How Rockefeller Almost Died.

It is no secret that the US economy is still struggling.  Being able to practice acupuncture is a wonderful gift, but it does not insulate me from the same anxieties that most people are feeling. I won't reiterate the grim statistics here, as they are available everywhere else and it is all too easy to spend time mired in despair and worry.  Instead, I thought I would share a small item I came across which was valuable to me.  This is not the first time our nation has faced a financial challenge and it will probably not be the last.  History is a great teacher, and one thing we can do is rediscover what people did in the past when faced with similar challenges.  After the Depression, there were many books published in which people revealed their experiences and how they survived.  I recently acquired an old copy of Dale Carnegie's book titled "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living."  To me, it is always thrilling to find these old books and wonder how many people have been impacted by them.  Amid the many stories of people surviving grinding poverty, a different tale stood out. It was the story of John D. Rockefeller.
By the age of 43, John had built up the largest corporation in the world, the Standard Oil Company.  He had not only become the richest person in the world, but possibly the richest person in history!  His wealth in 1897 was around $1 billion, which in today's currency would be over $400 billion.  Yet his wealth was not a source of happiness to him.  He was afflicted by a series of maladies brought on by stress, worry, and overwork.  His digestive system performed so poorly that he could only eat crackers and milk.  He lost all the hair on his head... as well as his eyebrows and eyelashes!  Except when he was bedridden by sickness, he never took time for rest or recreation.  Greed and fear consumed him.
Nor did he care for the well-being of his partners or employees.  They hated and feared him.  His motto was "You may kick me and abuse me provided you will let me have my own way."  So disliked was he that he had to hire bodyguards to protect his life.
No bodyguard could protect his life from the assault from within.  His health crumbling, Rockefeller finally was forced to give up some of his precious wealth and seek medical help.  The doctors were able to save his life with 3 simple rules, which I will reveal next week!

Thai Yoga Bodywork Presentation

Naperville Acupuncture Center will host Amanda Montano for a presentation on Thai Yoga Bodywork, Wednesday, March 7th, from 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Thai Yoga Bodywork is a fusion of 2 great things that go great together, giving you the best of yoga and bodywork in one session! Seating limited, call today at 630-369-3237 to save a seat! Learn more at napervillethaibodywork.com

Be Like Da Vinci... Try Acupuncture!

I have been practicing acupuncture for
over 10 years. In this time, there have been many changes, mostly
for the better. One thing I have found is that many people are much
less reluctant to try acupuncture nowadays. As more people try it,
they share their experiences with their circle of friends and family,
and the experiences are almost always positive. When we met people
at health fairs and events, they are usually receptive to learning
more about acupuncture. No doubt the positive portrayal in the media
from such people as Dr. Mehmet Oz is a huge factor as well. There is
no doubt that acupuncture is going mainstream.
Occasionally, however, we will
encounter people who have a positive impression and might like to try
it, but have a desire to examine the research. This is a natural
impulse. Before the internet, people relied on sources like Consumer
Reports to provide objective information on products and services,
but few people had access to medical journals and studies. Today,
the problem is that there is an overabundance of information on any
given topic. One can find studies relating to acupuncture that are
glowingly positive. Then there are studies that conclude acupuncture
is marginally better than placebo or neutral. There are very few
that cast acupuncture in a negative light. Essentially, as with many
things, one can find data to support whatever their position already
is, and an equal amount of data to contradict it. In addition, many
scientific studies reveal the bias of the individuals performing the
studies. This effect, called confirmation bias, can affect results
even in hard sciences like chemistry and physics.
I was discussing this with a physicist
recently and then it hit me. Somebody interested in acupuncture
could spend hours and hours gathering information (isn't that why
you're here?), carefully weighing the pros and cons. Or... they
could just try it! Leonardo Da Vinci, Issac Newton, Galileo, all the
great scientists of the past formed conceptions in their minds and
then tested them in real life. Today's scientists working, with
million and even billion dollar equipment, must plan their
experiments, sometimes years in advance. But judging acupuncture
does not require a hadron collider or even an MRI. All it takes is
an hour or so, and (at our clinic anyway), a very low investment.
Try it. Learn what a form of medicine that has lasted 5000 years is
really all about. Form your own opinion. Make up your own mind. At
the very least, you will learn something and have a new and
interesting experience. At the most, it could be a life-changing
experience.

Overtraining Syndrome

ACUPUNCTURE AND OVERTRAINING SYNDROME

Over the past 10 years, it has been my pleasure to treat many, many patients and in particular many people engaged in athletic endeavors. In some cases, acupuncture alone has provided excellent results. In other cases, acupuncture has proven to be a good complement to other modalities including chiropractic and physical therapy.

Every athlete, professional or not, will inevitably encounter injury. Most sports injuries are to the soft tissue (e.g. tendons, ligaments, muscles). Many athletes never completely recover, and in some cases these injuries become the basis for future problems.

Besides soft tissue injury, another common situation encountered by highly motivated athletes is overtraining syndrome. Exercise and sports performed properly promotes health and reduces physiologic and psychological stress. Improperly performed, these activities may increase stress and reduce health. If the intensity of training is increased beyond the body's ability to adapt, and if a full revery is not made, training actually becomes a long-term cause of stress. Some of the symptoms encountered include:

General fatigue that does not improve
Loss of motivation
Feelings of depression, anxiety, irritability
Loss of Strength

These symptoms are beyond that felt after normal training and do not diminish after a few days of rest or reduced training.

Physiological Effects

Excessive musculoskeletal stress, coupled with insufficient rest and recovery, leads to local acute inflammation, which can evolve into systemic chronic inflammation.

Studies have also shown that excessive training can actually compromise normal immune function. The immune system, in addition to providing defense against bacteria, viruses, and tumor cells also participates in tissue regeneration after injury. Overtraining leads to reduced lymphocytes and antibodies, making the body vulnerable to illness.

The endocrine system is also affected. Athletes who have overtrained may show increases in cortisol and decreases in testosterone. A change in this ratio may result in more protein catabolism (breakdown) than anabolism (buildup) in cells.

Acupuncture Treatment

Acupuncture is a soft tissue therapy which has 3 effects to reduce systemic stress. It reduces pain, promotes tissue healing, and helps restore homeostasis. The needle induces a local response which causes the body to attempt to heal both the point where the needle is inserted and the surrounding area. The nerve signal from the point is is transmitted to and processed at the spinal cord and within the brain. These activate control systems which both relieve pain and restore homeostasis.

Most people are treated twice per week for 3 weeks. Within this period of time, people consistently report less pain, better sleep, and improved energy. In addition, at our clinic, we use specialized techniques to increase range of motion, strength and balance. As competitive people in every field know, it is not the fact that problems arise but how you deal with them that determines your success.

What is INMAS?

INMAS stands for Integrative Neuromuscular Acupoint System. The INMAS was created by Dr Yun-Tao Ma to be an upgraded understanding of the use of acupuncture treatment. Classical acupuncture was developed between 500 and 200 BC. It grew to encompass an intricate system of 14 meridians with 361 points, each having a fixed location and function. This is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine and is still learned today.

The basic idea of the meridian system is that the acupuncture points are connected by flows of energy or qi. Stimulation of one point can produce effect elsewhere in the body based on these connections. However, intensive research in China and elsewhere has yet to produce concrete evidence of the meridians as described in the classical texts. Classical Chinese acupuncture produced valuable clinical experience, but the theories of why it worked have become increasingly at odds with modern physiological understanding. Simply put, acupuncture works, but the reason it works is not the reason that was traditionally given.

This presents what Dr. Ma calls a "bottleneck;" an ancient and valuable therapy is having trouble moving into the modern age because it is still described in archaic terms. The INMAS was created to remedy this. This system is based on a neuroanatomical understanding of physiology, while preserving the classical impetus to treat the whole person, not only the disease. It is based on an understanding of the peripheral and central mechanisms of the nervous system. Pain and other problems can be treated not by an understanding of "qi" in the meridian, but by where they are relative to spinal nerve distribution. The action of the acupuncture needle is not considered to affect qi, but to have a neurochemical effect. This leads to a clear and reproducible treatment protocol, as well as facilitating communication with other health care professionals.

At Naperville Acupuncture Center, we use many acupuncture techniques, but our understanding of what and why we do what we do is guided largely by Dr. Ma's work. Our thanks and gratitude to him for advancing our profession and making it more accepted and of more benefit to the public.

On Acupuncture

Hi, this is the first blog post written for the Naperville Acupuncture Center. We will be using this blog to communicate information about acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine generally, as well as to cover stories of interest about health, our clinic, and local events. In the first few upcoming entries, I will be posting some answers to the question of how acupuncture "really works." Many people have heard of the theory of "Chi" or energy, but from a scientific perspective, these explanations may be unsatisfying. Stay tuned to find out some fascinating facts!