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Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine

Acupuncture and herbal medicine are both eastern approaches to healing and wellness. Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medicine technique in which needles are applied to stimulate specific meridian points around the body to help your body’s natural healing process. Acupuncture and herbal medicine have been shown to treat pain, depression, anxiety, insomnia, substance use, and nausea.

What is herbal medicine and how does it work?

Herbal medicine is the original medicine and today many pharmaceuticals are based on extractions of herbal constituents. There are many benefits of herbal medicine, one being is that the whole plant helps mitigate side effects as plants in their entirety are designed to be gentler and protect against their own actions. It is relatively common knowledge that cranberry juice is helpful for urinary tract infections, and ginger is well known for nausea. At Hills we commonly use herbal medicine for sleep, stress, and mood related support.

 

What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a board-certified practice of complementary medicine where a practitioner inserts hair-thin needles into the body. The needle stimulates the body’s natural healing response as the patient enters a deep, restful state.

How Acupuncture works:

Acupuncture is the process of inserting hair-thin needles into the body. The insertion of needles creates many biochemical reactions in the body that start a cascade of potential for healing. The body almost instantly goes into a repair state activated by the parasympathetic nervous system by initiating this cascade.  The parasympathetic nervous system is commonly known as the body’s “rest and digest” mode, which regulates many systems in the body. This parasympathetic- induced state oversees getting the body into homeostasis, a place of balance, from heart function to improving digestion, balancing hormones, and improving cognitive function. Acupuncture can address your body in its wholeness by assisting the body’s natural healing potential through just a few needles.

How it helps

Did you know?

The majority of your body’s serotonin, a mood boosting hormone, is stored in your gut! This is in part why lifestyle choices like diet are so influential on our mood. The most up to date research shows that acupuncture (Karatay et al., 2018) and diet (Rucklidge et al., 2021) increase mood stability and can increase serotonin levels.

Karatay, S., Okur, S. C., Uzkeser, H., Yildirim, K., & Akcay, F. (2018). Effects of acupuncture treatment on fibromyalgia symptoms, serotonin, and substance P levels: a randomized sham and placebo-controlled clinical trial. Pain Medicine, 19(3), 615-628.

Rucklidge, J. J., Johnstone, J. M., & Kaplan, B. J. (2021). Nutrition Provides the Essential Foundation for Optimizing Mental Health. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 6(1), 131-154.

  • Reduces pain symptoms
  • Improves sleep
  • Boosts digestive functioning
  • Enhances sense of well-being
  • Releases blocked qi in the body
  • Stimulates the body’s natural healing response

Conditions commonly seen in office:

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