For our patients who get confused about this term I can’t blame you. “Dry needling" refers to a Western style of needling that emerged more or less independently of East Asian acupuncture techniques over the past century. It’s called “dry” because non-acupuncturist clinicians used to think they needed to inject substances into trigger points to get the clinical results they later found they could achieve with a solid needle. 

In my training as a traditional Eastern medicine practitioner I was taught that chewing is important for digestion and assimilation, as well as avoiding overconsumption of raw foods— these can overburden our digestion, causing stagnation, accumulation and coldness. Therefore I previously did not like smoothies that much. However, I learned about a recipe that is a cooked cruciferous vegetable smoothie designed for detoxification.

Back-to-school season is exciting—but let’s be honest, it can also be A LOT. Between shopping for supplies, packing lunches, setting earlier bedtimes, and juggling homework or sports schedules, it’s easy to feel stretched thin. Kids can feel the pressure too, which often shows up as anxious moods, stomachaches, trouble sleeping, or endless energy crashes.

Drugs, injections, surgeries-- sometimes they offer a quick fix, but often they don't. Or they just play whack-a-mole with a fundamental health imbalance that keeps coming back, again and again. It's an everyday occurrence for us acupuncturists to see patients who are at the end of the line with their treatment options. Sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Popular across East Asia, this simple beverage is not only refreshing but also offers several health benefits recognized both in modern wellness and TCM. My grandmother used to make barley tea all year around, but it was particularly refreshing in the summer months as an alternative to iced (black) tea.

The Cancer Center's Integrative Fund is now covering voucher plans for their patients to receive acupuncture at Bridge for disorders such as peripheral neuropathy, nausea, pain, fatigue, insomnia, dry mouth, loss of taste, stress and anxiety, and more.

In the 2024 study “Acupuncture for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” published in the peer-reviewed JAMA Psychiatry, researchers demonstrated that acupuncture significantly improved the symptoms of combat veterans with PTSD, far outperforming placebo "sham" acupuncture.

As an acupuncturist, I spend my days helping others find balance and healing in their bodies. I talk to my patients about the importance of self-care, stress management, and nourishing their bodies with good food, movement, and rest. But this past week, I found myself in a position where I had to take my own advice in ways I never imagined.

Acupuncture is exceptionally well-suited for the treatment of nerve entrapments like carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, piriformis syndrome, peroneal nerve entrapment, tarsal tunnel syndrome, just to name a few.

My first memory of traditional East Asian herbal medicine is from the observations of my grandparents when I was around age five. My grandmother cooked dried raw herbs in a black round cray pot which was covered with a white paper lid. I remembered the strong bitter scents while she carefully ran the cooked herbs through a linen pouch, squeezing with a wood stick, sifting the decoction into a porcelain bowl.