The Point of Acupuncture – one point at a time. This blog series will address our understanding of handful of the most special acupuncture points, one by one, both in a historical context of oriental philosophy, and also the evidence shown by science to date on why and how each point may be working therapeutically. We have discussed acupuncture mechanism before in general ways (see the facia connection), but this…
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Hidden from view until now – fluid filled spaces everywhere! By Gord Grant PhD, RAc and Alina Tousseeva, RAc A medical group from New York City recently discovered something very new and interesting about connective tissue. Connective tissue (or fascia as it is also known) is the tough, gooey, elastic filler stuff between cells in and around tissues, sinews, organs and muscles of the body. It is simply everywhere! On…
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By Gordon Grant and Alina Tousseeva, Medical labels are often misleading. Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), carpel tunnel syndrome, patella-tracking syndrome, sacral iliac dysfunction – these specific conditions focus on the painful joint or muscle, and can miss the big picture…. and the solution! We often meet people with chronic injuries who come to our clinic and who have not been fully improving with exercises. They are frustrated, and are ready…
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Here at The Acupuncture Turning Point, we learned acupuncture from a traditional school of Chinese medicine. As with most oriental acupuncture colleges, we were taught techniques that can create a deep achy sensation (or “de Qi” in Chinese). This is not always painful, but can be uncomfortable, especially if we come back every few minutes to twist and turn the needle as indicated! There are other traditional techniques that are…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc and Alina Tousseeva, RAc The majority of people with complex and unresolved pain find themselves vulnerable and frustrated in this “no-man’s land” of western medicine. Often a specialist will exclude a problem from his or her domain if it does not meet given criteria leading to a clear diagnosis. As such, he or she cannot treat the problem from his or her way of training…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc and Alina Tousseeva RAc Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue mobilization (iaSTiM) is not a new idea at all! Who has not used a solid object or tool to work out the tight knots in your back muscles? And think of all the self myofascial release instruments such as foam or ribbed plastic rollers, rubber balls and or other devices. iaSTiM is indeed an ancient practice. It…
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IMS, or “intramuscular stimulation”, is a relatively new and promising technique which was introduced by Dr. Gunn about 30 years ago. Originally it was called “dry needling of motor points” , which refers to using a non-hypodermic needle without the injection of a liquid, but rather a dry filamentous needle (indeed, an acupuncture needle). Dr. Gunn demonstrated this technique could significantly reduce chronic muscular pain associated with neuropathies…
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by Alina Tousseeva, M.D. (Russia), R.Ac. and Gord Grant, Ph.D., R.Ac. A medical research team from the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at Rochester, NY, published a very interesting article on the acupuncture mechanism in the highly acclaimed scientific journal NATURE (NATURE NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 13 | NUMBER 7 | JULY 2010). Here, Goldman’s team concludes, “Although acupuncture has been practiced for over 4,000 years, it has been difficult to establish its…
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