How often should I get massage?
What kind of problems do you treat?
Do you treat ortho-problems? Knees, hips, spine, neck, ...
Do you treat emergency trauma?
Do you treat mental or emotional problems?
Do you use e-stem or electricity in your treatments?
What other treatments do you recommend?
How does oriental medicine work?
What oils or lotions do you use?
What difference does water make in health?
Why use therapeutic massage?
There are many reasons. They all begin with good health. Good health comes from helping the body to best heal itself. A good massage will find tension spots in the body and work them out. I use oriental medicine to diagnose and treat the overall health of the body with acupressure points, cupping, gua sha, moxabustion, aromatic oils and/or lotions. I use qi qong healing hands, meditation, and lifestyle teaching with tai chi chuan.
My specialty in martial art injuries helps restore function to the joints, part of the recovery is learning the skills to avoid the injury.
Meditation skills can help you to leave the patient problems at work. Learn how to un-wind and let go.
Try gentle tui na massage sessions and learn how you can help yourself to less-painful joints. Simple techniques that you can do from your home will help extend the therapy.
Tui na is well suited for structural problems. Many times longevity qi qong exercises are perfect for rehabilitation.
Often tui na massage can help improve and harmonize digestion.
How often should I get massage?
When you need it. Most people can benefit from a monthly massage session. Some situtations call for a weekly session to help the body recover from a traumatic injury or serious illness. The goal is to help you be independent with skills to help maintain good health at home. Some of my patients come for lifestyle in training in meditation, qi gong, or tai chi chuan.
Do you use herbs?
Yes, herbs work from the inside out -- addressing many long term issues that otherwise would go unnoticed. I studied herbs at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. They can be effective in treating many conditions.
Read the biography to get an understanding of the impact of herbs in the United States.
Read about the Chinese Herbal paradigm and its influence on Oriental Medicine.
Take the time to see how Chinese Herbal companies strive to bring consistent product to the consumer that needs the benefit and how they do it in a responsible manner
I recommend that you seek out someone who specializes in herbs to help you understand the best course of action with herbs. There are many interactions between herbs, vitamins, drugs, food, and even over the counter products like lotions so it is important to understand the whole picture when using herbs.
What kind of problems do you treat?
Traditional Chinese Medicine developed over 20 generations of family doctors who developed a pattern-based medicine model. I treat patterns of disease and not the disease itself. When given the right circumstances the body has a marvelous capacity to recover. All of my efforts is placed in understanding the balance of the body and how to put it back into its own balance. So I treat many different kinds of problems looking for treatable patterns.
Do you treat ortho-problems? Knees, hip, spine, neck, ...
Yes, I take a soft tissue approach to helping someone recover from physical injuries. Tui na can passively adjust the joints of the body. My favorite is a reset spine protocol from tui na which gently resets the spine and opens up the Kidney and Bladder meridians. One side benefit to this technique is that it releases endorphins and makes you feel great.
Do you take insurance?
Yes, look carefully at your insurance. You may need a referring physician.
Do you treat emergency trauma?
No, this is not an acute care facility. Call 911. I do help recovery from acute care situations once you have been stabalized. Micro current stimulation treatments helps the bone heal in 1/3 of the time. Working the tissue in the surrounding areas helps reduce swelling and pain. Many martial art formulations are geared toward trauma recovery. In spinal injuries I have found moxabustion to speed recovery and healing hands to penetrate an area that otherwise is not treated. In acute injuries it is important to help the side injuries so that the body can focus more on the main ailments. There are important lifestyle changes that can speed recovery. I am good at coaching patients through it.
Do you treat mental or emotional problems?
Yes, emotions are tied to our physical health. In oriental medicine a treatment includes the body, mind, and spirit. I follow a model which expresses the emotions as a spectrum of balance within the body. This model helps me address mental, emotional, and social issues as well as the physical.
Do you use e-stim or electricity in your sessions?
E-stim is electronic stimulation of the body. If needed I use a state of the art device from Pantheon Research which supports both milliamp current and microamp current. Maybe you have heard of "The Body Electric" where it describes how our body is electric, so electricity is a great medium to help it heal itself. Microcurrent has been documented to help bones knit together in 1/3 of the time. It is a significant advance for many areas of treatment.
What other treatments do you recommend?
It is important to seek medical attention when you have a medical emergency. That can be the body, the mind, or the spirit. I believe that many good people dedicate their lives to help relieve the suffering and trauma of life. Remember you are in charge of your own health. It often takes a team of people to solve a difficult problem.
I've often been called in to help when there was nothing working. Keep your options expanding. Keep looking for things that can help. In a difficult case there is no manual written on fixing the problem. Seek the best and brightest of minds.
How does Oriental Medicine work?
I like to call Oriental Medicine a results oriented medicine based on thousands of years of experience. It is a fast growing profession with many people choosing to first exhaust holistic methods before seeking drugs or surgery. Oriental Medicine seeks to boost the body's own capacity to heal itself.
What oils or lotions do you use?
It depends on what you like and what is effective for the work that needs to be done.
The Innovative Hydrasperse Massage Oil by Innovative Body Science is blended the finest quality natural cold-pressed oils and Vitamin E, along with a coconut derived skin conditioner, which facilitates the dispersibility of oil in water, to create this unique water dispersible massage oil blend. Hydrasperse aids in preventing oil stains on linens, wipes easily from the body and leaves the skin naturally conditioned. I typically carry Sandalwood, Tropical, Vanilla, Lavender, Sport, and Sunkissed hydraspersed oils.
The Innovative Hydrassage Massage Lotions is a is a rich and nourishing lotion, which combines the moisturizing properties of a luxurious cream, and the lubricity and glide of massage oil. For the therapist who prefers the use of a lotion to oil, the Hydrassage Lotion is an innovative massage tool. I use Peppermint-Grapefruit, Lavender-Orange, and Chamomild.
You may prefer the standard fare of Grapeseed or Almond oil. Some prefer a non-oil like the biotone non-oils. And, if needed, the blend of essential oils can address health issues as the essence of oils carry with it powerful effects on the mind, spirit, and body. Check out this site for an organization dedicated to safe aromatherapy National Organization for Holistic Aromatherapy
What are LifeWave patches?
LifeWave is a nanotechnology using biomolecular materials to resonate healing frequencies at the surface of the body. The effect lasts from 12 to 14 hours. This ability to stimulate acupoints enables the patient to continue the effects of treatment inbetween visits. It lowers the overall cost of health care.
Check it out at www.lifewave.com/leapingfrog
What difference does water make in health?
Water composes a large part of our body. Scientists organize their thoughts on the body by what attracts or repels water. The quality of our water directly effects our health. Many substances like soft drinks, coffee, and even some sport drinks are diuretic -- that is, they have a net effect of removing water from the body. Water hydration and its alkaline / acidic balance plays a major role in our health. The better water we use, the easier it is to become and stay hydrated.
Water like distilled water has the effect of detoxifying our body which may or may not be good depending on what we need. To drink poor quality water with heavy metals or contaminants like fungi will have a cumulative effect on our health. I recommend the best water you can find which uses good ways to not only clean up the water but also to structure it.
Read up on good water from excellent water companies like Glacier
offers water which is specially processed to support cellular hydration. This structured water enhances the transport of nutrients and helps maintain the proper communication between cells. Healing is improved because it enhances waste and toxin removal from the cells and body. BioPro's iWater helps maintain the PH balance in the body. Lastly, it enhances the normal electrical properties of cells and cellular systems within the body.Check it out at www.mybiopro.com/freeflow