(By Dr. Grace Rollins, DAc) As acupuncturists, pain from sciatic nerve irritation is one of the most common, and urgent, complaints that we see. Cases can vary from the acute entrapment-- caused by muscle spasms, misalignment, or a bulging disc-- to the very chronic and intractable. We often work with cases of sciatica that have been resistant to multiple steroid injections, medications, even surgical interventions.

How can acupuncture help in these cases? Certainly, acupuncture and related techniques like cupping, moxibustion and gua sha can assist in relaxing tense muscles and fascia and restoring proper structural alignment. Acupuncture also stimulates the release of various neuropeptides and cytokines that can attenuate the body's pain perception. Acupuncture even recruits the top-down mediation of pain (the way the brain images and prioritizes pain signals from the periphery).

In addition, acupuncture has the unique ability to restore blood flow to nerve tissue, and promote the correct signaling of nerves. In these cases, moxibustion (herbal heat therapy) and electro-acupuncture can be an extremely helpful addition to manual acupuncture.

In a 2015 systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture treatment of sciatica, researchers found that acupuncture performed better than conventional Western medicine in outcomes effectiveness, pain intensity and pain threshold. If you or someone you know is suffering from sciatic nerve pain, we recommend contacting us right away to start a course of treatment. We would love to be of help!

(By Dr. Grace Rollins, DAc) Due to its robust evidence base, acupuncture is recommended by the American College of Physicians as a first-line treatment for chronic low back pain.

Acupuncture is one of the best non-drug treatments for pain available-- but why?

Short answer: Acupuncture harnesses your body's own multi-leveled ability to regulate pain.

At the local level, acupuncture stimulation directly modulates nociceptors-- sensory nerve endings that are specialized for pain.

Needling acupuncture points also causes the body to release a chemical array both locally and systemically, with neuro-modulatory, immunomodulatory and analgesic effects: endogenous opioids, substance P, CGRP, VIP, cytokines, adenosine and more.

Acupuncture needling also stimulates the local release of histamine and nitric oxide, which increase bloodflow and relax tissues.

What’s more, acupoints can help promote the top-down modulation of pain-- helping relax the mind and assist your brain in turning down the volume on the pain it is experiencing.

If you have pain, don't wait. Find the best place to get some acupuncture, and make it a part of your life right away!

(By Geordan Kania, LMT) You may have heard the words "cupping therapy," and perhaps even seen the marks that are left behind after a session, but what is cupping therapy really?

Cupping is an ancient technique that has been used by many different cultures around the globe for thousands of years. In history, animal horns, bamboo, clay, glass, and metal have all been used to create some form of what we call a cup. (Today we use glass or plastic.)

Cups are applied to the skin and suction is created inside of the cup, using a variety of methods such as oral suction (in ancient times), fire, or a manual pump. This suction forms a vacuum inside of the cup drawing the skin and underlying tissues upward.

This vacuum encourages the separation of tissue that is "stuck," fused, or otherwise tense. While the tissues are separated from the suction, vasodilation (widening of blood vessels) occurs offering hydration and nutrients to these areas that would otherwise usually be restricted.

Cupping's other great benefit lies in its ability to promote an increase in circulation of blood and lymph and promote the exchange of fluids throughout the body. Stagnant, unwanted debris (old blood, medications, waste substances), and toxins are drawn out from the soft tissue, and fresh oxygen and nutrients are allowed in.

The marks that appear from cupping are a result of this fluid exchange and can often tell us about what is going on in the tissue below. Darker marks can be indicative of very chronic stagnation, while pale marks can suggest poor circulation.

With this exchange of fluids happening, your body takes water and fluids from surrounding areas to hydrate the tissue that cupping was applied to. That’s why hydration is very important when receiving cupping treatments. We must replenish the internal source of water for our tissues and cells!

As versatile and beneficial as it is, cupping is not for everyone, and there are a few contraindications for health professionals to be aware of. Communication, properly filling out your intake, and updating your practitioner of any new conditions is key to getting the most out of your visit.

Click here to book cupping or massage with Geordan.

(By Misook Lee, LAc.)  A big difference between Eastern medicine and Western medicine is how to view the mind. In modern Western medicine, the mental and emotional ailments are treated by focusing mostly on the brain. However, traditional Eastern medicine uses a more holistic approach in treating mental and emotional ailments. In traditional Eastern Medicine theory, there are three basic elements in our life, which are Jing (精), Qi (氣) and Shen (神). Jing is the essence of the body and a very refined material; Qi can be the flow of energy; and Shen is corresponding to the spirit or mind. If I compare life to a candle, Jing is the substance of the candle, Qi is the flame and Shen is the light coming out of the flame of the candle. Because Jing, Qi and Shen are closely integrated, we need to view and treat all three aspects of our life.

I experienced the connection between the three elements through the struggles of my life. When I was a young mother. I could not adjust well to the sudden changes of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. Some people take to their roles as mother and housewives very naturally. In my case, it was not so. I was depressed and sick all the time. It was hard for me to live day by day and I felt lost at that time. I never thought it was depression, though.

One day, I came across Kouksundo, the traditional Korean abdominal breathing and Qi training practice, and I started practicing Kouksundo every morning. I learned how to concentrate on my abdomen while breathing. Through daily repeated stretching movements and breathing practice, my body became more flexible, and I felt refreshed. When I inhaled, I felt fresh air purifying my body and as I exhaled, I thought I was expelling all waste from my body.

The concept of Qi became clearer as I practiced and meditated. I learned the basic meridian theory and some important acupressure points from Kouksundo training. After six months, I felt healthy again. It was when my body got better that I realized how mentally and emotionally unstable I had been before. Since then, I realized the value of traditional holistic Qi practice and especially the integration of Jing, Qi and Shen. Through those experiences, I gradually became interested in the Qi dynamics of the body.

Acupuncture is one of the great modalities to affect the Qi movement of our body. It enhances natural healing power by releasing what is blocked and stagnant in our system. In the clinic, I sometimes see patients whose main complaint is mental and emotional issues. Patients usually have their own family dynamics and long or short history of taking antidepressants or other medications. Patients who suffer from mental and emotional issues usually have some physical issues too. It might be some digestive problems such as low appetite or bowel movement problems. Some patients feel disturbances on their chest and uncomfortable feelings in their throat. Others have tight necks, headache or sleep issues. I try to balance the Qi mechanism of patients to resolve patients’ mental and emotional issues and physical discomforts at the same time. Because they are all connected.

 I want to give some tips to those of you who struggle with mental and emotional issues. I do not want to say life is easy because everyone has their own difficult times in their life. Sometimes all bad things happen at the same time. However, we have the right to pursue our own happiness in spite of those difficult situations. In the meantime, I can give gratitude to small things such as the clear blue sky, the yellow dandelion blooming on the roadside. We all take it for granted but my life has been the greatest gift I have ever received. Enjoy the present moment because it is a precious gift that will never come again. It will be the starting point of true change that you realize how precious you are. If you become the best supporter for yourself, I can be one of your supporters as an acupuncturist. Make sure of the integration of Jing, Qi and Shen. A healthy mind makes a healthy body.

(By Grace Rollins, MS, LAc) Antibiotics may have saved my life as an infant, when I had an infection in my neck that necessitated surgery. After that, probably much like many of you, I was on antibiotics as a kid every year, if not multiple times, for strep throat or bronchitis. And in a way that had nothing to do with fighting infections or saving my life, I also consumed antibiotics as part of my conventional American, fast-food diet, since approximately 70% of our antibiotics are used to accelerate growth in livestock and end up contaminating our meat and farmed fish. 

Sadly, the unnecessary antibiotic saga continued: while in college, I contracted a serious gastrointestinal infection while traveling abroad, and underwent a course of a powerful antibiotic called Cipro (part of a class known for major side effects and now partially banned in Europe). After it didn’t help my infection symptoms at all, the doctor decided to run a simple stool test that determined I had a parasitic protozoan called Giardia, not a bacterium susceptible to antibiotics (a proper, if belated, diagnosis that finally led to a proper treatment). 

As with many young people who grow up on a diet of antibiotics (and are exposed to innumerable other microbiome disruptors, like pesticides, herbicides and processed food additives), I was plagued with allergies and acne from the time of puberty well into adulthood. Becoming a vegan in those college years opened my eyes to a lot of new foods, but since I was still also eating a lot of junk, including artificial sweeteners, sugar and conventional grains laced with pesticides, my symptoms stayed pretty much the same. The allergies and congestion were just a way of life for me. But eventually, sick of drenching my face with benzoyl peroxide every night, after I got out of college I finally saw a dermatologist about the acne. The doctor immediately prescribed an oral and a topical antibiotic for me to use daily... indefinitely. ​

Unsurprisingly, as puberty set in during that first year back in the States, I started to gain significant weight. By eighth grade I was almost as tall as I am now, but thirty pounds heavier. I also developed inflamed, embarrassing cystic acne. Given the tender age and my family difficulties, my self-esteem was in the pits. 

​My early teen years gave me a window into how anyone could be crushed into utter hopelessness and self-defeating behavior under the mental strain of body image issues. It probably made all the difference that my academics were strong, keeping my self-esteem above water. I made it on scholarship into a prestigious boarding school for the remainder of high school, and eventually landed at an Ivy League college. In these environments I had access to an unparalleled education, top athletic facilities and quality food, and an increasingly diverse group of peers that modeled other ways to eat and live.

Even then, it was no Shangrila-- I also witnessed at close hand peers with serious eating disorders, or those making desperate attempts to "eat healthy" according to the certain norms and finding their mental or physical health falling apart. I had a few misfires myself and had to course-correct various times. ​Gradually, through my late teens and early twenties, I honed my diet, shifting myself away from processed foods and sugar, widening my palate to include a more diverse array of foods, normalizing my weight, improving my skin.

Though I was in pretty good shape by the time I made it through college, it was only later, when I dove deeper into studying acupuncture and natural medicine, that it really clicked into place and I started to restore my metabolic health--and overall health--on a deeper plane. I began to shape my diet increasingly around not just avoiding the junk, but incorporating the array of nutrient-dense foods our ancestors would have prized. To better help my patients since beginning clinical practice, I furthered my education, diving deep into literature and post-grad trainings which helped me to gain mastery over the hormonal characteristics of macronutrients, the broad arsenal of micronutrients, and ways to rehabilitate the gut and the microbiome. Over the years I’ve further expanded on this knowledge base to include the metabolic effects of lifestyle patterning concerning types of exercise, sleep quality, circadian rhythms, stress management and more. 

Though I’ve taught nutrition classes to my patients before, it only recently occurred to me to share my own story of healthy weight loss, because to be honest, I still have a raw vulnerability about it. That teenager, afraid of judgment, is still inside of me begging to keep it a secret. I told this story to a patient the other day and looking at me, she didn’t believe it. By cloaking my own vulnerability perhaps I do my patients a disservice, because they think that health is something you’re born with, or not. ​

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the milestone we have hit this year as a practice, and remark on its significance to me personally. I have a natural inclination to keep my cards close to my chest, but I have come to realize that in my current role, to share a little of my own trajectory can sometimes serve as a source of inspiration.
​
To put it bluntly, I come out of a difficult, unhealthy family background. My parents had a bitter divorce when I was six, and my siblings and I suffered from extensive psychological abuse as small children. My father voluntarily ceased to be part of my life from the time I was eleven. From that time on, I grew up amid financial instability, substance abuse, and increasingly, the mental and physical illness of my family members. Eventually, those closest to me were all in significant distress and either self-medicating or on medication. The wave of un-wellness threatened to pull me under, too.

The key thread right now is that of looking back on how far I’ve come. I don’t identify myself by my traumas and struggles, but rather, by the ways I’ve overcome them. Though I take nothing for granted, I can in this moment say with confidence that at age 43, I’m the healthiest and fittest I’ve been in my life, and the most emotionally centered. I’ve financed myself through graduate-level education, I’ve grown a small business that supports my own livelihood and those of several employees, and last year, I was able to buy and renovate a dream space for the practice. These would all be fine accomplishments no matter what, but I feel proud given the circumstances I emerged from.

No doubt, I’ve had many lucky breaks and many privileges, some of them stories for another time. One of the key privileges I will name has been the support of this community. I feel immensely grateful, a little tearful, to bring it up. This goes out to all of you, from those first “legacy” patients who came over ten years ago to my first Doylestown office (Broad Street, anyone?), to those who braved the pandemic to continue receiving care, to those who mustered the trust to come out for a first treatment just last week. And everyone in between!

I’ll also name one of the lucky breaks—the day I got a call from a guy named Paolo, who was trying to find an unpaid acupuncture internship. Some of you already know the story… Paolo ended up working at my side the entire three years he was in graduate school, and then came on as an acupuncturist at Bridge. This summer marks ten years of our working together! After so many years, Paolo remains my brother, my accomplice, and for all of his unique qualities, my teacher. Without a doubt he has made the spirit of Bridge what it is today, and I’m so grateful.

There are many others for me to thank. My partner Eric of nearly fifteen years, my incredible acupuncture teachers and mentors, our awesome support staff members, the contractors who helped rebuild our amazing space, and now, the talented new acupuncturists we added during our expansion, Misook Lee and Brian Yang. How lucky I feel to have the support of these people in my life, and to have come this far.

I see our mission here at Bridge Acupuncture as helping others overcome their perceived limitations. This can mean helping someone find new hope in healing from a difficult, perhaps "incurable" situation. This could also mean helping someone find a path to changing their supposed genetic destiny (whether physical, psychological or spiritual).

​We all have the power to transform ourselves, to heal, to change our karma. It’s amazing what we can do when our true nature is allowed to thrive.

With much love and appreciation,
Grace Rollins, MS, LAc

​Instead of icing, as acupuncturists we are trained to use time-tested herbal formulas, some of them dating back many centuries to the early days of Shaolin martial artists. The herbs are selected to work synergistically and come in a wide variety of topical preparations-- soaks, poultices, salves and liniments. Formula actions include promoting natural blood and lymphatic flow, breaking up stagnant blood, calming pain, and stimulating tissue repair.

One of our most most-used products in this category is an artisan-produced version of one of the most popular sports medicine herbal formulas in the world, Zheng Gu Shui (translated as Evil Bone Water by our producer). This stuff is like "tiger balm" on steroids. The version we used is made using the highest grade herbs in a small-batch facility, and we just love the potency of it! We keep a bottle in all of our treatment rooms since it's a useful application for a wide variety of muscle, tendon and ligament pains and injuries of both "hot" and "cold nature"-- even arthritis. This formula has analgesic (pain reducing) properties but also blood moving and tissue regenerative herbs.

​In addition to herbal medicine, acupuncture, cupping, gua sha and moxibustion are brilliant for sports injury recovery. Whether you are a backyard frisbee thrower or a triathlete, consider us part of your first line of care if you get banged up this summer. We love being in your corner!