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Alpha Acupuncture
Alpha Acupuncture

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Frequently Asked Questions acupuncture New York City

Please contact us if you cannot find an answer to your question.

Holistic health is caring for the whole person. It is tending to your physical, mental, spiritual, and social needs, being aware of how all these aspects affect your overall health.

It depends on your insurance. Please forward the information to us, and we will help you check. 

Anyone who’s health can improve can benefit from our service. We will work with you to figure out the best way to integrate our holistic care into your current wellness practices. 

Many conditions may respond to acupuncture, including those related to the following:

  • neurological system
  • musculo-skeletal system
  • respiratory system
  • gynecologic and reproductive system
  • digestive system
  • genito-urinary system

Acupuncture may also help with:

  • acute and chronic pain
  • maintaining emotional balance
  • stress reduction and detoxification

For more details, check New York State website.

After an acupuncturist evaluates your situation and records your health history and lifestyle habits, she/he will determine the best number and location of needles to be used in your procedure. You will be asked to lie in a comfortable position while the needles, which are about the diameter of a human hair, are inserted. Most patients say they don’t feel the insertions at all, and many find the entire roughly 30-minute procedure relaxing. For most diseases, the number of treatments you require will depend upon your rate of improvement. 

It’s not fully understood yet. This lack of biological plausibility, and its provenance in theories lying outside of biomedicine, makes acupuncture a highly controversial therapy. The sheer popularity and growing acceptance of acupuncture speaks to both its effectiveness and safety: Americans spend over $500 million annually on 9 to 12 million office visits for acupuncture treatments each year (details). 

Many recent studies show that acupuncture works! For example, acupuncture was shown to increase oxygen and blood flow to specific areas of treatment. It also aids production of cortisone and other anti-inflammatory secretions and can increase the internal production of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. A 2010 study from the University of Rochester in New York found that acupuncture can help relieve pain by triggering a natural pain-killing chemical called adenosine.

The World Health Organization recognizes acupuncture and Oriental medicine as effective for over 43 common ailments including:

1 Musculo-skeletal Disorders

  • Frozen shoulder
  • Tennis elbow
  • Low back pain
  • Osteoarthritis and joint pains
  • Stiff neck
  • Tendinitis
  • Bursitis
  • Sprains
  • Injuries from auto accidents
  • Chronic fatigue syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia

2 Mental- Emotional Disorders

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Stress
  • Insomnia
  • Addictions
  • Weight control

3 Reproductive System Disorders

  • Infertility
  • Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
  • Irregular Menses
  • Menstrual cramps
  • Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
  • Menopausal symptoms
  • Morning sickness
  • Urinary incontinence
  • Impotence

4 Gastro-intestinal Disorders

  • Acute and chronic gastritis
  • Hyperacidity
  • Hiccoughs
  • Acute uncomplicated duodenal ulcer
  • Chronic duodenal ulcer (pain relief)
  • Acute and chronic colitis
  • Acute bacillary dysentery
  • Constipation
  • Diarrhea
  • Paralytic ileus

5 Neurological Disorders

  • Headache and Migraine
  • Dizziness
  • Trigeminal neuralgia
  • Facial palsy (within 3-6 months)
  • Paresis following stroke
  • Peripheral neuropathies
  • Meniere’s disease
  • Neurogenic bladder dysfunction
  • Nocturnal enuresis
  • Intercostal neuralgia
  • Sciatica

6 Respiratory Disorder

  • Sinusitis, Rhinitis
  • Common cold
  • Tonsillitis
  • Sore throat
  • Hay fever
  • Bronchitis
  • Bronchial Asthma

7 Disorders of the Mouth

  • Toothache
  • Post extraction pain
  • Gingivitis
  • Acute and chronic pharyngitis

8 Ear Disorders

  • Ringing in ears
  • Deafness
  • Meniere’s disease
  • Earache

9 Disorders of the Eyes

  • Acute conjunctivitis
  • Myopia in children
  • Cataracts without complications
  • Central retinitis

Reference:

Traditional Medicine – Growing Needs and Potential, World Health Organization Policy Perspective on Medicines; 1 May 2002; World Health Organization, Geneva.

In addition to its wide-spread use in private clinics, acupuncture is also currently used in many conventional medical institutions, including hospitals, doctor’s offices and charities. This popularity reflects acupuncture’s excellent efficacy and safety profile and its increasing acceptance by doctors and health care administrators. Below is some example of America medical institutions that use acupuncture.

For more information, check here.

Q: What’s the general consensus on how helpful vitamin/supplements are for anxiety? 

A: Chinese medicine has many ways of dealing with anxiety, including herb and acupuncture. From my personal experience and many clinic trials, they are very effective. I have a page about acupuncture and anxiety (Anxiety). 

Herb, as dietary supplementary in USA, is also effective. However, there is no universal supplements for everybody.

Q: Is adding them all you need to do to cure your anxiety or will you need to do more? 

A: Absolutely, you need more. Exercise, meditation, etc. 

Q: What’s better: Getting these vitamins/minerals from food or taken as a supplement? 

A: Herb/supplement is usually much better than the components isolated from them. Nature is much more complicated than we think. 

Q: Any other supplements or at home remedies (simple herbal stuff, for example) for anxiety that are backed by research. 

A: There is no “simple herbal stuff”, or, if there is some, it won’t work well. Because each person is different, and each anxiety is also not the same. According to traditional Chinese medicine, there are several types of anxiety. For example:

Type 1: Blood deficiency (symptoms such as pale face, fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, weak and thin pulse), need herbs to nourishing blood, such as SI WU TANG, DANG GUI BU XUE TANG, etc.

Type 2: Yin deficiency (symptoms such as red face, thirst, night sweating, red tongue, quick and thin pulse), need herbs to nourishing yin, such as LIU WEI DI HUANG WAN, YI GUAN JIAN, etc. 

Type 3: Phlegm/dampness accumulation (symptoms such as heavy body, phlegm, coughing, abdominal distention, slippery pulse), need to dispel phlegm and dampness, such as ER CHEN WAN, PING WEI SAN, etc. 

Accurate syndrome analysis is the key to diagnosis and treatment, and this can only be done by licensed acupuncturist or herbalist. There are premade herbs, called patent herbs, which are the only “simple herbal stuff” available.