Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs comprise Traditional Chinese Medicine. Over 5000 years old, more people have been treated by Traditional Chinese Medicine than by any other medical modality in the history of the world.

Traditional Chinese Medicine maintains that the body, mind and spirit form an interactive whole ("holistic" medicine) with the environment. Only by treating these diverse elements as a single energy system can we attain "balance" - also known as "health".

Acupuncture is time-honored medicine. Although practiced for thousands of years, it was brought to the United States as medical practice after Nixon's visit to China in 1972, when a member of the media team received an emergency appendectomy with only acupuncture as anesthesia. Today, most states license acupuncturists as primary health care practitioners.

Acupuncture moves and directs "qi" (pronounced "chee"), which loosely translates as our body's energy. When the flow of qi in the body is interrupted, we develop symptoms, also called "dis-ease". By inserting filament-like, needles into acupuncture points, we can initiate the smooth flow of qi, therefore bringing the body back to health.

Acupuncture stimulates our brains to release beta-endorphins, thereby controlling pain, elevating mood, increasing serotonin, elevating white blood counts and stimulating local tissue healing.

Acupuncture needles are very thin, presterilized, disposable, one-time-use stainless steel. There is no risk of infection.

People experience acupuncture differently. Most patients report feeling only a minimal sensation as the needles are inserted; some feel nothing at all.

Chinese Herbs are seen as the cornerstone of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Chinese Herbal treatment effects change in the body - thereby reinforcing the changes begun by acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture and Herbs work together for the strongest results.

Over four hundred individual herbs have been identified and used in the Chinese Herbal Pharmacopeias. These include flowers, roots, barks, peels and fruits, each with its own properties and pharmacological actions. In fact, Modern Chinese researchers continue to prove in the laboratory biochemical effects which had been observed and experienced clinically for several thousand years.

These herbs are carefully combined with each individual patient in mind. Herbs are grouped according to a patient's signs and symptoms - and based on how well they work together best affect the patient's health.

Patients can benefit from the convenience of Chinese herb tablets, the ease of Chinese herb tinctures or powders or the strength of Chinese raw herbal teas.