I woke up on Sat morning feeling dizzy, heavy headed and low in energy.  It feels like I’m under the weather but I know I’m not.  I ate well and slept well, probably too well.  I slept more hours than I usually do and woke up feeling like my brain was foggy.  An hour later, I started to feel my throat getting dry and slightly swollen.  By 11am, I felt my esophagus (the canal that connects the throat to the stomach) was swelling and I had difficulty even swallowing my saliva.  I’ve never had allergies so this reaction was new to me.  I was wondering what triggers such an allergic reaction?  It isn’t a million dollar question.  The SMOG and the dry weather.

I poked my head out the window.  It was grey and it smelled burnt.  I could see sunlight beaming through the heavy smog.  I went online to check the air quality and the whole Bay area is dyed in a dark red color.  The air quality index was at 160 and later climbed up to 220 in Berkeley.  As my symptoms were getting worse, I knew I had to keep myself hydrated.  I kept drinking lots of water but it didn’t seem to help ease out the dryness.  Then I remembered I had some Asian pears and apples at home. Bingo!  I can make my favorite drink that my mom always made for me when I was a kid.

I took the honey-ed drink and a supplement with Cordyceps mycelium.  This is a fantastic herb that’s sold at HeCares.  We normally prescribe it to patient to prevent altitude sickness.  In this case, it helps to increase red blood cell production.  Hence, it increases oxygen levels and decreases inflammation.  My symptoms were almost gone in 30 mins after I took the herbs. I drank the juice throughout the whole day.

This recipe is well-known in every Chinese family.  We made it during the fall season to fight dryness in the lung.  The traditional way to make juice in the Chinese culture is to boil the fruits in water but not cold press or put them in the juicer.  When you boil the whole fruit, it retains all nutrients in the juice.  It is also nourishing and hydrating.

--Carla Chan, L.Ac.

At HeCares our services aren’t confined to the clinic room. As a team, we are constantly involved in supporting each other and our respective communities. An example of this is how we show up for our teammates on and off the court.  For the last several years, HeCares has sponsored sports teams to help them pay for uniforms, registration fees, practice and competition locations, etc. One such recipient of this sponsorship is an adult women’s basketball team based in Campbell.  
 
After having a disappointing season in a higher level division, the team decided to drop down one level.  The following season did not end with much better results. Injuries, some unfilled positions, and possibly a lack of confidence led to a second season with 0 wins! Several players came to our clinic seeking treatment for injuries, primarily knee pain, low back pain, and ankle sprains. I had the pleasure of treating many of these athletes alongside Dr. Frank He.  One such case involved a traumatic knee injury.  Suspecting that it was more serious than the patient thought, we had to utilize our medical community and promptly sent her for imaging. Sure enough, she had an ACL tear that would require surgery.  Sadly, even with acupuncture she would not be playing the next season.

 In addition to the medical support, it turned out the team needed players to round out their lineup.  They had guards but were short on forwards and centers.  Always willing to help, it just seemed natural that I join the women’s team sponsored by HeCares.  So, as part of our ongoing effort to support our community, I became the newest member of Ace. 

After the first two very close games, my new team had its first win! This after losing 23 games straight from their previous two seasons!!!  What a celebration!  Game 5 our point guard showed up with acute torticollis, AKA, a stiff neck. She woke up the morning of game day unable to turn her head.  The symptoms only continued to worsen throughout the day. Well, we wouldn’t have another win without one of our key players, so my medical expertise was necessary once again, this time courtside. A quick pre game assessment showed me that she had a muscles spasm, which I could treat with massage and stretching.  Fortunately, I was able to treat her right then and there.  Warming up, loosening up, and playing the game, I surmised would take care of the rest.  This assessment was correct and here we were, with only 6 players that evening, taking home our second victory!  This was a major milestone in proving to the team that we could win with the skill set and talents that we collectively possessed.  Of course, it never would have been possible with a point guard who couldn’t turn her head.  Now we are in our 10th week and have a record of 6-4 (wins-losses) and are headed to the playoffs!  Our spirits are high and things are looking good.  Team building, confidence building, community building, wellness building. That is what we do here at HeCares. Glad to be part of the team.

Leia Sutton-Barnes, L. Ac.

Never underestimate the importance of proper footwear. Often times we believe that we shape our shoes to fit us -- we “break in” our shoes, wearing out the sole, making holes in the toe. True, in the clinic we often examine the wear and tear of a patient’s footwear to give us an idea of how the patient plants their foot and distributes their weight. However, as much as we shape our shoes, our shoes also shape us. Like any relationship in life, there is a duality between shoe and foot whose effect extends beyond the contact between sole and sole. The question is whether this relationship is a beneficial one. An old Chinese medicine proverb translates to something like, “if the feet are happy, the body and mind will follow”. So we should ask, does the shoe fit?

Recently a patient came to see me for an ankle sprain sustained during a basketball game. Upon examining  the feet, I could see the ankle joints were unstable on both sides, the soles of the feet were flat (a.k.a. “flat feet”) and the toenails were too long. The patient had sustained innumerable ankle sprains over a lifetime of playing sports. Although the patient typically wore sneakers while playing basketball, the patient came to the clinic wearing a pair of flat, very worn out canvas shoes. These were the patient’s everyday shoes worn to both work and fun. “How long has it been since you wore a sneaker outside of sports?” I asked. The reply was “a very long time”.

In this case I diagnosed that  the impact of flat shoes over time affected the ligaments of the foot and ankle, which had already sustained repeated trauma. Without support, the arches collapsed or got more flat over time, and consequently the shock meant to be absorbed by the arches was absorbed by the joints. Meanwhile the patient’s long toenails were affecting how the patient stepped while running and sprinting during basketball, making the patient susceptible to rolling and injuring the ankles.

The improper shoe can damage the foot in many ways. We see many foot related issues at the HeCares clinic. Bunions, plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, morton's neuroma, flat feet, ankle sprains and strains, knee, and even hip issues are all caused or worsened by improper footwear.

Most of us do not hesitate to invest in a quality car, because we need reliable transportation, and a comfortable bed because that is where we spend a quarter to a third of our  lives. However, we easily spend half of our life or more in our shoes! Whatever the occasion, whether work or play, the shoe must fit!

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On Halloween, I couldn’t wait to finish my shorter day at the clinic so that I could go trick-or- treating with my six year old son. This year I bought him a Lego Ninjago costume and he looked so happy dressed up at his after school pre-Halloween parade.

PC was my last patient for the day. As I walked to the exam room to greet PC, my staff reminded me that she needed to leave earlier today. Before I started my routine interview, PC asked me if today's visit could be cut by half and still be effective. With my sense of humor, I told her I could easily do that by giving her twice as many needles or inserting the needles twice as deep or cranking up the electro-stimulation twice as strong as I usually do. We both laughed hard...

Knowing PC was a gifted and humble teacher for children with special needs who is always very serious about the relief and relaxation she could get in each minute of her routine visits, I asked her why she had to cut her long awaited acupuncture visit so short. She told me that she wanted to take three kids from her class to buy costumes and then go trick- or- treating. It turned out that these three kids missed the school's parade because their parents could not afford their costumes. PC said that this bothered her the whole day and she could not bear to let her students miss trick- or- treating on Halloween night after already missing the school's parade. My heart sank as I realized that not all kids are able to get the costumes they want on Halloween.   

After treating PC, I told my staff to charge her only half of the fee she usually pays. When she realized she received a special treat, PC said she didn't expect this kind offer and felt very embarrassed. I told her I would feel embarrassed as well if the three kids did not have costumes and missed their trick- or- treating tonight.  

Later, when I picked my son up from after school, he asked me why I seemed so happy. I told him that I just saw an angel on Halloween.

Frank He, L. Ac., QME, DAOM
Edited by Sarah Tang, DTCM