Physical Exam
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What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is one of the main therapies of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Used for over 5,000 years, it is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an effective treatment for a vast number of health problems. By inserting sterile, extremely-fine needles into specific points of the body, the acupuncturist stimulates the patient's own body systems to act together to naturally heal diseases and correct dysfunctions.
Chinese practitioners have been taught for generations about the balance of energy flow, or Qi, through body channels known as meridians. The theory of deficiencies or excesses of energy flow, resulting in disease symptoms, is the basis for treatment with acupuncture. When acupuncture is performed, it regulates this energy flow, allowing it to go where it is deficient and decrease where it is excessive. When the Qi is brought back into balance, health returns. Over thousands of years, acupuncture's empirical success has proven it to be safe, gentle, and effective. It really works!
A partial list of commonly treated diseases include the following:
- High Blood Pressure/Heart Disease
- Depression/Anxiety/Stress/Insomnia
- Chronic Fatigue/Headaches/Migraines
- Asthma/Emphysema/Allergies/Sinusitis
- Cold/Flu/Bronchitis/Immune Problems
- Weight Issues
- Sports Injury/Chronic Pain/Arthritis
- Sciatica/Disc Problems
- Post-Stroke Paralysis/Facial Palsy
- Non-surgical Face-lift/Baldness/Hair Loss
- Psoriasis/Chronic Skin Sores
- Indigestion/Constipation/Diarrhea
- Herpes-2 Infections/Shingles
- Reproduction Problems/Infertility
- Sexual Dysfunction/Impotence
- PMS/Menopausal Symptoms
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What is Cupping?
Cupping is a procedure that involves warming a rounded cup and placing it upside-down over a part of the body. This placement creates a suction effect that holds the cup to the skin, and in turn helps boost circulation. In traditional Chinese medicine, cupping is said to stimulate the flow of vital energy (qi). Cupping is typically used for:
- arthritis
- pain
- congestion
- depression
- inflammation
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What is Bleeding Technique?
Bleeding is a specialized technique for specfiic conditions that can produce effective and dramatic results when the patient's condition is properly diagnosed and the bleeding method expertly executed and matched to the diagnosis. Bloodletting has four major therapeutic aims that are useful in the clinical arena:
- It can invigorate the smooth flow of qi and blood, thereby augmenting and facliitating the free now of the qi.
- It disperses qi and blood stasis as in the case of backache or spider veins caused by qi and blood stagnation.
- It can drain excess heat and fire.
- Finally, bleeding can bring down yang rising as in the variety of high blood pressure due to liver yang rising.
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What is Electric Stimulation?
Electroacupuncture is quite similar to traditional acupuncture in that the same points are stimulated during treatment. As with traditional acupuncture, needles are inserted on specific points along the body. The needles are then attached to a device that generates continuous electric pulses. These devices are used to adjust the frequency and intensity of the impulse being delivered, depending on the condition being treated. Electroacupuncture uses two needles at time so that the impulses can pass from one needle to the other. Several pairs of needles can be stimulated simultaneously, usually for no more than 30 minutes at a time.
Electroacupuncture is considered to be especially useful for conditions in which there is an accumulation of chi, such as in chronic pain syndromes, or in cases where the chi is difficult to stimulate.
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What is Herbal Therapy?
Another mainstay of TCM, herbal medicine, relies on the natural properties of plants to interact with the body to achieve balance and health. There are hundreds of preparations that are available for the doctor to use, tailored to the specific condition of each patient by using different herbs and varying their concentrations. They can be prepared as powders for capsules, distilled into extracts, or made into teas.
For more specific information, see our page on Traditional Herbs.
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What kinds of Oriental Massage are there?
Tui Na, which means 'push and grasp' presents an endless range of soft tissue and manipulation techniques that are applied with lots of movement and vigour to the clothed body, using a chair and couch.
Shiatsu is also done through the clothing but on a mat on the floor and by comparison seems rather still and static. It offers many techniques which focus sustained pressure on the soft tissues.
Thai massage resembles Shiatsu in its soft tissue techniques which are also slow, often sustained presses applied to the clothed body. Thai manipulations come in a bewildering variety and look rather like applied yoga.
Indonesian massage seems to be the odd one in this company. It is an extremely vigorous form of bodywork performed directly on the skin using oil as a lubricant. Soft tissue techniques are backed up by a whole arsenal of manipulative ones.
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What is Moxibustion?
Moxibustion involves burning herbs and applying the resulting heat to specific points on the body. The heat generated during moxibustion helps increase the flow of vital energy (qi) throughout the body via meridians. Moxibustion can help treat the following health problems:
- arthritis
- back pain
- headaches
- migraines
- muscle stiffness
- menstrual cramps
- digestive problems
- ulcers
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What is special about Ear Acupuncture?
Ear acupuncture, or auriculoacupuncture is the stimulation of acupuncture points on the external ear surface for the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions in other areas of the body. Auriculoacupuncture is based on the idea that the ear is a microsystem which reflects the entire body, represented on the auricle, the outer portion of the ear. Ear acupuncture has proven to be an efficient method of treating a wide variety of conditions, from headaches and allergies to addictions and pain disorders.
This technique can also be an effective way to help people facing enormous stress, anger, depression, fatigue and other emotional and physical pain. Survivors of traumatic events report ear acupuncture to be useful in alleviating symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder. Recipient surveys show increased mental clarity, ability to cope, alertness, ability to sleep, reductions of pain and muscle spasm, depression, anxiety, and intrusive recall.
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Can acupuncture be useful for Cosmetic Enhancement?
Cosmetic acupuncture involves using acupuncture to improve skin and fight the aging process. Sometimes referred to as an "acupuncture facelift" or "facial rejuvenation," cosmetic acupuncture is often used as an alternative to surgical facelifts and other conventional procedures to reverse signs of aging in the skin. Cosmetic acupuncture can help reduce wrinkles, diminish fine lines, remove age spots, and lift droopy eyelids
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Can acupuncture help my Pet?
Acupuncture has been used in veterinary practice in China for thousands of years to treat many ailments. For small animals, the following are some of the general conditions which may be treated with acupuncture:
- Musculoskeletal problems, such as arthritis, intervertebral disk disease, or traumatic nerve injury
- Respiratory problems, such as feline asthma
- Skin problems such as lick granulomas and allergic dermatitis
- Gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea
- Selected reproductive problems
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4519 Admiralty Way, Suite D,
Marina Del Rey, Ca 90292
310-823-4028
Services Provided
Dr. Misch provides complete
Traditional Chinese Medicine Care including: