highways flowing well? Is there stagnation or excess energy & are there areas with weaker life force? This is essential to know when focusing in on therapeutic intervention with Oriental bodywork or acupuncture.
I may incorporate muscle testing to check nutritional supplements you are presently using, (if you bring them to your session) to see which ones are working optimally for you. I may ask you for any allergy blood tests you have done over the last 2 years to determine what specific seasonal pollens or food sensitivities are reactively in your immune system. I will apply the principles of Chinese medical theory to determine the patterns of disharmony for your particular condition and a treatment plan will be formulated.
Kris looks forward to serving clients who are motivated & committed to investing in their health care and are genuinely looking for answers to their health problems.
Is Acupuncture Painful?
The question, “Do the needles hurt ???” is probably the most frequently asked question for first time users exploring acupuncture as another option to their health care. Some Americans are fearful and skittish about needles, based on painful experiences with dental work, blood draws or injection shots.
Acupuncture needles are very fine and flexible, about the diameter of a human hair. You may experience a sense of dullness or achiness around some needles at some congested acupuncture points, when the needles are stimulated but that sensation quickly dissipates. If you happen to be a lot more sensitive than the average patient, you may be more sensitive to needles being inserted if you are menstruating, did not sleep well or have had a very challenging day at work. Most patients find the 
treatments very relaxing and find themselves getting into what I call an altered deepened space which I’ve nicknamed the “zen zone place”. You may even decompress enough that you feel sleepy.
At first glance, acupuncture needles can appear strange, being strategically placed in the skin, at various locations in the body. Sometimes needles are placed distally and totally away from where the painful or debilitated areas are being treated. It is best to prepare for acupuncture treatments by eating and hydrating before coming for a treatment.
Acupuncture: How Does it Work?
Oriental medicine is based on an energetic model rather than the biochemical model of Western medicine. The ancient Chinese recognized this vital Qi energy behind all life forms and life processes. In developing an understanding of the prevention and cure of disease, they discovered that this energy flows along specific pathways, called meridians or channels. Each meridian is associated with a particular physiological system and internal organ. Disease is considered to arise due to deficiency or imbalance of energy in the meridians & their associated physiological systems.
Acupuncture points are specific locations along the meridians. Each point has a particular effect upon the vital energy passing through it. Acupuncture is a form of holistic health care that supports the body’s natural healing process. Modern science, specifically Kirlian photography has been able to measure the electrical charge at these points. Oriental medicine uses this intricate system of pulses and tongue diagnosis, palpation of points, organs and meridian, American muscle testing and other signs and symptoms to create a composite Oriental diagnosis. A treatment plan is then formulated to induce the body back to a balance state of health.
Acupuncture Works
Our bodies are miraculous and dynamic, regulating a myriad of complex systems. Science indicates that our body’s cells do this by transmitting chemical signals along intricate structure or neural pathways, much like a biological super-computer.
Sometimes, for whatever reasons, repair or self- regulation is hindered or slow. Luckily for us, the ancient Chinese discovered the ways of acupuncture to stimulate the pathways of communication in order to allow the body to re-establish proper function on its own. Acupuncture is safe and effective with a wide variety of health challenges. My specialties are with pain & tendomuscular injuries and allergies.