Western VS. Eastern ?

So, the all out question that is constantly asked...

which is best WEST or EAST ?

When it comes to medicine...  You can argue that Western medicine is the best medicine as it has many advances such as fixing broken hearts, mending bones, life saving surgeries... Drugs that would allow the weakest child to survive and keep those who should have died years ago alive and healthy today! Medical advances are amazing aren't they? Just truly a marvel to behold! Without our new western medicine where would we be? But what did we do before there was the scalpel? Just think... what did we do when we were sick? We couldn't go to the pharmacy down the road... or beg a doctor to take time to see us. We were left to the mercy of nature... to die? Well no, its not that harsh... But in every culture we had our different cures, aides and herbal remedies to help us when we were ill. Some culture believe in evil spirits, some believe in purulents.. others believe its the will of god. Regardless what we believed we all depended on those elderly that were familiar with plant life and modalities to help aide us when we were sick! What am I getting at? Regardless where you live... we all were people of the land and we aided our family and friends by whatever way that would heal or get them better. Whether that was using cupping, needles, bones, soup, herbs or chanting. Just like our medicines, the east was perfecting their own, and was well advanced for the time and age it started.

Eastern Medicine is far older than the newer Western Medicine we are using now.. Eastern medicine was developed way back into the stone age. Using pressure or pricks on different aspects of the body, and lighting or eating particular herbs, scraping the body to allow areas to heal... Blood letting was also very popular. This medicine was the result of curiosity and trial / error science. Yes it was crude at the time, but through the ages and the development of tools and knowledge of the body, this form of science or Medicine was perfected. So something that aged, and knowledge behind it should be better than Western Medicine correct?

Not really... Why? Well can I as an Acupuncturist fix a broken bone? No, Can I as a TCM Practitioner perform life saving surgery to a baby whose heart was just not strong enough? No. But turn this around, Can A doctor take the time and energy and patience to really look at your body as a whole.. not just arm leg torso head.. but I mean emotions, right to memories and feeling to physical properties and symptoms and relate why a certain pain isn't going away because of difficult Qi due to a death? Or really listen to a patient and help them without use of drugs. Can a doctor really tell a patient I don't know why that bothers you.. but learn to live with it ?  TCM Practitioners, or Eastern Practitioners really can provide answers for those people. People of the West and Now All over the world rush to medication for every ache and pain. Which is over use of medication.. and a fault of Western Medicine. There are many faults to western medicine just like western living.... but that doesn't mean its all bad.

Both medicines cannot do everything, that is why its very important to integrate them and provide help for EVERYONE. I refer to a doctor any time I suspect a patient having problems that I know I cannot help with, such as heart problems, Severe mental disorders, pains that are extremely sharp.. or anything that is un explainable. I tell all of my patients before I even treat them, if at any time you experience anything your worried about.. such as flu, heart problems, extreme pain or anything you think is dangerous etc GO TO YOUR DOCTOR, because some people consider us as a primary care provider, we are a care provider but I stress that I cannot cure everything and we need our western doctors to help fight infection, disease and cure things that are miracles in themselves. If Acupuncturists/TCM Practitioners worked along side doctors we could help solve overwhelming issues of pain management, lessen prescriptions, help emotionally where doctors don't have the time. And help the unsolvable !

We both have our strengths and Weakness' but honestly we need a little Yin and Yang here and there. Eventually it will all come into balance, until then stay healthy and hope that its sooner than later :)

Roberta Hammond R.Ac, D.Ac. N.D

Chinese Medicine Modalities

Welcome to Chinese Medicine Modalities! I am an Acupuncturist, so most of these will be from my perspective, ill have information and pictures on each plus videos provided by you tube :) Enjoy, I may continue to update this if I forget something or need to add additional links.

Acupuncture: Is the art of using philiform needles to activate specific points on the body to aide in healing, blood flow, Qi flow and to create relief from pain and assorted illness. The needles are made so that it gently slips through the skin, it doesn't break the skin apart so it doesn't hurt like a normal needle would! The pictures I have demonstrate how small the needles are, and a patient receiving acupuncture, as well the video shows how small the needles are, and how we insert a needle. The video is old, so just to point out, although we can insert needles without a guide tube, we don't anymore, as guide tubes are more comfortable for the patient and easier for the practitioner.
Acupuncture - Video of Acupuncture

Auricular Acupuncture : Did you know almost any part of your body can be considered a mini full body micro system? For example: Your ear can be used to treat multiple parts of your body! Its actually a quite successful and strong treatment! Your practitioner can actually use this to treat your condition with minimal needles!

Acupressure: Acupressure is when your practitioner uses pressure instead of needles to help a patient during treatment. This can be used when a patient is undergoing treatment and a specific area can be quite tender, or if  a practitioner would like to incorporate it in her treatment which acupuncture is no feasible, such as a in the middle  of a massage, or in the middle of cupping. It doesn't activate quite as well as acupuncture, but it can be effective in some cases.

Cupping: During treatment your acupuncturist may need to do a deep tissue massage, or extract pathogens from the body. In these cases, cupping maybe used to do so. To use the cupping method, your practitioner will use either a plastic, glass, bamboo or even bone cup to suction to your skin. Your practitioner can use a manual method to apply the suction, that almost looks like a bicycle pump. Or they may use fire cupping, a more traditional and stronger method to apply the cup to your skin. The fire is used to void all oxygen from the cup before application to the skin. The fire NEVER touches the patient, and the cup is safely added to the skin to create a suction. This suction is like a hickey... but is a deep massage that lifts skin from muscle to allow blood and energy to that area, besides usually it feels quite nice :) You can have different types of cupping. There is slide cupping, in which the cup is slid all over the back, leg, shoulder, arm, neck to provide relief in a massage type of treatment. Or stationary cupping, where a cup is placed in a single area and not generally moved to allow relief. There is also flash cupping, used to heat a area or cleanse heat from an area with use of fire cupping... Quickly suctioning a cup to a patient and then releasing over and over.. its a unique but amazing experience :) Cupping has been used for centuries by many many civilizations, its almost a topic all on its own..
                                                                       Video Of Cupping

Guasha: Is the art, of using a tool such as a spoon, bone, ivory, jade etc to scrape the body causing a raising of the skin, and discoloration.. don't worry it sounds much worse than what it is! It is an amazing and useful modality! It brings blood and energy to the area causing healing and the breaking up of scar tissue!! It almost always creates pain relief, and aides healing to the area. Its amazing for neck pain, when you cannot fit cups and shoulder issues.

Electro Acupuncture : This modality is being used more and more here in the  west. Most have had TENS, where electric signals are sent to the muscles by using two pads to create a small current in the muscles, to heal and aide in pain relief. Acupuncture can use this modality much in the same way, but ... by use of needles :) We find that if there is a very stubborn case or a severely injured muscles its great to use electro acupuncture to quicken the relief and strengthen the acupuncture treatment.


There are multiple forms of modalities. If there are any questions, let me know ill be adding more modalities as I come across them :)

Roberta. D.Ac, R.Ac

Explanation of Modalites to come!!!!

So in my first post, I was talking about some assorted modalities that I told you I would explain further down the road. Im going to include pictures, and a description of each modality, and try to find videos for you!! This is going to be a big project so bear with me .....