Acupuncture: Why Pirates Wore Earrings and Other Fun Facts

Acupuncture originated in China around 100 BC, spreading to Japan and Korea and then to Europe. The practitioner inserts very fine needles into the skin at certain points called meridians. A good metaphor I found on describes meridians as a 3-D version of a road map where energy and blood flow moves corresponding to different organs. The Chinese word for this is Qi.

Cracking Your Code

Integrative medicine is personalized medicine. When physicians use the functional approach to make a diagnosis, they trace the patient’s own timeline to find clues as to why an individual may have a certain condition. All too often, physicians advise treatments only because large studies concluded that a certain medication works.

I believe that, while important, each individual has a specific physical, mental and emotional “tapestry” that needs to be understood. Not only by the physician, but by the person himself, in order to understand how all the threads weave into one other, contributing to a specific condition.

Osteopathic Medicine: Working With Your Body to Heal Itself

As readers of my blog know, I’m an osteopathic physician (DO), and proud of it. This philosophy of medical practice began in the late 1800’s as a new idea of how to treat certain conditions without using harmful drugs or surgery. Since then, antibiotics and sterile surgical practice are regular parts of medical practice, but it remains relevant that patients can be partners, rather than simply receivers of care.

Why A Good Working Relationship with Your Physician Is Important

 “What we have now is doctors who are actually better technically at what they’re doing in their specialty than 30 or 40 years ago, but we lost the relationship, when the doctor would look people in the eye and say ‘I care about you. We can do this together.'” Mehmet Oz