The traditional Japanese style of acupuncture originated from hands on methods of healing like Qi gong, Shiatsu and other styles of Japanese massage. Practitioners began using a quick in and out form of needling in the areas of the body that they had felt the most energetic impact while using their hands.
In the late 1700's Ishizaka Sotetsu created created his own system of needling based on this knowledge but also including western medicine from the Dutch. Incredibly, this was the first (but not last) time in history that Western medicine would be combined with a complementary form of healing.
The idea was to work the needle in Japanese style up and down the spinal cord along to correlate with the Western view that the nerves traveled from the brain and down the spine.
I like to think of this style of needling as being the closest thing my patients will get to an acupuncture massage.
Using my left hand to palpitate and massage the body, I go digging for what I like to call "rice crispies".
Rice crispies are those crunchy little knots and bumps that I know you all can feel in your neck and shoulders.
After rubbing the affected area, I do a quick and light in and out Japanese needling style to work out those rice crispies and detoxify the body.
How does it feel?
Well, I'd have to say it feels pretty good.
I had it done to me the other weekend and my back felt more open. In my neck where I was having a little bit of soreness from carrying around my 17 month old, I really felt it most intensely. And it made a difference.
So come on in and try it out. I think you're really going to enjoy it.
