Lower back and Sciatic pain can be treated by several means. I found that using MET (Muscle Energy Techniques), refered pain can be treated quickly and effectively. MET is a technique that enables a complete assessment of the lower back. It is crucial to identify the specific spinal segments that are causing pressure on the nerve. MET does not use spinal manipulation, but instead, the vertebrae is isolated and brought back into correct alignment with the rest of the spine. This is done by placing the body in positions that create space above and below the identified vertebral body, carrying out resistance techniques that engage the small multifidus muscles that encircle the affected ver

Menstrual pain can be a real drag. Not only in the way that it feels, but also as it can take you out of action for several days at a time. Even just to know that a sharp jabbing pain may strike at any time without warning. Menstrual or premenstrual pain can manifest as a dragging sensation, a sharp jab, a constant ache or a twisting sharp stab. It may appear with nausea, back pain, with emotional upset, anger or even rage. Period pain can come before, during or after the period. There may be blood clots present, or there may not. Some women live with menstrual pain that comes every cycle and some have never had pain at all. Some are unfortunate enough to experience both ovulatory and p

In my clinic, I have chosen to go for the granulated herb option as I find that there is much better compliance with this form of herbal preparation than with raw herbs. Raw herbs are powerful and very beautiful to interact with for both practitioner and client. For a practical reaons I dispense the granulated form. Raw herbs  need to be boiled for a long time every other day. Some clients complain of the smell in the house and simply start the herbal process excitedly and over time just forget or stop taking them all together. People run busy lives, and while this is probably part of the problem, as being too busy and far too stressed, too much of the time. Its not going to help keeping you

Acupuncture, Physical Therapy (Tui Na) and Chinese Herbal medicines are all facets of Traditional Chinese Medicine. They provide fantastic results with sport injuries. The fact that Chinese Medicine has been used to treat soft tissue, joint and bone injuries for over 5,000 years, makes it the oldest form of documented medicine in the world with an enormous amount of experience, depth of knowledge and wisdom that is rarely surpassed. Acupuncture provides very fast pain relief and can reduce pain quickly and effectively. When soft tissue is inflamed, very little can be done locally. However Acupuncture treats the pain on body sites away from the effected area, and relieves pain quickly (withi

Often in clinic, as I explain meridian pathways to my clients, I may say, "I am going to use a few Liver points on your leg and Gall Bladder points on your opposite leg". Clearly this prompt the question, "what's wrong with my Liver". Well, to explain. Chinese Medicine named the meridians by very different names. It was Western physicians and translators that named the meridians after Western biological organ names. So the Leg JueYin was called Liver and the arm JueYin was named the Pericardium channel. So please don't be alerted when I say "heart channel pathology" or "Liver Qi stagnation". In Chinese Medicine the organs of the body are reflected on the surface meridians and the organs can

Different body regions mirror other areas. Eg. The foot treats the hand, or inner forearm treating bilateral back pain. The beautiful thing about the Balance Method is the flexibility it offers. If a treatment of lower back pain with inflammation is approached with local acupuncture into sore inflamed tissue, there is a great chance that the pain will get worse before it gets better as the inflamed body part is stimulated. The Balance Method of Acupuncture enables back treatment distally, in an area that will treat the pain away from the affected area and yield better results quickly, and greatly minimise any pain caused after treatment. The other incredible feature of this Acupuncture style

So what is the difference between TCM acupuncture and The 'Balance Method'? this is going to be a long discussion, so I am going to write different things about the Balance Method over time. Firstly Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) acupuncture was part of my original training and it is the norm in University Acupuncture training. In the past two years I have started to employ the Balance Method into my clinical practice and was amazed by the powerful effect that I was having on peoples health. While TCM acupuncture is taught in a very similar way to Chinese Herbal Medicine, where a practitioner always takes the pulse and looks at the tongue. Points are selected based on their qualities and