Focused on function not pain

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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When to Choose Acupuncture for back pain

Doctor Viewing Scans With Patient

Acupuncture for back pain is one of the most common reasons people come and see us at our clinic.  You can hardly find a person 40 years of age in our new society who has never had back pain!  We have come to accept it as part of growing older and sitting most of the day. The most common story is to for someone to injure him or herself after…

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Injury free – the secret of a Hiro

Both athletes and inactive people alike, come to me with similar accumulated injuries of life: it is as if we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t! But for me, meeting Hiroshige Watanabe has changed the game. He really has influenced my perspective on pain, injury and rehabilitation, both as a therapist and a runner dealing with injuries myself. Before Hiro, as he is known by his…

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Moxibustion is turning babies upside-down!

by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Moxibustion, the therapeutic burning of a special herb near or on a patient, is an ancient oriental practice that goes back thousands of years – it may even predate acupuncture!  It seems like a shamanistic and ritualistic practice at first, but science has turned this notion around, or rather, upside down – literally! Recent rigorous reviews of clinical research (Cochrane Reviews…see link below) have demonstrated…

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The key to pain-free acupuncture – precise electro-stimulation

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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Holistic does not mean alternative

by Gord Grant, PhD, RAc The words we use to describe our healthcare systems, for good or bad, reveal our biases. First of all, our current use of “healthcare” to name our mainstream medical system has a primary focus on managing and preventing diseases.  So “healthcare” is clearly a euphemism, a term we reasonably use instead of “disease care” — understandably, we want to be positive and promote the target…

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Beyond alternatives – a sustainable, adaptable vision of healthcare

by Gord Grant PhD, RAc The time has come.  A turning point is happening in healthcare; although maybe not the one you think!  The future is not about life extension through technology and micromanaging diseases — at least not for the majority.  Emerging from a former focus on disease detection and symptom mitigation is a network of progressive health professionals who will help reframe the very idea of healthcare itself. They…

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Defining healthcare – our evolving vision

by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Our move to the new clinic space has been an opportunity to re-examine our vision of what our work is aiming to be .   I think anyone – individuals or groups, a single person or a community organization, a family business, or a corporation – can benefit from re-examining and stating their vision and reason to be from time to time.  For us at The…

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Numbness in your fingers? Thoracic Outlet Syndrome can be confused with Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (and more)

by Carl Parnham RMT As explained in another blog written this week by Dr. Alina Tousseeva of our ATP team, Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is located primarily in your wrist at the carpel tunnel.  This restricted bony/fibrous tunnel wraps around and contains the many tendons that control movement in the wrist and fingers.  It also protects the nerves and blood vessels that supply your hand with blood, sensation and use…

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Acupuncture generates energy – the science story

by Gord Grant PhD, RAc For thousands of years, acupuncture has been claimed to unblock Qi (“chi”). Qi is described as a universal energy flowing through meridian pathways up and down the limbs and interconnecting the internal organs. The original concepts of Qi or Yin and Yang powerfully and poetically describe the nature and ecology of the body and mind. In modern times, even though science can quantify energy in…

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