Of all of the interesting things I have learned at Oasis, the use of acupuncture may have been the most unexpected.
Acupuncture is the complementary medical practice of inserting needles into one's skin at specific points throughout the body and at specific depths as well. Although acupuncture is best known throughout the United States for its effectiveness in pain relief and nausea, I have learned that this Chinese-originated practice can be used to treat a wide range of complications from anemia to erectile dysfunction.
Vikki Nestico, who is a registered, certified acupuncturist, volunteers her time every Wednesday afternoon at Oasis of Hope. Vikki is extremely enthusiastic about patient health and Traditional Chinese Medicine (Eastern Medicine), and was always eager to participate in one of my interview sessions or show me a unique indicator of health not commonly utilized by Western Medicine.
One part of the body that is especially utilized by Vikki as an indicator of a patient health is the tongue.
Acupuncture is the complementary medical practice of inserting needles into one's skin at specific points throughout the body and at specific depths as well. Although acupuncture is best known throughout the United States for its effectiveness in pain relief and nausea, I have learned that this Chinese-originated practice can be used to treat a wide range of complications from anemia to erectile dysfunction.
Vikki Nestico, who is a registered, certified acupuncturist, volunteers her time every Wednesday afternoon at Oasis of Hope. Vikki is extremely enthusiastic about patient health and Traditional Chinese Medicine (Eastern Medicine), and was always eager to participate in one of my interview sessions or show me a unique indicator of health not commonly utilized by Western Medicine.
One part of the body that is especially utilized by Vikki as an indicator of a patient health is the tongue.
westashvilleacupuncture.com
After explaining to me the usefulness of the tongue in indicating certain disorders (like the one's in the picture above) and even showing me the "acupuncture tongue gallery" (google it! It is quite interesting!) online, Vikki was asked by one of our PAs to do a patient consult.
This patient had scheduled an appointment with our PA to address her increasing anxiety, fatigue, and lethargy, which was leading to signs of depression. After about three minutes in the room, Vikki scurried out to find me.
"This is a textbook tongue, Cameron!"
I couldn't help but laugh, but only because of my unfamiliarity with the idea of "tongue health." My smile was soon converted, however, when my jaw dropped.
"You see Cameron, the scallops on the tongue represent a deficiency , which would lead me to believe the patient has been feeling lethargic and as if her digestion system was inefficient. Then, the color and coating of the tongue also tells us that she was cold and had blood deficiency. Which is why the patient explained feelings of depression and being 'down'." The patient enthusiastically nodded her head in agreement with every word that came out of Vikki's mouth.
I inspected the patient's tongue more closely. Was the patient chart written on the tongue in tiny print?! After the conclusion of the patient consult, I had a plethora of questions for our acupuncturist. I wanted perfect clarity as to how she could have known so much by only inspecting the tongue.
You see, there is a huge misconception that everything in Western Medicine has a concrete explanation: as if everything is as logical as math. 2 + 2 = 4. This is not the case. There are many "truths" in science and medicine that only have evidence in consistent, experimental results.
Let's say BLUE + RED = 4 -- Every single time you add blue and red, you get four. I don't understand why, but if it happens every single time, I would have to accept it.
The same thing happens in science (especially at the molecular level). The only difference is after we accept these consistencies, brilliant people with giant imaginations work tirelessly to explain the seemingly-illogical phenomena. Sometimes, they succeed, but many times they just fill in the blanks with their most educated guess. If everyone in academia agrees, it is considered truth.
So, when Vikki talks about placing needles in someone's hand and it effectively treating low back and sciatic nerve pain, it gives me the same lack of understanding that BLUE + RED = 4 does; creating, according to Vikki, one of the biggest lies believed by acupuncture skeptics: If it cannot be entirely understood, it cannot be effective.
This patient had scheduled an appointment with our PA to address her increasing anxiety, fatigue, and lethargy, which was leading to signs of depression. After about three minutes in the room, Vikki scurried out to find me.
"This is a textbook tongue, Cameron!"
I couldn't help but laugh, but only because of my unfamiliarity with the idea of "tongue health." My smile was soon converted, however, when my jaw dropped.
"You see Cameron, the scallops on the tongue represent a deficiency , which would lead me to believe the patient has been feeling lethargic and as if her digestion system was inefficient. Then, the color and coating of the tongue also tells us that she was cold and had blood deficiency. Which is why the patient explained feelings of depression and being 'down'." The patient enthusiastically nodded her head in agreement with every word that came out of Vikki's mouth.
I inspected the patient's tongue more closely. Was the patient chart written on the tongue in tiny print?! After the conclusion of the patient consult, I had a plethora of questions for our acupuncturist. I wanted perfect clarity as to how she could have known so much by only inspecting the tongue.
You see, there is a huge misconception that everything in Western Medicine has a concrete explanation: as if everything is as logical as math. 2 + 2 = 4. This is not the case. There are many "truths" in science and medicine that only have evidence in consistent, experimental results.
Let's say BLUE + RED = 4 -- Every single time you add blue and red, you get four. I don't understand why, but if it happens every single time, I would have to accept it.
The same thing happens in science (especially at the molecular level). The only difference is after we accept these consistencies, brilliant people with giant imaginations work tirelessly to explain the seemingly-illogical phenomena. Sometimes, they succeed, but many times they just fill in the blanks with their most educated guess. If everyone in academia agrees, it is considered truth.
So, when Vikki talks about placing needles in someone's hand and it effectively treating low back and sciatic nerve pain, it gives me the same lack of understanding that BLUE + RED = 4 does; creating, according to Vikki, one of the biggest lies believed by acupuncture skeptics: If it cannot be entirely understood, it cannot be effective.
As explained above, much of Western Medicine revolves around results-based science, and if you can rely on that, you should be able to trust the Eastern treatments that provide consistent results, too. After all, the practice has been executed for more than 4000 years now, and the methods have gone largely unchanged.
If you feel skeptical, do some research as to what acupunctural treatments show the most promise. Use of this practice may not be for everyone, but I can assure you that I have seen many patients improve their quality of life as a result of working with Vikki. Maybe you could benefit from acupuncture too!
If you feel skeptical, do some research as to what acupunctural treatments show the most promise. Use of this practice may not be for everyone, but I can assure you that I have seen many patients improve their quality of life as a result of working with Vikki. Maybe you could benefit from acupuncture too!