Acupuncture

The human body contains approximately 36 trillion cells. Cells communicate with each other every millisecond of life to coordinate functioning and maximize health. The mind-body connection includes how you think, and how organs communicate back and forth with the brain.

Keeping in balance in Western medicine is referred to as “homeostasis”. An example of homeostasis is maintaining the optimum body temperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. When you exercise, your body sweats to cool off. If you are cold, you shiver involuntarily to create more body heat.
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Liver, Chinese Medicine and Eye Health

You may have heard that the eyes are related to the liver.  But how can that be and what does that mean?  What are the practical implications?

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners understand that the health of the body is intimately connected to the flow – or blockage – of energy.  TCM has identified specific ‘channels’ or pathways this flow of energy takes.  Each pathway is called a meridian, and each meridian links to pairs of yin-yang organs, for example the Liver being the Yin organ and its corresponding yang organ being the Gallbladder. The meridians function as a non-physical network mapped out throughout the entire body, with some of the meridians running through and connected to specific organs such as the Liver, Lung, Spleen, Heart, and Kidney.
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Dry eye is a common complaint at the optometrist’s office.

Symptoms include dry, itchy, eyes. Causes of dry eye are diverse. Sometimes the root cause is treatable, and sometimes only the symptoms can be managed. However, dry eye syndrome is not new. Neither is Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), an ancient system of healthcare that dates back thousands of years. TCM has techniques for addressing the complete spectrum of human wellness, including dry eye syndrome.
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Chinese Medicine can support eye health and help preserve vision. This traditional modality is helpful for people looking to reduce the risk developing eye disease and maintain healthy vision. Additionally, patients with existing eye conditions such as chronic dry eyes, cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and eye floaters can benefit from Traditional Chinese Medicine as part of their treatment plan.

Chinese medicine includes the use of acupuncture, herbs, as well as Tui Na (massage therapy), Gui Sha (skin scraping), and Qigong (physical exercises and breathing techniques). Acupuncture involves tiny, disposable needles painlessly inserted at certain points on the body.
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Acupuncture has been used for millennia to treat eye disease. Today, acupuncture can help preserve vision for those with a wide range of eye conditions including macular degeneration, glaucoma, eye floaters, dry eyes, cataracts and much more. Part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture involves a practitioner inserting tiny needles into the skin. It is licensed and regulated by most states in the US. How does acupuncture work, and what are its effects on supporting eye conditions? What could you expect from acupuncture treatments? What can you do at home?

Natural Eye Care owners Michael Edson, L.Ac. and Marc Grossman, OD, L.Ac are both licensed acupuncturists specializing in the eye; Dr. Grossman is also a Doctor of Optometry. Here are the answers to these questions and more.
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An observational study on the effects of acupuncture on age related macular degeneration (ARMD) published in a Chinese journal showed significant improvement with acupuncture versus using vitamins A, E and a type of moss.

This was a small study with 84 patients and a total of 90 eyes that had age-related macular degeneration. They were randomly assigned to the acupuncture group or the medication group.

The acupuncture patients all had tiny, solid needles inserted into specific acupuncture points. Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese form of health management that treats patients by puncturing specific points in the body. The theory is that disease is caused by disruptions in “chi” or life force energy. Acupuncture is believed to stimulate the body to unblock the chi and allow life force to flow. In the United States, acupuncturists are licensed by the state.

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Acupuncture is an effective treatment for the potentially blinding condition retinitis pigmentosa.

An article in the Journal of Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustion describes how acupuncture treatments alleviate stress on the retinal and optic nerves by relieving intraocular pressure.
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Acupressure – using the fingers to stimulate acupuncture points along the body’s energy meridian system – has been found to improve brain activity in those suffering from mild traumatic brain injuries.

The study, published in the Journal of Neurotrauma, involved the Jin Sin style of acupressure.  Of the 38 subjects in the trial, some experienced treatments involving real acupuncture points while the rest of the participants received touch on other parts of the body.  Those who received acupressure scored higher on memory and cognition tests.
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