Sudden Death

The amazing privilege I've had as an acupuncturist working in Needham, MA for the past 10 years is the ability to follow my patients through long periods of their lives, through happy times such as the birth of a child and sad ones such as the passing of a parent.

As you can probably imagine, after practicing for so many years, I accumulated a lot of medical records and written charts.  With my husband, Changhong Zhou, joining the practice, we've had to make more room, shredding and discarding those records we are no longer legally obligated to retain.

Flipping through each chart to determine which ones we could shred, I could not help thinking that some of the people who had filled out these papers had already passed: patients with terminal cancer, patients already in their 90s when I saw them 10 years ago.  Some family members inform me through email, other deaths I hear about through word of mouth, but most of the time, it is impossible to know who, out of the thousands of people I had the chance to treat, still exists in this world.

To a certain extent, death is expected when someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and in those cases, their loved ones have a little bit of time to prepare to say goodbye.  But what if the death is sudden?  Like a heart attack on the way to work or a freak car accident?

I am reminded of a former colleague and friend from my time as a doctor in Beijing.  About 10 years my senior, she was a kind and generous mentor who was well liked in our hospital.  I would even visit her on the few chances I've had to return to China after emigrating to the US.

Earlier this year, I was shocked to find out that she had passed away suddenly while trying to rise from her bed one morning before work.  For someone in her earlier 60s, she had been quite young-looking and fit.  To think that her heart would stop working so suddenly felt like nearly an impossible scenario.

In my latest video, I speculate on the possible reasons for my colleague's sudden death.  Perhaps the sore, scratchy throat she had pretty consistently for the last 30 years was indicative of underlying, low-level inflammation that made her more susceptible to sudden heart failure?

We will never be able to know for sure, but I think it serves as a valuable lesson for prioritizing the condition of our own body.  It is easy in the hectic pace of our lives to let the small problems slide for a later time.  This story serves as a reminder that no matter how busy we become, it is important to take care of ourselves and our bodies first.

For more videos and information about healthy living, check out my website, Boca Raton Acupuncture Clinic.

DIY Neck Pain Relief

In our increasingly digital world, we are constantly looking down at our phones, tablets and laptops.  It is no wonder, then, that more and more people come to my clinic for neck pain relief.

Nerves from all over the body go through the neck to reach the brain.  If your neck muscles are tight or spasming, it can irritate the nerves and cut off circulation to the brain and eyes.  As a result, you may experience dizziness, vision problems, difficulty breathing, and anxiety.  Frankly, I cannot overstate how important the neck is to your general feeling of wellbeing.

There are several different ways of relaxing your neck muscles.  The most basic, of course, is to eliminate or reduce the activities that cause those muscles to tighten up, such as the use of electronic devices or misaligned sleeping positions.  However, for most people, drastically reducing the time you spend on the computer is simply not an option due to the nature of your work.  If this is the case, stretching and acupressure may be a good place to start.

Last December, I did a 3-part video series with Dr. Jing Fan, an orthopedic surgeon from Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, on stretching exercises for neck pain. The original blog post can be found on my clinic's website, www.bostonchineseacupuncture.com.  Dr. Fan, who is very tall and spent many hours every day looking down to perform surgeries in China, believes that by doing these exercises for 10 minutes daily, he was able to stave off the neck pain that plagued so many of his colleagues.

If you are in need of instant pain relief and do not have the time or space to perform stretching exercises, there are a few acupressure points you can press while sitting at your desk or lying down. These four points along the neck and upper back are called Gallbladder 20 (Feng Chi), Small Intestines 15, Gallbladder 21 (Jian Jing) and Bladder 15.  I provide a detailed explanation of each one in the video below.

 

Sometimes, however, if your neck muscles have been spasming for too long or you simply cannot reduce the amount of time you spend sitting and working at the computer, DIY neck pain relief may not be enough.  If that is the case, you many want to consider getting acupuncture done at those neck pain relief acupoints to deeply relax your muscles and reset them for a healthier alignment.  I have offices in Needham, MA (20 min outside of Boston) and in Boca Raton, FL, but with the increase in the number of acupuncture schools in the U.S., you should be able to find an experienced acupuncturist near you.

That is all for my DIY Neck Pain Relief Guide for now!  As always, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel @AcuOptimalHealth for more information on acupuncture and healthy living.

Osteoarthritis & Acupuncture Video Series

Osteoarthritis is the inflammation of the joints caused by wear and tear. Although it can occur in any joint, osteoarthritis typically affects the knee and hip joints.

Recently, I filmed a video series about how acupuncture can help reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis.  For example, acupuncture can reduce the amount of swelling inside the joints, which gives you greater mobility. In addition, acupuncture can induce increased production of hormones inside your body that naturally provide pain relief, such as endorphin, serotonin and dopamine. 

If this peaks your interest and you'd like to learn more about the specific acupuncture points that are used to treat osteoarthritis, please watch the following video where I demonstrate 4 points around the knees that I commonly use on patients with osteoarthritis. Since it is summer vacation right now, I performed the demonstration on my youngest son.  He doesn't have osteoarthritis, but he does play a lot of sports so I figured it's never to early to start protecting his knees with acupuncture!

If you like these mini videos, please subscribe to my YouTube channel for more.  Or if you prefer reading about osteoarthritis to watching videos, transcripts for these can be found at my website, BocaAcupuncture.org!