acupuncture
Carolyn Rabiner, L. Ac., Dipl. C.H.
Carolyn Rabiner, L. Ac., Dipl. C.H., has been providing Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine health care since 1992. Ms. Rabiner is Board Certified in both acupuncture and traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine (NCCAOM).
At High Ridge Traditional Healing Arts, a comprehensive approach is used to provide natural solutions to a wide range of health concerns. Services are tailored to the needs of each patient, so that the root cause of the problem is addressed, rather than only the symptom.
This comprehensive method is based on the ancient tradition of classical East Asian Medicine and is enhanced by techniques developed through contemporary research.
CONDITIONS TREATED
- Many painful conditions, including neck pain, back pain, hip pain, sciatica, shoulder pain, sports injuries, arthritis, and fibromyalgia
- Headache, migraine, facial paralysis
- Digestive problems
- Many respiratory problems including allergies and asthma
- Many women's health issues, including PMS, infertility, and peri-and post-menopausal complaints
- Stress, anxiety, and insomnia
- Support for aging
INSURANCES ACCEPTED: Aetna, CDPHP, MVP, NYSHIP
WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT ACUPUNCTURE?
THOUGH OVER 3,500 YEARS OLD, ACUPUNCTURE IS ESPECIALLY HELPFUL FOR THE PROBLEMS THAT FACE PEOPLE LIVING IN TODAY'S WORLD
TREATMENT OF PAIN: Acupuncture has for decades been recommended by, and incorporated within, pain management centers in major academic medical hospitals. Acupuncture is a safe and highly effective way to address many kinds of pain, including pain that has not responded to other approaches.
Since opioid addiction has become a serious problem, the CDC now recommends acupuncture as a non-opioid option in the treatment of pain. According to American College of Physicians Back Treatment Guidelines, their updated guidelines recommend non-drug treatment first for back pain, including acupuncture. Along with acupuncture's therapeutic success rate, the average cost of care when beginning treatment with an acupuncturist compared with a primary care of specialist care is a significant savings.
TREATMENT OF STRESS: Stress has been identified as a major contributor to the development of a myriad of serious illnesses. Increasing numbers of Americans are experiencing high levels of stress, to the point where it significantly affects their work and relationships. According to a 2013 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, 16.7 percent of adults reported filling one or more prescriptions for psychiatric drugs in that year, with eight out of ten adults taking psychiatric drugs reporting long-term use. (The authors estimated that the actual percentages may be larger, as the prescriptions were self-reported.) Acupuncture is a natural form of stress management, as during treatment, many neurotransmitters, including endorphins, are released. Endorphins are the body’s endogenous natural opioids - drop for drop, they are forty times stronger than morphine.
Although acupuncture is the form of treatment most people associate with East Asian Medicine, it is only one of several modalities offered. The process of regaining healthy balance may often be enhanced by using more than one modality of care. At High Ridge Traditional Healing Arts, all five of the professionally practiced branches of the Taoist healing arts are offered: acupuncture, traditional Chinese herbal therapies, medical massage, diet therapy, and movement therapy.
SPECIALTIES include treatment of pain and injuries, asthma, allergies, women's health, digestive problems, and stress management. East Asian Medicine also offers extraordinary support for issues related to aging, helping to maintain vitality and healthy immune function.
ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture is a part of a medical system that has been in practice for over 3,500 years. This system, East Asian Medicine, includes acupuncture, traditional Chinese herbal medicine, physiotherapy, exercise therapy and diet therapy. Today, East Asian Medicine is researched and practiced in hospitals and clinics around the world.
In Chinese Medicine, a patient and his/her condition are viewed as a whole system rather than only focusing on the symptoms of a disease. It is an integrated systems model, based on the understanding that the body’s many systems must be in balance in order to function in a healthy manner. When a body is healthy, the qi, loosely translated as the body’s functional energy, flows smoothly along the system’s energy channels, called meridians. Each system in the body has a corresponding meridian. When a person displays outward symptoms of disease, the practitioner analyzes this information in order to determine the pattern of disharmony. A thorough examination, which includes questioning, examination of the pulse and tongue, and observation of the patient’s physical and expressive characteristics, enables the acupuncturist to understand which systems are involved. Once the diagnosis has been made, the practitioner determines which therapies would be the most effective in restoring balance.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING ACUPUNCTURE?
Acupuncture is a functional therapy, promoting the body’s natural healing capacity. Treatment involves the insertion of tiny, pre-sterilized, disposable, stainless steel needles at precise points on the body. These points are located on the meridians and are stimulated to regulate the flow of qi. Oriental Medical theory states that disease or pain is caused by disordered function of the various systems in the body; qi (pronounced “chee”) regulation helps to restore these systems to proper balance.
Modern research confirms that acupuncture works in part by stimulating nerves which in turn evoke brain and body chemistry changes. Acupuncture causes the release of endorphins, just as exercise does. It increases blood circulation, reduces inflammation, modulates the immune system and helps regulate the nervous, digestive and endocrine systems.
DO EMOTIONS MATTER?
Understanding Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine
Treatment at High Ridge Traditional Healing Arts addresses imbalances that may originate from more than one root cause, and are often compounded by stress. In Chinese Medicine, it is understood that mind, body, and spirit are intrinsically interrelated. There is no concept of the split between mind and body which exists in the West. The notion of the mind as a sort of "ghost in the machine" - the body, simply did not arise in the Chinese Medicine concept of mind and body.
Modern research continues to confirm the link between chronic negative mental/emotional states and disease. In Chinese Medicine, different emotions are attributed to each of the five main organ systems - the heart (excess joy), spleen (worry), lungs (sadness), liver (anger), and kidneys (fear). In this system, this works both ways: not only do certain chronic negative mental/emotional states impact healthy organ function over time, but also, blockage in an organ system may ultimately manifest as a particular chronic negative mental or emotional state.
While in Chinese Medicine, these organ systems are in many ways similar to the way they are viewed in Western biomedicine, they are part of a systematized view of human functioning that has distinct differences. For instance, the heart, while being responsible for pumping the blood, is also understood as being related to the mind and cognition. The Chinese character for the heart is open at the top to emphasize the importance of being able to both receive the spirits that come down from heaven and to allow the heart to become empty, to resist the constant temptation to fill it with unrestrained passions.