Abdominal Massage to Improve Fertility
Last month I talked about how castor oil packs can help with fertility and gynecological concerns. This month, I want to share another form of manual therapy that works well both on its own or with the castor oil pack. I first heard of abdominal massage or Mayan massage through a patient who had bad cramps with her period. She went to a...
Electroacupuncture for Pain and Infertility
Have you heard of electroacupuncture? It’s often also referred to as electrostimulation or estim for short. Electroacupuncture is a powerful modality for treating pain, infertility, and even women’s health. Electroacupuncture is similar to traditional acupuncture in that needles are inserted in specific points to activate specific...
Improving Menstrual Cramps and Fertility with Castor Oil
I was a huge fan of the Anne of Green Gables books growing up and she was often given castor oil as medicine and described the nastiness of the taste. I knew that castor oil has been used medicinally for many years but it wasn’t until working with Chinese medicine that I learned about the many health benefits castor oil provides....
Efficacy of Pre and Post-Transfer Acupuncture
Many women seek out acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy when undergoing assisted reproductive treatments, such as IVF or ICSI. They seek it out because they are told it increases efficacy and are willing to give it a whirl because when there is so much at stake, anything to help increase the odds of a positive outcome is a welcome...
How to Keep Kids Cool in the Hot Summer
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As a child, I was always suffering from heat strokes or heat fevers. Whenever I’d get sick, my aunt would say to my mom “your daughter has too much yang energy, it makes her especially susceptible to pathogenic summer heat”. The Chinese medicine babble didn’t mean much to me except that my play...
Why You Should Use Acupuncture to Improve Your Sleep
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Before we begin, let me tell you about my recent experience with sleep and why I’m interested. Since giving birth to my son in November, I attempted to kick-start a healthier way of eating by joining my gym on a one month health challenge they were offering, which would hold me accountable for the...
All You Need to Know About Gluten
What’s the deal with gluten? So many people these days seem to be going gluten-free, and many patients ask if they should as well. For decades in the Western medical field, it was believed that an individual either tests positive for celiac disease and has an allergy to gluten, or you test negative and do not need to avoid food...
Are Painful Periods Really “Normal?”
Ask any gynecologist and they will likely tell you that experiencing pain before or during your period is expected and nothing to be worried about. Dysmenorrhea, the technical name for painful periods, is experienced by almost all menstruating women with at least one or more of their periods. According to Grandi et. al. (2012),...