Extra Health

A Prick and A Peck

August 24, 2006 on 2:00 pm | In Basic Theory | Comments Off After completing my education in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I returned home to central NY faced with the decision of where to set up my acupuncture practice. My husband, who had been quite busy running our family orchard business and waiting patiently for my return, suggested that I use some space behind the apple grading room and run my practice on the farm. I definitely knew that that was not the serene and professional image that I was going for! “Aw, c’mon”, he said. “You can call it your apple-puncture clinic, and we can have a new slogan – “come in for a prick and a peck!” My husband has a weird sense of humor. But, “a prick and a peck” does prompt me to think about the differences between the philosophies of western and eastern medicine. As a member of the NY Apple Association, they provided us with a display poster for our farm stand. It proclaims the nutritional value of the apple. Did you know that the apple contains 85 calories, has no fat or cholesterol, is low...

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Auricular Acupuncture - The Whole Body Imaged on the Ear

August 22, 2006 on 1:00 pm | In Basic Theory | Comments Off Out of everything that I have learned in my study of Chinese medicine, I think the theory behind auricular acupuncture is the most fascinating. The Chinese have used points on the ear to treat disease in the body for thousands of years. But as recently as the 1950’s, Dr. Paul Nogier of France, did his own mapping of the body on the ear based on the theory of superimposing an inverted fetus over the structure of the ear. Using this somatotopic representation, the ear lobe represents the head, the feet are towards the top of the ear and the body is in between. The outer edge of the ear (the helix curve) corresponds to the back of the “baby” as it lies inverted in the womb. Once you see this image taking form, you will see that the raised ridge on the ear (the antihelix) represents the spinal vertebrae. All of the internal organs are located in the innermost part of the ear. The heart and lungs are in the lower depression (the inferior cavum concha) and the intestines, kidney and...

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“Unexplained Infertility” – Explained by Traditional Chinese Medicine

August 19, 2006 on 2:00 pm | In Infertility | Comments Off Fertility issues affect at least one in six couples in the United States alone. Millions of women have gone through every test Western medicine has to offer to try to determine why they have not been able to conceive. Ultrasounds confirm that the ovaries and uterus appear to be normal. Blood work confirms that hormone levels are within normal range. Their partners have passed sperm analysis with flying colors. Many women tolerate hormone injections to stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs. Some attempt intrauterine inseminations (IUI’s) or expensive invitro fertilization procedures (IVF’s) in an attempt to bypass cervical, sperm or any other mysterious fertility issue. Many attempts fail and couples are given the dreaded, frustrating diagnosis of “unexplained infertility”. So, if nothing is wrong, what is wrong?

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