Beach volleyball.  Too many people on the court.  Player 1 bumps into the person behind and steps on the edge of the foot of player 2.  An audible three pops are heard.  “POP, POP, POP!” and player 1 goes down into a crumpled pile.  Player 1 has felt this before, and though it had been 18 years since having such a bad injury, Player 1 goes into immediate shock. The leg begins to shake and the ankle starts swelling.  Player 1 is emotionally devastated. The only difference from all the previous ankle ligament tears is that this time she was with a group of acupuncturists, one of whom happened to have some needles with her and was able to give Player 1 immediate treatment--once she was carried off of the volleyball court.  The swelling, which had started so quickly, halted almost as soon as the needles were inserted.  After a few minutes with points placed both distally and locally to the injury, the shaking also stopped.  The physical trauma was severe but the acupuncture had already started controlling the damage so it did not continue to escalate.

Within two hours of the injury, Player 1 was given internal herbs for acute trauma and had the ankle wrapped in a plaster of San Huang San (Three Yellows Powder), an herbal alternative to an ice pack.  Addressing the inflammation and pain internally and externally at the same time are part of a “Die Da” protocol (injury treatment from a long lineage of Martial Arts practices).  The plaster was kept on over night and re-applied for the next few days to reduce swelling, prevent blood clotting, help clear out stagnant blood, and promote fresh blood coming to the area instead of ice, which temporarily helps reduce swelling but ultimately prolongs recovery time because of restricting blood flow to the injured tissues.  The visible bruising that generally takes about a week to appear with this kind of injury had expressed by day 2 and was already starting to clear by day 4!

The deviation from previous ankle injury experiences, seeing the visible signs of more rapid recovery and feeling less pain and restriction than any prior torn ligaments, also helped Player 1 with the emotional component of chronic injury.  She was much more positive and hopeful about her recovery.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are useful in addressing minor to severe injuries. This is a case of a severe acute ankle sprain on a person with a long history of chronic ankle injuries. When there is repeat trauma to an area, our body “remembers” this injury pattern and damage can be much more severe and slower to repair than expected.  A sort of “PTSD” of the body, if you will.  When left untreated, or using the classic RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) protocol, the injured area does not repair as quickly as desired or as completely as necessary for full recovery.  Fortunately, using the ancient wisdom of Chinese Medicine, there are alternatives and ways to overcome the vicious cycle of chronic injury.

A patient of a chiropractor received a pneumothorax after a dry needling treatment in 2015. Chiropractors and physical therapists use acupuncture needles to perform a crude form of acupuncture called dry needling.

I don't care about who was doing the Dry Needling or acupuncture as long as one is trained and licensed to perform such art. Please don't take my post as a personal offense or disrespect to a profession of PT or DC. As an acupuncturist and teacher myself, all I care about is why this happened and how I could prevent this from happening in my own practice and my interns'.

Pneumothorax happens to acupuncturists' practice as well and probably even more frequently. You can easily find the cases reported to acupuncture Board involving pneumothorax on its website. It's all about how much training, whether within scope of practice, how clinically competent the practitioner is... 

​For more details on the news, please follow the link at the end of this pot. Thanks!

Good luck needling!

Frank He, L. AC, QME, DAOM, Professor of Acupuncture

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfmaude/detail.cfm?mdrfoi__id=5383935

The expression originates from the Great Depression, when money (and food) were scarce. “To have a good meal under your belt” meant that you ate heartily that day. If you did not have enough food, you would have to “tighten your belt” because you’d lost weight and your pants would be falling off. (Sue Allen Clayton )
​
Born in 1960's in a small village in Northern China, I had experienced the shortage of food. I went to boarding school for my high school and everyone had the same amount of food at every meal, regardless of one’s gender or size. Therefore, the most effective way to fight hunger was to tighten my belt. My older siblings did not attend boarding school and had more to eat, which was probably why I was the shortest one among three siblings.

Entering medical school, I was primarily known as an athletic guy. I often received more food with the same amount of money because staff at the dining hall simply liked me very much and felt I needed more food due to my consumption of energy in sports. Sometimes, I would get more food than I can eat and I would simply share with friends. With the increase of food supply, I surprisingly grew an extra inch taller during my medical school years.

After graduating from medical school, I made some money and could afford more food-meaning I was supposed to gain more weight. However, I always remembered to tighten my belt. That’s why my neighbors often asked if I was eating enough, because I looked so “thin”  while most people at my age have been carrying a supersized belly, a sign they were well off. Though annoyed, I'd always jokingly say the same thing, “I am still working up in life.” By tightening my belt, I am still able to fit in the pants I used to wear during high school :)

The original purpose of tightening one’s belt might have been to prevent pants falling off. However, I have my own understanding of the idiom from my personal and medical perspectives: First of all, by tightening your belt, you’d maintain a relatively consistent volume in your stomach for the amount of food you should eat. Secondly, when tightening your belt, you can keep your stomach between your waistline and your diaphragm so that it would not stretch and hold more food than it should otherwise. Moreover, your stomach would become smaller and you'd feel fuller sooner when eating your meals.
My personal observation of the obesity epidemic in the developed countries is that it comes from food surplus and over-consumption. This is why some obese patients choose to reduce the volume of their stomach. Whenever I treat overweight patients, I always wonder: if one can simply tighten the belt to prevent obesity, why would one choose to undergo tummy tuck or even bariatric surgery?

For the sake of your stomach, please tighten your belt.

Practitioner Leia Sutton-Barnes shares pictures from her recent sky-diving adventure in Santa Cruz country with Skydive Surfcity. Here's a reminder to all of us to enjoy the thrills of life and the outdoors!

​2017 was a wonderful year in which I experienced two exciting and life changing events. The first, I married the most fantastic man with whom I have shared life, laughs, and adventures for the last six years. The second, the two of us for our honeymoon were fortunate enough to visit for two weeks a magical place home to the most flightless birds in the world and more recently fabled to inhabit Hobbits, Orcs, and Elves, a country that has been on my bucket list for many years -- the beautiful island of New Zealand, plus an additional week in yet another beautiful island, Fiji.
 
It was summer during our December visit, as New Zealand is south of the equator, and we filled our vacation with outdoor adventures, including ice caving, heli-touring glaciers, laying in geothermal beach pools, boating through infamous Milford Sound, white water rafting, wine tasting, and sky diving, to name a few. In this thread we opted to get a sleeper van equipped with a kitchen so we could drive and camp all over the north and south islands. Between our activities we made time to prep our own meals.

As an acupuncturist who specializes in Chinese diet therapy and has some personal dietary restrictions, I always find it a challenge to travel. However, since New Zealand is widely known to have the best lamb in the world and more sheep inhabitants than people, I was willing to let my digestive system take a hit and I did not hesitate to announce that I would be eating lamb every single day. I had yet to discover that New Zealand’s standard of high quality grass-fed meats and produce does not stop at lamb and that their food is enough to make any California Bay Area health nut or foodie’s mouth water.

My first visit to the grocery store was not so different than shopping at a Safeway or Save Mart, nothing special. I purchased marinated lamb, eggs and some rice pilaf. We found a small health food store afterward which had some lovely greens, which was such a relief, as well as avocados, avocado oil, and even gluten free bread, hurrah! At this point I was relieved to have food I could eat and be happy to cook with. The real surprise came when I began cooking. When I cracked open the eggs, again nothing special when purchased, I saw they had orange yolks!

Orange yokes is a sign of a very healthy egg and is typical of grass-fed chickens that feasted on bugs.  These plain store-bought eggs had a caliber of orange yolks only acquired in the states if you raise your own grass fed chickens or have a good friend that does. Not even the eight-dollar eggs or farmers market eggs compare. Grass-fed pasture raised chickens or any livestock also means no crowding, which in turn means less to no antibiotics, hormones, and an all around happy animal.

It turns out that all livestock in New Zealand is, as a standard, grass fed and pasture raised. You can really taste the difference -- the lamb was tender, not gamey at all, and as our trip went forward we found the same was true of the beef, chicken, and, yes, venison. We drove past hundreds of miles of fields covered with happy four legged animals grazing lazily. Even their dairy milk, which I usually don’t drink much, just enough to make my coffee golden brown, is rich with real flavor, almost like a very mild cheese. In addition, all the restaurants had gluten-free, even vegetarian and vegan options, not just in New Zealand but in Fiji too.

It is very important to me to eat a healthy and balanced diet, especially for as long as three  weeks of time. However, since I was going to some of the most beautiful places on earth and having the time of my life, I was willing to make a dietary compromise. Turns out I was ate just as well if not better than at home, putting even California Bay Area fresh meats and produces to shame. New Zealand and Fiji, I love you, and I will be back to feast on your bounty.

-- Angelica Campanale, L.Ac

 “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple” -- Dr. Seuss
​
​My name is Neta Shani and I’m a pediatric acupuncturist at HeCares Integrative Medicine Center specializing in pediatrics prenatal and postnatal care. I’ve been practicing for over 10 years and throughout my career I’ve sought various continued education trainings to hone my tools as a clinician. My latest tool, the Namburdripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET),came after a long search for treatment for my own children, my four year old twins. In my experience the NAET Allergy Elimination technique has proved  to be very effective in helping many kids in their journey to better health. You can read about my personal story below.
​
What is NAET?
Namburdripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) is a no drug, non-invasive natural solution to alleviate allergies and sensitivities. It can address sensitivities to basic foods, vitamins and minerals, as well as different chemical, environmental allergens and more. NAET uses elements of acupuncture, chiropractic, nutrition, and kinesiology to treat the patient so their body will recognize allergens as non-threatening, giving the body the ability to process them in a healthy way. If a person is tested positive to 5 different allergens, assuming it takes one treatment per allergen, there would only be a need for 5 sessions. If a person is found sensitive to 15 allergens, it should take at least 15 sessions. After each session, the practitioner tests to see whether the previous allergen treated has been cleared or whether there is need to repeat.

What cases do we treat with NAET?
NAET can successfully treat patients suffering from a wide range of allergen sensitivity symptoms including Eczema, Acid Reflux, IBS, leaky gut, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, abdominal pain, sleep disorders, upper respiratory issues, and more.

The NAET treatment is gentle requiring very few points, making treatment a welcome relief for pediatric patients and their parents.

Commonly treated pediatric issues include:

• Infantile colic/reflux
• Eczema
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)
• Seasonal allergies
• Sinus infections
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Ear infections
• Low immunity
• Failure to Thrive (FTT) or Faltering Weight

​Twin Success Cases
A Case of Chronic Congestion
My first NAET patient was my four year old son. He had been suffering from chronic ear fluids  that got him waking up tired, cranky  and affected his behavior at school.  Knowing that children who suffer from a chronic pathogen are more prone to ADHD, I treated him as I would any of my pediatric patients with acupuncture, herbs, massage. But to my surprise and frustration, his condition remained the same. His pediatrician recommended ear tubes, but I was determined to find out the cause before turning to an invasive treatment.

I first suspected allergies, as he was congested almost all the time. Visits to an allergist concluded there was nothing wrong regardless of the obvious symptoms and suffering.   As previous eliminations of certain suspect foods had positive effect, I started suspecting the presence of further food sensitivities.

I had heard about NAET and sought out an acupuncturist specializing in this treatment.We had an in depth conversation about the foods I had already eliminated,and discussed  my suspicions that something we love so much that appears at almost every meal and every snack may be causing my son’s symptoms - gluten. Indeed, gluten was  found as the guilty culprit.  In addition he was found to have sensitivities to some other basic nutrients such as calcium, yeast and grains. The treatments for these food sensitivities helped his immune system recognize these nutrients as friendly and healthy. And after just a few weeks of treatment his ear fluids were completely gone! He wakes up in a great mood and has no signs of ADHD.

A Case of Failure to Thrive
His twin sister proved an even greater challenge: She was born prematurely due to Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) that had her at a mere 3.9 lbs at birth. While her brother was gaining weight at a pace that kept his doctors happy, she kept her own petite curve. Her eating habits were a challenge; she wouldn’t eat much and complained frequently of belly aches. She had so many bowel movements that it seemed like her body was expelling more than it was taking in. Though I was open to any test the doctors suggested, nothing was conclusive.  We saw more specialists and went through more tests and much to our chagrin, we just became more exhausted and further away from a solution.

As a mother and a clinician, I was so frustrated that my decade of experience with acupuncture and herbs was not helping. She was not the first case of FTT I saw, but she was definitely the only one that drove me to seek other tools. I decided to try NAET and to my delight, we finally discovered that she was sensitive to. Her stomach aches were very real, foods and basic nutrients  such as eggs, vitamin C, yeast, animal fat, vegetable fat, dairy, glute. These were causing digestive upset to the point that very little nutrients were absorbing properly. It was then I decided to become a NAET acupuncturist, so at the very least I can fix my own kids and hopefully save many other parents the heartache we endured.

-- Neta Shani, L.Ac

HeCares Integrative Sports Medicine Center is honored and excited to welcome our newest associate and team member Leia Sutton-Barnes LAc, MTCM.

Leia brings to our team a well rounded practice in all things TCM as well as passion for orthopedics and sports medicine and a thorough knowledge of Chinese herbs and formulas.

Leia Sutton-Barnes is available by appointment at all three HeCares locations Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz and Los Gatos
HeCares.net
408-720-1766