Fall is Here. Ain’t it Great!

If you’re like me you are enjoying the beginnings of fall.  What with a nip in the air and the leaves just starting to blush, it is just glorious outside.  Go ahead and open your windows and let the sun shine in, let the clear air clear out your house.  I am sure you can sense the change in the energy.  For one I can’t look at the left over peaches and nectarines any more.  Bring on those beautiful plums (so many colors) and crisp apples and pears – YUM!
It is time to relish autumn and its bounty from pumpkins to mums to the color of the changing leaves.  Can’t you just see the fireplace ablaze warming your home while the winds blow?
However some of us also see fall allergies and the oncoming cold and flu season and wonder what type of year it will be for that.  Well I would like to invite to finally Do Something About It!  But what can I do you ask?
Well there are preventative actions we can take as well as reactive actions.  For those of you suffering from Autumn allergies there are treatments that are very effective in either eliminating the effects all together or in lessening the effects.  All of this is done without making you sleepy (well maybe just a little, the acupuncture treatments have been known to relax a person and many people have taken naps while the needles were in).  Treatments can also be designed to help prevent colds and flus while strengthening your defenses.
Don’t you want to take out some time for yourself during the week, isn’t life hectic and stressful?  This just lowers you immune system and makes you more susceptible to getting sick.  It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again but expecting different results.  Come on, try something different and help yourself feel better.  It all starts with a simple phone call to make your appointment – (301) 495-0303.

Wholistic Family Healthcare is located in Downtown Silver Spring MD, near to Washington DC, and only blocks from the Metro’s Red Line Silver Spring Station.

Did You Know the Five Surprising Benefits of Massage?

To the people who know about massage and what it can do, this will be preaching to the choir. But to those who do not you will find an article published in Newsweek on September 4^th quite surprising to quote the article.

I recommend this article as a very good read about the benefits of massage.  Move your mouse over the title and click on it to link to the article.

Five Surprising Benefits of Massage

By Temma Ehrenfeld

Massage is available at my office located in Downtown Silver Spring, MD, close to Washington DC and just blocks from the Red Line’s Silver Spring Station.

Healthcare the Way it Oughta’ Be

If you are like many people I know, you kind of monitor your health from afar. You say to yourself “ I feel fine, why should I see a doctor?” If you don’t have any symptoms, must be there is nothing to be concerned about – right? Wrong!

There are many times when patients come in for the one complaint they want addressed and through my examination other issues are found or revealed that they would really like treatment for. Often I hear “…I did not know that was a problem until you examined me, can you help me with that?” Often I can and if I can’t I refer them to someone who can, be that a physician or a chiropractor or whomever I think will be of help.

In my practice my focus is on you, your issues, your problems, what makes you hurt. I take the time to listen to you. In today’s two minute doctor’s appointments, and that’s after you have been waiting in the reception room for 30 minutes, we feel abused and frustrated. No wonder we avoid going to the doctor.

I run my practice on time because I value your time as much as I value my own. I return your calls and you speak directly to me.

If you are interested in quality healthcare, a personal touch and a warm caring office give me a call and I will treat you right! My number is 301-495-0303.

My office is conveniently located in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland just blocks from the Red Line Silver Spring station and with plenty of parking around the office. I offer morning, afternoon and evening appointments for your convenience.

I hope to see you soon!

Would You like an Inexpensive Way to Lose Weight, Free-up Your Hips and Have Fun?

Today is June 19^th 2008 and it is the fiftieth anniversary of the hula hoop. Did you know that? Well it is! An American icon that of late has gone un-remembered.

In my office, in Silver Spring, MD, I often recommend to my patients who have hip and lower back issues that they take up hula hooping. Why? - you may ask.

Hula hooping is a fun, low impact sport. It gets all of the muscles in the low back and hip moving. These are muscles that don’t move much in most of us, as we are sedentary and do a lot of work at a computer or behind a desk.

Did you know that hula hooping is a great exercise that works all of the core muscles?

And according to Mayo Clinic physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist Edward Laskowski, M.D., “Weighted hula hoops, available at most sporting goods stores, are bigger and heavier than traditional hula hoops. You can use weighted hula hoops as one component of an overall fitness program or simply as a fun way to burn calories. In general, the bigger you are, the bigger the hoop should be. The weight of the hoop is up to you. Lighter hoops require more energy to keep them going. Heavier hoops are easier to keep going, which may lead to a longer workout. You may want to avoid using weighted hula hoops if you have a history of back problems.”

In an article that appeared in The Telegraph – an English Newspaper in 1993 - it reported “In recent trials carried out by Conrad Earnest, an exercise physiologist at the Cooper Institute for Human Performance and Nutrition Research in Dallas, it was shown that vigorous waist-circling with the Heavy Hoop for eight minutes burns as many calories - about 110 - as running an eight-minute mile. Even less strenuous hooping uses a similar amount of energy (85 calories) as you would expend on a slow 12-minute jog.”

That is pretty darn good for having fun. It is also a way to de-stress and do something with your children. One of my patients who is a grandmother and started hula hooping at my direction did so in front of her grandchildren one day. They had such a blast, she said watching her hula hoop.

I urge you to call my office and make an appointment. Let us help you get more mobility into your lower back and hips. Let us help you get healthy while having fun and becoming more able to relax.

Wholistic Family Healthcare is conveniently located near the Silver Spring Metro station in downtown Silver Spring, close to Washington, DC.

Gua Sha

Two more mysterious words I have not heard of. However Gua Sha is a very good Chinese medical modality. It is simple to and straight forward to see if it is warranted and usually gets fast results. I use it often in my practice when I come up against a stubborn problem or a bad cough. I wrote about gua sha somewhat more extensively back in February of 2007. Here is a shorter version.

What is Gua Sha? Well it is defined by Arya Nielsen the doyenne of Gua Sha in the United States as Gua meaning to rub or friction and Sha meaning the congestion of blood at the surface of the body. When the gua is applied to the sha it allows the sha to surface and be released from the body.

OK so you are now more confused than ever. Sounds like mumbo jumbo to you doesn’t it? So here it is in plain English. Gua Sha like other Chinese medical modalities seeks to balance the qi (energy) by moving qi that is stuck. Any time qi does not move the body is opened up for problems.

What kind of problems can Gua Sha work on? Well, I like to use it for bad coughs that just won’t go away. I also like to use it for tight muscles that are resistant to other techniques.
Gua Sha can be safely and effectively done on children and adults of all ages. Be warned though the immediate surface skin reaction can be quite alarming to view. I can assure you that although it does not look attractive it does not hurt or impinge on any movement.

Inside China, Gua Sha is widely practiced and if not in the cities then in the outlying provinces. Here in the United States it much less known, but a gem of a tool for any acupuncturist to have in his/her “toolbox”. One of my massage teachers once told me, “You will learn about and acquire many techniques which can’t all possibly be used on every patient. You can’t use a hammer for every job, nor a screw driver, nor a saw. You must choose the appropriate tool for the job. When the situation presents itself pick up and use the correct tool for the patient before you.” In my practice, Wholistic Family Healthcare that tool may be acupuncture or massage therapy, or gua sha, or Chinese herbs or cupping or electro-acupuncture.

At Wholistic Family Healthcare, located in Silver Spring, MD nearby to Washington, DC we view each patient as a Whole person and treat the patient with this holistic approach. It is the reason behind our success.

What is Wholistic Medicine?

My practice name is Wholistic Family Healthcare and I practice acupuncture, massage therapy under the umbrella term of Traditional Chinese medicine. My clinic is located in Silver Spring, MD which is close by to Washington DC. To me Chinese medicine is a Wholistic Medicine (some would spell it Holistic Medicine) and what I mean by that is that we look at a person, not the parts that hurt or are sick.

Looking at the whole person and taking into account the various aspects that make up a person is the hallmark of Chinese medicine and what wholistic medicine should be about. Here is what I mean when I say “take into account the various aspects that make up a person.” I will explain by recounting a recent patient’s success.

About two months ago a female came in complaining of having recently being diagnosed with high blood pressure. She was very upset by this because she had never had this issue before and her doctor scared her to the core and prescribed a few medications to control her blood pressure.

After having her fill out the intake forms and performing a detailed interview, which included asking about her diet, her lifestyle, her family life, her work life, what she does for fun, any illnesses, her emotional well being to name a few, I came to the conclusion that her high blood pressure was due to the onset of menopause – that’s right – menopause (a detailed explanation can be the subject of another post if there is sufficient interest).

After treating her for a little over two months with acupuncture, Chinese herbs and having the patient take her own blood pressure and chart it, she went to her doctor for a follow-up exam. The nurse got a reading of 142/78 and the doctor’s own reading was lower. The doctor was so flustered she could not even get her mouth to tell my patient the reading. According to my patient the doctor refused to chart her reading. The doctor remarked to her that her medications must be working. My patient told her that she was only taking one of the medications (I need to put in a disclaimer at this point. I am not a physician and so at no point do I ever advise a patient to take or to discontinue taking a medication prescribed by a physician) and that she was getting acupuncture. My patient reports that she then told her doctor that her acupuncturist told her that her high blood pressure was due to menopause. Her doctor responded by saying “I knew that”. My patient was just flabbergasted and exclaimed “So why didn’t you tell me that?” The doctor just did not respond.

Watch her testimonial below.

The point is that her doctor looked only at her high blood pressure and did not look at her holistically. I looked at the whole of her and saw something the doctor did not. I treated her (the person) and by treating her I treated her high blood pressure. That is Wholistic Medicine.

Simeon Pollock Present at Bill Signing

Simeon Pollock was present on Thursday April 24, 2008, as Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law an act creating the Maryland State Board of Chiropractic and Massage Therapy Examiners.

Holistic Massage in Washington, DC

I’ve been performing holistic massage in the Washington, DC area for the past five years. Over that time, I’ve noticed that patients who are seeking holistic massage are usually suffering from stress.

Here is a Holistic Health Minute I recorded about the benefits of holistic massage:

Holistic massage is an integral part of Chinese medicine. Human beings have suffered from stress since they were tossed out of the Garden of Eden and holistic massage has been there for thousands of years, helping to relieve the stress and provide health benefits.

If you’re in the Washington, DC area, Wholistic Family Healthcare is located in downtown Silver Spring, steps from the Metro’s Red Line. Call for an appointment 301-495-0303

Acupuncture and Fatigue

“I thought acupuncture was only good for pain, that’s what I’ve been told.”Well I am here to tell you that acupuncture can also help a person beat fatigue and the devastating effects that fatigue can have on a person.

As with anything, when working with any issue we at Wholistic Family Healthcare, in Silver Spring, MD look at the whole person. This is why we spell wholistic with a “W”. That said when you come in for treatment of fatigue you will be asked a lot of questions about you and your lifestyle. From a Chinese medicine point of view there are many reasons for fatigue and the answer is not always – sleep more. Sleeping more can surely help – sometimes - and may even be a component of the treatment plan but it won’t be the only thing you can do.

Once your Chinese medical diagnosis is made a treatment plan will be created expressly for you. A typical plan will include acupuncture, Chinese herbs and perhaps dietary and lifestyle changes. This plan will be jointly executed by you and us. Your active participation and compliance is a vital component to insuring your success.

Some examples of what, we like to call pathogens in Chinese medical parlance can be damp, qi deficiency, blood deficiency, qi and blood deficiency, Spleen qi deficiency, or a combination of any and all of the above. If these terms sound weird or strange to you, rest assured that is fine. They were strange and weird to me too when I first heard of them. Today they make so much sense to me as they truly help explain why one feels the way one does. They also give us a plan on how to resolve the issues at the core of your problem – fatigue.

Here is the catch, it takes time to resolve these issues and hard work on both our parts. If you are willing to put in the effort (come in for treatments take the herbs, make changes in diet and or lifestyle) and be patient, allowing your body to heal and change (how long exactly is a little like trying to predict the weather) you should see results.

I would encourage you to watch Amy’s testimonial, below and you will get a sense of what can be accomplished if you stick to the program.

Do You Have a Spring in Your Step?

Well by now you should have noticed that Spring has arrived here in the Washington, DC area. The Cherry Blossoms are on the trees, the grass is growing and the temperatures are growing warmer. To me the sun seems brighter and warmer and this gives me a spring in my step. I love the Spring season.

To me Spring brings with it the hopefulness of the future, it tells me that after the darkness of winter brighter days are ahead. In Chinese medicine Spring represents the Yin transforming into Yang – more and brighter energy. This requires us to begin transforming as well.

How do I do that one may ask. Well let’s look to Chinese medicine to guide us. As we know all things are made up of yin and yang aspects. In other words everything has a flip side – coins, day/night, positive/negative, up/down, good/evil. Without one the other would not exist and so we need both for balance and existence.

A person has yin and yang aspects as well – for example the front of the body is yin and the back is yang. The inside of a person is yin and the outside is yang. Our energies both yin and yang react to the seasons and as the seasons become more yang, so it attracts our own yang. Our yang is becoming stronger and our yin is becoming weaker. The opposite is true as autumn begins and leads into winter. We need to recognize this and begin our own transformation.

In fall and winter one tends to want hot beverages, heartier food, and to stay indoors and hunker down. In spring and summer one tends to want cooler beverages, lighter fare and to get outside more and soak up the sunshine. This is in line with Chinese medicine and its holistic approach.

We should also be starting to think of ways to lighten our minds and spirits (even as the IRS tries to get in on the act and tries to lighten our wallets). I believe that activity can be great in moving us towards this goal – for instance many of us like to garden. This activity is very, pardon the pun, grounding. It connects us to simpler things and times, to the earth and its ability to renew and regenerate. Walking or bike riding, outdoor activities that speed up our hearts, causing us to breathe deeper and inhale the spring air and energies within. Cleaning and fixing up the exterior of our homes tends to lend us a feeling of clearing out and lightening the load so to speak. All these activities help nourish our yang energies and prepare us for the coming days.

In future posts I will write about changing our diets from winter fare to spring and summer fare. It is through this holistic, mind/body approach that I like to guide my patients. It is this Wholistic view, looking at the whole person that is the hallmark of my practice.  My clinic is located in Silver Spring, MD which is close by to Washington DC.

Wishing you an enlightening Spring and a bright future.

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