Acupuncture Carl

Article on Japanese acupuncture

2011-07-01T21:46:00.002-04:00

I wrote this short article on Japanese acupuncture for the English-language Metropolis magazine in Tokyo.

Another old quote about acupuncture

2011-04-04T10:10:00.001-04:00

This one's from "The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal" in 1827. Click to view larger version.

Quote about acupuncture from 1833

2011-04-01T10:27:00.001-04:00

"Acupuncture affords a striking instance of a good remedy discovered from groundless hypothesis, and condemned without a single trial for above a century." from The cyclopaedia of practical medicine, comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, medical jurisprudence, etc. Published in London in 1833

Riffing on the CAN survey

2011-03-27T22:18:00.008-04:00

The Community Acupuncture Network recently released their 4th annual clinic survey. I highly recommend checking it out. They did an awesome job looking into CA clinics in great detail. Their effort compares very favorably to NCCAOM's survey released last year, critiqued here by the always eloquent Lisafer. The NCCAOM survey seems to have been taken off their website. For some reason, I have a

Acupuncture... after the prom??

2011-02-26T07:35:00.000-05:00

Has anyone noticed this picture from Wikipedia's acupuncture entry? Some woman is applying moxibustion to a man's belly. Ok, so far so good. But the picture is kind of out of focus, the treatment appears to be taking place in someone's bedroom, and it looks like the woman is WEARING A PROM DRESS!!! Where do they get these things? It looks like that picture is from some kind of amateur

Asprin miracle...or eat your natto

2011-02-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

A few months ago a large-scale British study on the effects of "baby" aspirin on cancer risk got a lot of press. The study said that among people who were taking a daily aspirin dose, there were 30% less lung cancer deaths, 40% less for colorectal cancer and 60% less for esophogeal cancer. These are eye-popping numbers and I, along with a ton of other people, was quite impressed. Where did this

Hot Springs 4 - Chloride Hot Springs 塩化物泉

2011-01-26T08:18:00.000-05:00

For my latest birthday, my wife gave me a coupon to a fancy hot springs in Tokyo called La Qua. It is right down town, across the street from the Tokyo Dome baseball stadium, but they have drilled deep and get natural hot spring water. The water was very salty and it prompted me to write another installment to the hot springs posts I did last year. The pic below is the outside bath at La Qua.

Ota's Stomach Powder - 太田胃散

2011-01-17T00:46:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I wrote about kampo, so here's a look at one of the standards of over-the-counter herbal medicine in Japan. Created by Nobuyoshi Ota in 1879, Ota's Stomach Powder is a household name in Japan. The concoction of both herbal and chemical medicinals is sold in its original powder, in tablets and drinks, and is promoted on TV by celebrity spokespeople. The label reads (in red

A Tokyo Moxa Seminar

2011-01-06T07:24:00.001-05:00

After moving to Japan in December 2009 I was suddenly cut off from the world of Chinese medicine. Unable to practice as my U.S. license is useless here, I worried how I would stay in touch with my field. For the first six months I had little contact with the Japanese acupuncture or herbal fields. However, last summer I was lucky enough to meet a very nice Japanese acupuncturist who had lived for

Master Nagano case study

2010-12-16T07:43:00.000-05:00

The following is a translation of a case study from Kiyoshi Nagano's book "鍼灸臨床-わが三十年の軌跡" (My Path of 30 year - Acu/Moxa Clinical Practice). Nagano-sensei was the teacher of Kiiko Matsumoto. Depression -Male, 49 years old, company employeeChief complaints: Fear, irritation, anxietyAccompanying symptoms: Hot hands and feet, inability to sleep, sweating, lightheaded upon standing, dizziness,

Football acupuncturist

2010-12-01T06:22:00.002-05:00

Article on an acupuncturist that works with NFL players.

Japanese mechanise san jiao!

2010-11-07T20:33:00.000-05:00

Japanese home appliance firm Izumi has created a mechanized version of the san jiao, the tripe heater. The device is powered by electricity, has a strength of 1,000 watts and comes equipped with a timer. It is unclear, however, how it can be integrated into the human body to function as a mist, ferment and drain in the upper, middle and lower jiao, respectively. It is expected Izumi's device will

American Beauty

2010-08-30T09:36:00.000-04:00

Studying Chinese medicine in the USA is not a very patriotic activity. In fact, I would say that most of those who choose to study TCM are in some way dissatisfied with American society. Many are frustrated with the materialism and superficiality of life in modern America and have looked outside for solace. A typical TCM student has found his/her way to Eastern philosophy through martial arts,

Liver Holiday - 休肝日

2010-07-20T20:40:00.001-04:00

The picture above is of an advertisement for non-alcoholic beer on a Tokyo train. The woman and bird on the left are saying "Have a good Liver Holiday from the Kirin Health Project". Kirin is a major beverage company. Apparently the new non-alcoholic beer in Japan is actually 0% alcohol, not like the 0.5% stuff in the US. Actually it's not really beer at all, but a "beer flavored carbonated

Not Adding = Draining

2010-07-17T06:09:00.000-04:00

Someone I know vaguely was hospitalized for gallstones recently. He ended up having his gallbladder removed and spent about two weeks in the hospital (long stays are typical in Japan). Last week he sent out a general message to update people on what had happened to him and how he was doing, and a couple days later I saw him up and about. In his message, he described how during his hospital stay

Hot Springs 3 - Carbon Dioxide Hot Springs 二酸化炭素泉

2010-06-20T05:29:00.000-04:00

Ingredients: at least 1g of free carbonic acid per 1kg of water Characteristics: when bathing, carbonic acid bubbles stick to the skin Indications: this type of hot springs share the same indications as Simple Hot Springs, and also treat high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, cuts and burns. Drinking the water is good for chronic digestive disorders and chronic constipation. Discussion: To my

Ode to Shan Yao

2010-06-06T10:15:00.002-04:00

I've always been attracted to Shan Yao, probably because it is a very good match with my spleen-yin-deficient constitution. In school I enjoyed the idea of a spleen tonic that is not drying, but actually moistening. Ren shen is another spleen tonic with moistening qualities, but one has to be careful prescribing ren shen for people with heat. Shan yao, it seems to me, can be given safely to

New study on Acupuncture getting press

2010-06-01T20:07:00.000-04:00

Many of you all have probably seen this study mentioned in the press lately. It's been on Google News health section for the past few days and I'm even seeing it in the English-language newspapers here in Tokyo. Thankfully, the study seems very well constructed, albeit on mice. The researchers really seem to have explored the issue thoroughly and pinned down one aspect of how acupuncture works

Tighter rules on herbs coming?

2010-05-26T19:35:00.000-04:00

A recent article from the NY Times on possible new legislation concerning "dietary supplements" which include herbal formulas. I can't say the prospect of new rules and regulations makes me happy, but they may be necessary to strengthen the public's trust in prepared herbal products. Companies that make quality TCM products have a good reputation among practitioners, but there is no way for the

Hot Springs 2 - Sulfer Hot Springs 硫黄泉

2010-05-23T20:43:00.002-04:00

Ingredients: at least 2mg of sulfur per 1kg of water. Characteristics: White and cloudy with a smell like rotten eggs. Indications: acne, oily skin, skin diseases, rheumatism, asthma, gynecological disorders Discussion: Sulfur is found in most materia medica, so there is no need to speculate on its actions and indications. A Chinese online source gives the following properties, actions and

Hot Springs 1 - Introduction and Simple Hot Springs　単純温泉

2010-05-08T10:35:00.002-04:00

Hot springs (or 'onsen' 温泉) and the culture of bathing is one of my favorite things about Japan, maybe my very favorite thing. They feel great while you are in them, you feel fantastic afterward and when the Japanese put their considerable aesthetic sensibilities to work designing a bathing area, it can feel like you are soaking in a work of art. Japan is a volcanic land and thus has plenty of

Cold, damp... and good for you?

2010-04-26T20:17:00.000-04:00

An interesting study that uses slushies to improve endurance. Not exactly orthodox TCM theory, but it seems to make sense.

Herbal Interference

2010-04-25T05:25:00.002-04:00

A friend in town and now a full-time job, no time for blogging lately! But here's a quick one... I met with a Japanese doctor friend of mine yesterday and he told me something interesting about cancer research in Asia. Apparently Japanese researchers studying the effectiveness of various cancer drugs have decided not to use data gathered from patients in China. The reason for this is because

Gerontrology Two

2010-03-31T06:10:00.001-04:00

This is a continuation of a previous post. In the first gerontology post, I discussed my general impressions of treating the elderly, based on my experiences volunteering at an assisted living home. During that time, I was also helping my mother care for my 89 year-old grandfather at our home. This gave me much more intimate knowledge of what it means to get old. Most of what I did for my

Kiiko - Three

2010-03-24T06:04:00.002-04:00

This is a continuation of a previous post (Kiiko - Two). 4. Spleen / Stomach Reflex – area surrounding CV12. Hardness is common in this area. Also, a moderate pulse (slightly slower and weaker than normal) can indicate the SP/ST protocol. Protocol – SP5 (SP3, 4, 6 or 9 may also be used), the ST Qi Line. The ST Qi Line

Eat Too Much

2010-03-14T22:35:00.001-04:00

This post will round out my review of Salaryman Kampo. I've already covered hangover cures, energy boosters, and with this post on a digestive remedy, I will have shown you how Japan's blue-suited samurai maintain their health despite a grueling schedule and too much booze and greasy pub food. I've been looking forward to sampling this product for a while, primarily because of its name. This

Meditation Men and Xiao Yao San

2010-03-06T21:32:00.001-05:00

For the past eight years I have been trying to practice a form of meditation known as Vipassana. I have attended several ten day courses as both a student and volunteer helper, and have gotten to know many people who have been meditating for many years. Being a dedicated meditator in this particular Vipassana tradition involves several actions that, when done over several years, seem to have a

Kiiko - Two

2010-02-28T23:03:00.003-05:00

This is a continuation of a previous post (Kiiko - One). II. Constitutional Treatments Introduction 1. Kiiko’s Use of Constitutional Treatments In the two books written by Kiiko together with David Euler, the constitutional treatments are given a very prominent place. They play a central role in all strategies given for various disorders, and are always addressed in the case studies in these

Gerontrology One

2010-02-21T20:46:00.005-05:00

Before moving to Tokyo last December I spent about 6 months in my hometown of Helena, Montana. I spent my time there helping my mother take care of my 89 year-old grandfather who was living with us, and trying to remember all the Japanese kanji I'd forgotten over the last 6 years. I also gave acupuncture treatments at my grandmother's assisted living home twice a week. Before this I had very few

Kiiko - One

2010-02-20T04:02:00.002-05:00

One of the most respected acupuncturists in the USA, and probably world-wide, is Kiiko Matsumoto. The style of acupuncture she practices is also very highly respected in Japan, though here it is known as Nagano Style acupuncture. Nagano refers to the late Nagano Kiyoshi 長野潔, who taught, among others, Kiiko Matsumoto. Over the next few posts I'll be featuring a short introduction to this style of

Work Too Much

2010-02-01T20:17:00.003-05:00

This post is part of the Salaryman Kampo series. Welcome to Part II in my "Salaryman Kampo" series. In a past post I explained how a salaryman's life is filled with working, drinking and eating, and so Salaryman Kampo is mostly aimed at curing fatigue, hangovers, and upset stomachs. I've already written about hangover cures, and this portion is on a remedy for fatigue. Fortunately for me, but

Cruddy Ceiling in a Japanese Hospital

2010-01-29T19:04:00.001-05:00

Phew... working sure cuts down on your blogging time! I've got another installment in the Salaryman Kampo series coming, but for now just this short bit. I had the opportunity to visit a Japanese hospital yesterday because my new job required me to get a health check. Nothing special, pee in a cup, x-ray, height, weight, blood pressure. The thing that caught my eye, though, was the ceiling in

Drink Too Much

2010-01-17T00:17:00.004-05:00

This post is part of the Salaryman Kampo series. It is customary, almost expected, that a salaryman will spend a couple nights a week drinking with colleagues after work. This isn't just a couple of beers before going home for supper, but can often lead to serious drunkenness and wild behavior that can seem shocking, considering the Japanese are usually so reserved and poker-faced. The level of

Salaryman Kampo

2010-01-15T22:17:00.003-05:00

On the left is a picture* of a drunken salaryman, the sometimes admired, sometimes reviled, but never envied engine behind the world's second largest economy. For more info on the salaryman, please see this site. I've been back in Japan now about a month and haven't had the chance to get into the professional world of kampo or acupuncture. I'm hoping to find maybe a practitioner to study under,

Thumbs of Steel

2010-01-13T22:29:00.001-05:00

An acupuncturist/shiatsu practitioner named Kato has this picture displayed outside his shop near the train station where I live. The first time I saw it it really made me laugh. He seems to be saying, "See these thumbs? They will Shiatsu the *&^% out of you!" I can't imagine an American practitioner putting a picture like this outside their clinic. But it appears that Mr. Kato isn't a wierdo

The Common Cold in Two Countries

2010-01-11T21:27:00.002-05:00

I came back from the US with a slight sore throat, so I thought it would be a good chance to check out some Kampo. I'd been browsing the kampo section in the drugstores for the last month, but I hadn't tried anything yet, so I was excited. Unfortunately most of the labels list the ingredients in katakana instead of kanji. What this means is that the Japanese pronunciation of the herbs is listed,

American Style Madness

2010-01-10T20:51:00.001-05:00

An interesting article from the NYT Magazine on the intersection between culture and mental/emotional disorders. It really illustrates how culture complicates science.

Dosage - Two

2010-01-07T19:16:00.003-05:00

This post is a continuation of a previous one (Dosage - One) As discussed in my previous post, many of the authors and academics in the USA argue that patients should be getting formulas in the 70-110g range (raw herbs per day). Their arguments are based on standard practice in China and, in my opinion, make a great deal of logical sense. After reading their arguments early in my schooling, I

Dosage - One

2010-01-03T23:59:00.002-05:00

The practice of Chinese herbal medicine in the USA is far from standardized, and there is a great deal of disparity in the opinions on the proper dosage our patients should take. The school I went to gave herbs in very small dosages. Patients were typically given a packet that weighed around 80-100g. This was to be boiled in 5 cups of water for 30 minutes. The remaining 4 cups were to be taken at

Nigel Wiseman - Disney Scholar??

2010-01-01T18:50:00.007-05:00

I was reading about Kampo on Wikipedia today and saw this listed as a reference... Wiseman, Nigel. "Learner's Disney Character Dictionary of Chinese Medicine" I didn't know one of our foremost scholars was also interested in the world of Disney.

Flexible muscles = Flexible arteries

2009-12-26T09:26:00.003-05:00

Back in the USA and saw this article. Always interesting to see connections like this. It seems natural to me that if a person isn't very flexible muscularly, this would be true for other tissues as well. I wonder if a correlation could be found between physical flexibility and mental or emotional flexibility.

Kampo solution for holiday over-eating

2009-12-17T21:14:00.001-05:00

I saw an advertisement on the train the other day for a kampo formula. The ad pictured a big banquet hall with tables loaded with food and drink. The tables were surrounded by groups of people laughing and holding their drinks up for a toast. In the foreground is a distinguished man in his 50's dressed in a suit. He is also holding a drink and has a happy and slightly relieved expression on his

Girls Gone Wild

2009-04-14T20:02:00.005-04:00

One of the clinics I work at borders on being a spa. They specialize in massage, and in addition to acupuncture, they have a naturopath on staff and several other types of bodyworkers, but they have a (very skilled) esthetician on staff who makes up a large share of the business and they try to promote an atmosphere of soft relaxation, as opposed to a more medical or sporty feel. For this reason,

Using the Force

2009-03-30T15:11:00.002-04:00

Being a Star Wars fan since childhood, I was very pleased to hear a recent NPR piece on a couple of new toys coming out, one of which is called the "Force Trainer" and features Yoda helping you learn how to control a machine with your mind. Don't laugh, it's true! I won't go into all the details, if you want them go to the above link, but it essentially is a simple machine that measures brain

Beyond Patterns

2009-03-12T10:24:00.005-04:00

Since I started studying Chinese medicine 5 years ago, Bob Flaws has been the source of information or opinions that have broadened my view or challenged my assumptions about clinical practice, theory, and the business of TCM. A little more than a year ago, a translation of a Chinese journal article appeared on the free section of Blue Poppy's website. The article discussed a study where the

Driven Doctors

2009-03-04T11:50:00.003-05:00

I wanted to add this to my last posting. In the past few months I've read accounts of a couple of driven doctors that have really inspired me. They are Dr. Paul Farmer, written about by Tracey Kidder in Mountains Beyond Mountains, and Dr. Warren Warwick, featured in Atul Gwande's Better. I get a very different feeling when I read about the focus and aggressiveness these two doctors employ and

A Cog or the Whole Machine

2009-02-21T19:43:00.011-05:00

With not even four months gone by since I started practicing Chinese medicine professionally, nearly every patient is a significant learning experience. I've had some cases where it was difficult to figure out the proper diagnosis, a few where I've had to try a few different techniques before I found one that worked, but so far the case that has been the biggest challenge is one that is fairly

Evaluation of Practices

2009-02-16T10:06:00.012-05:00

This article by Volker Sheid and Dan Bensky addresses the fact that our profession is one of "heterogeneity and plurality", which seems to be a polite way of saying "a mess of different traditions". Instead of meeting the problem of evaluating these different traditions head-on, they take an elegant side step and discuss deeply the Chinese saying "Medicine is Intention" 医之意也. They point out that

Essence or Stereotype?

2009-02-15T08:07:00.009-05:00

When I lived in Beijing I would go every Saturday morning to observe Dr. Zhang Dai Zhao (张代照) prescribe herbs. Once the slick new Line 5 station 蒲黄榆 opened in our neighborhood I would take the subway. For a few months, I was really into just looking at people on the train. No matter who I looked at, everything about them seemed to just fit, to make sense. Like I would look at a guy's face for a

On the Practice of "Medicine"

2009-02-14T20:23:00.014-05:00

I'm not a big talker, especially with people I don't know all that well. I'm constantly guilty of not providing enough information in personal, social, and professional settings. I especially dislike trying to explain what I do (acupuncture, herbs) to people who aren't very familiar with Chinese medicine and seem like they aren't really interested. I know, and admire, many people who take these

Self-Introduction on Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T19:34:00.006-05:00

It's Valentine's Day and my wife left the country this morning. It was a planned trip and she will be back in two weeks, but that is the reason I'm sitting at home starting a blog today.To start the introduction, I'm a 31 year old, Caucasian male living in Brighton, Massachusetts in the USA. I work as an acupuncturist in two clinics in the area. One is a community-style acupuncture clinic (go