Holistic Alternatives Acupuncture

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- 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress.
- 75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints or disorders.
Stress has been linked to all the leading causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide. Some health experts now speculate that as much as 70-85% of all diseases and illnesses are stress-related.
These are alarming statistics considering the fact that we live in a society that is hard-wired for stress. Think for a moment about the things that you experience every day that potentially bring stress into your life. Work stress is often the first thing people mention as we are now working more hours with fewer vacations. Maybe you cant even remember the last time you took a vacation. What about the drive to work? If you have to commute in Los Angeles, this could be a huge source of stress. And, with the advancement of technology, we are never more than an email or phone call away from the office. Add to all that a personal life, and you are now juggling so many stressors that the body doesnt know what to do.
So, how does all this stress affect the body and mind? In short, it is the flight or fight response that we are dealing with. As evolved as we have become over the years, our bodies still have the same reactions to stress. The difference is that now, our stressors tend to be of the mental/emotional type as opposed to the physical type. The response is the same as it was many, many years ago.
When we encounter stressors, sensory nerves in the brain are stimulated. This then stimulates the hypothalamus, which secretes corticotrophin-releasing factor in order to activate the pituitary glands secretion of ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). ACTH then acts as a commander to the adrenal glands in order to secrete the stress hormones (cortisol, aldosterone, and epinephrine). These stress hormones cause a number of physiological changes throughout the body, and when sustained for a prolonged period of time, can lead to the dysfunction of various body systems.
Now that weve addressed the how, what, and why what can we do to resolve the problem? Most of us cannot quit our jobs or stop having relationships with our families. Sometimes the thought of removing the stressor brings on even more stress.
Acupuncture works amazingly well to help manage the stress in our daily lives. Of course, you will have to commit to making some lifestyle changes as well in order to maintain your health and state of mind. With acupuncture, we are able to bring the body back to a state of homeostasis. The stress response that gets stuck in overdrive with our busy lives is reset so to speak. When youre not constantly experiencing a stress response, all those stress hormones that have been floating around your body are suddenly able to balance themselves out.
Because of the fact that Acupuncture works so well at balancing the stress hormones, other hormones are also positively affected. By balancing all these hormones, we can address a number of psychological symptoms associated with stress. Anxiety, depression, irritability, and many other psychological symptoms are often resolved after a course of treatment with acupuncture and herbs.
With our specialization in stress-related disorders, we are confident that we can put you on a path to health total health. We are happy to speak with you more about any specific questions you may have.

Everyone experiences pain at some point in time. The key to pain management is to pay attention to the pain and address it right away so that it doesnt become a chronic condition. The experience of pain itself can weave its way through our daily lives. It can affect communication, relationships, sleep quality, emotional states, energy levels, and the ability to do our normal daily activities. The longer you experience the pain, the more areas of life it affects. Often times, the anti-inflammatory medications that are so often taken to relieve the pain, weaken the tendons, ligaments, and muscles, which leave the body more susceptible to re-injury.
We see a variety of pain conditions at our clinic. If you or someone you know is experiencing pain, please find the category below that best fits your condition. This will give you a better idea of what to expect from treatment.

Acute Pain:

This is often a simple condition such as a sprained ankle or strained muscle. These can often be debilitating in the first couple days, and often resolve on their own over several days or weeks. If the pain is not addressed properly, it can cause tension in the muscle that can then lead to a susceptibility to pain in that general area. Acupuncture works very well for these acute conditions. Generally, it takes about 1-5 treatments to experience the full benefit of treatment. In most cases, patients will experience significantly less pain after 1 treatment. We recommend continued treatment once a week for the first month in order to strengthen the body and prevent re-injury to the area. This one month treatment principle is also very effective in normalizing the stress response, which is often times the trigger for acute pain. When you are able to handle stress better, your muscles become more flexible, which reduces the occurrence of pain.

Chronic Pain:

Patients suffering from chronic pain often have varying levels of pain from one day to the next. Most times, this pain tends to be at a constant low to moderate level with flare-ups of severe pain. These pain conditions generally tend to be present for a year or longer, and often have a more serious underlying cause such as arthritis, bulging disc in the spine, spinal irregularities, or physical trauma to name a few. Chronic pain often requires an extended course of treatment to obtain sustainable results, however, relief to a certain degree is often felt after the first treatment. Since pain conditions and levels of severity are as unique as the patients who suffer from them, it is nearly impossible to determine an exact number of treatments required. Generally speaking, the longer one has suffered from the condition, the longer the course of treatment.

Sports Injuries:

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It is normally in the category of acute pain, however it can sometimes become a chronic pain condition. These injuries are due to sport-related activities and tend to be very specific. The treatment rules for acute and chronic pain applies here, depending on how long you have suffered from the injury in question. The biggest thing to keep in mind here is that you should not take NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs such as Ibuprofen, Naproxen, etc.) for a sport injury. These drugs often mask the pain while causing a weakness of the tissues, which can lead to a false belief that the body has fully healed, thereby resulting in re-injury.

Post Surgical:

For those who have had to undergo surgery for various reasons, acupuncture can help to alleviate the post operative pain, reduce build-up of scar tissue, and help the body heal more quickly. It also works well to come in for treatment prior to surgery to help strengthen the body and relax the mind.

Miscellaneous:

There are various other pain conditions that may not be addressed by the four previous categories. Headaches and migraines are a good example as they can actually fit into both categories at once. If you are experiencing pain and are not sure if acupuncture can help you, please call our office. We will be happy to speak with you and help you find your way to a more pain-free life.
At Holistic Alternatives Acupuncture, we use a variety of modalities to address pain conditions. These modalities include:
Acupuncture: Specific points on various places of the body are used to address the pain. There are normally local points (points around the area of pain) and distal points (points normally on arms and legs).
Auricular (Ear) Acupuncture, Intradermals, or Seeds: The points on the ear are extremely effective in addressing pain conditions and associated symptoms. The ear acu-points are done in conjunction with body acu-points. At the end of the acupuncture treatment, we often place either intradermals or seeds onto the ear points to stimulate the points between regular treatments.
Cupping: This is used primarily for neck, back, and sciatic pain. Cupping is the use of a glass cup that is warmed and placed onto the affected area to create suction. This suction helps to promote the circulation of qi and blood, thereby creating a more suitable environment for the tissues to heal. In biomedical terms, this helps to pull the lactic acid build-up out of the muscle tissues.
Herbal Products: These can be internal medicines that help to promote tissue healing and strength, or they can be simple external liniments, ointments, or patches that help to alleviate local area pain. We have a variety of formulas to help treat muscle cramps, arthritis, bone spurs, nerve pain, and various forms of headaches. This is one of the best adjunct therapies to acupuncture in order to balance the body so that the pain you experience does not become a recurring issue.

Womens bodies are uniquely complex in that there is a constant flux of hormones during the course of a month, a week, and even a day. While this is normal for women, there is a balance that must be continually maintained. Without this balance, a number of problems can arise. Our goal is to help you find the factors contributing to the imbalance you are experiencing. Once the underlying cause is determined, we can then proceed with treatment, which may require an extended course of both acupuncture and herbal therapies.
Some of the conditions that have been known to respond well to our natural treatments include:
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

Our treatment approach is to work in conjunction with the current medical modalities available. As the surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation therapies address the cancer itself, we work to minimize the negative side effects from these treatments (nausea, vomiting, pain, fatigue, depression, etc.).
Acupuncture works very well to alleviate the pain and nausea that are often associated with chemotherapy and surgery. The main goal of our treatment with acupuncture is to promote the circulation of the bodys energy (Qi) and blood, which helps to minimize the stress placed on the body during and after the chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
In our clinic, we use only acupuncture treatment for our patients who are currently under the care of an oncologist. Herbal therapies are generally not used during cycles of chemotherapy or radiation. Even though our herbal medicines are very safe, we choose to err on the side of caution in order to minimize any possible adverse interactions between the two forms of treatment. Once cleared by your oncologist, however, there are several herbal therapies that are very beneficial and very effective in bringing the body back to a healthy and thriving state.
Please note that we DO NOT treat cancer. Our treatments are designed to supplement the standard modern medical practices while also reducing associated side effects.

You dont have to be sick or in pain to benefit from acupuncture. In fact, acupuncture works most effectively as a preventive medicine. One treatment per month is often sufficient to keep the body strong and healthy in order to prevent injuries and illness. We also carry a variety of herbal supplements that can help boost the immune system during times of travel or when the cold and flu season hits.
Some benefits of preventive care include:

When using preventive measures, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can be very beneficial in the aging process. There is no escape from aging, and the things we do (or dont do) today will greatly impact our health and vitality in the future. A few very important factors that will help keep your mind and your body young are:
Proper Nutrition: You want to make sure your diet is balanced and that you are getting optimal nutritional value from your foods.
Exercise: Even a little bit of exercise is better than nothing. Do whatever you can, but dont push yourself beyond what your body is capable of.
Stress Relief: Who doesnt experience stress? When we are stressed, our bodies start producing hormones that cause us to age more quickly. Breathing exercises, meditations, or even just doing something you love on a regular basis can help to normalize the stress response.
Preventive care: Any time you can take care of something before a problem develops will save you time and money in the long run. We invest in the longevity of our vehicles by scheduling regular maintenance, or tune-ups. Why not invest in YOU and give your health and longevity a little tune-up?

At Holistic Alternatives Acupuncture , your health is our priority. Acupuncture is very useful in treating a variety of conditions - all of which are very closely related to the level of stress you experience on a daily basis.
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To learn more about how acupuncture can help you, please contact us. We are happy to offer you a complimentary consultation over the phone.