Frequently Asked Questions
Eastern medicine is a complete system of medicine including acupuncture, herbal medicine, tui na (therapeutic massage), moxibustion (use of an herb to warm the body), feng shui (the art of placement), tai qi (Chinese exercises), and meditation. Traditional Eastern Medicine is a complete system of medicine that has been practiced in for over 2500 years.
Acupuncture is one of the branches of Traditional Oriental Medicine (TOM). Acupuncture involves the use of small, sterile needles (about as thick as a human hair) inserted shallowly into the skin at specific points on the body. Qi (pronounced: chee) is the universal life energy, it is carried throughout the body in channels called meridians and is accessed through the acupuncture points. This treatment can help to move, strengthen, or balance the Qi. Each acupuncture treatment is tailored to the body’s individual needs.
It is acupuncture preformed in a community setting, the way it has been practiced in China for thousands of years. At Meeting Point we have a beautiful community room with several massage tables and recliners. In this setting several people can receive treatments at the same time; this creates a healing energy (Qi). We talk in low voices in the community room in order to respect privacy.
The Peoples Organization for Community Acupuncture, or POCA, defines community acupuncture as follows:
Community Acupuncture is the practice of offering acupuncture:
in a setting where multiple patients receive treatments at the same time;
by financially sustainable and accountable means, whereby community acupuncture clinics depend directly on the support of the people who receive acupuncture in them, rather than on grants, donations, or other funding;
within a context of accessibility, which we create by providing consistent hours, by making frequent treatments readily available, by offering affordable services, and by lowering all the barriers to treatment that we possibly can, for as many people as we possibly can, while continuing to be financially self-sustaining.
Clinical studies have documented acupuncture’s biomedical effects. It has been found that acupuncture regulates the nervous system, releases the bodies natural pain killers (enkephalins), improves blood flow, and activates endorphins and immune system cells at specific points throughout the body.
Acupuncture treats many things. At Meeting Point we treat a lot of pain; back, neck, shoulder, knee as well as fertility, pregnancy, digestive complaints, computer related fatigue and allergies.
In a report, Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the following conditions that have been shown, through clinical trials to be effectively treated by acupuncture:
low back pain, neck pain, knee pain
sciatica
tennis elbow
periarthritis of the shoulder
sprains
facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
headache
dental pain
tempromandibular (TMJ) dysfunction
rheumatoid arthritis
induction of labor
correction of malposition of the fetus (breech presentation)
morning sickness
nausea and vomiting
postoperative pain
stroke
essential hypertension and primary hypotension
renal colic
leucopenia
adverse reactions to radiation or chemotherapy
allergic rhinitis, including hay fever
biliary colic
depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
acute bacillary dysentery
primary dysmenorrhea (painful menses)
acute epigastralgia
peptic ulcer
acute and chronic gastritis
Acupuncture, when preformed correctly, is pain-free. A small pinch may be felt upon insertion of the needle. Some people report feeling a tingling sensation or pressure at the location of the needle, others report feeling nothing.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved acupuncture needles for use by licensed practitioners in 1996. The FDA requires that sterile, nontoxic needles be used and that they be labeled for single use by qualified practitioners only.