Soo-Mi Hwang, L.Ac. Dipl. Acu.

Insurance

2021-09-21T10:24:00.002-04:00

Do you accept insurance?

Yes, we do depending on your insurance coverage.

Please let us front and back picture of your insurance card, your date of birth and current address to verify your eligibility for insurance coverage.

How acupuncture reduces pain from gout

2015-01-27T14:22:00.004-05:00

How I encountered gout recently:

A few weeks ago, one of my friends called and asked me if acupuncture could help to treat gout. She told me that her younger brother was diagnosed with the early stages of gout and was suffering from the pain. The short answer that I gave her was that acupuncture could help to ease the pain. But, more than anything, he needed to change his life style. Life style and diet are the two most important tools to achieve healthier living, not to mention, reduce the pain due to inflammation in the body. Her brother, who lives overseas, exhibits the common life style and diet of people who are suffering from gout: Even though he’s young, in his late 30’s, he is over weight and consumes a lot of meat, sugar, processed foods and alcoholic beverages.

What it is:

Gout is a form of arthritis, a type of inflammation, caused by accumulation of urate crystals in or around the joint. The high level of uric acid in the blood leads to the formation of urate crystals. Uric acid is produced in your body when it breaks down purine, a substance that naturally occurs in the human body and in certain food such as meat, organ meat, seafood, alcoholic beverages, especially beer and beverages sweetened with fructose.

When sharp, needle like urate crystals accumulate in the joints and surrounding area, they cause inflammation leading to redness, swelling and pain on the joints. Depending the severity of inflammation, the pain can be very debilitating. However, the pain is not constant. It is only painful when it flares up, due to too much build up of urate crystals or when your immune system declines and becomes susceptible to inflammation.

Can acupuncture help with gout:

Acupuncture can help to reduce the inflammation, not only in the case of gout, but any type of inflammation. Reducing the inflammation will help reduce the pain and swelling around the joints. Acupuncture promotes blood and qi circulation to and from the joints, while strengthening the joint, which will lead to cleaning the build up of the urate crystals in the joints and their surroundings. It can also strengthen the kidney function, facilitating the elimination of uric acid by balancing and strengthening our innate immune system. Acupuncture points that are helpful: ST 36, SP 3, ST 40, and SP 6 and some other local points can be used. Please ask your practitioner what other methods can promote addressing the symptoms.

Diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture - World Health Organization

2011-01-13T22:35:00.012-05:00

Originally Published on the World Health Organization's website (www.who.int)

"Diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture"

From: "Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials" (2003; 87 pages)

View the PDF document

3. Diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture

The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below.

1. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved-through controlled trials-to be an effective treatment:

Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
Biliary colic
Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
Dysentery, acute bacillary
Dysmenorrhoea, primary
Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
Headache
Hypertension, essential
Hypotension, primary
Induction of labour
Knee pain
Leukopenia
Low back pain
Malposition of fetus, correction of
Morning sickness
Nausea and vomiting
Neck pain
Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
Periarthritis of shoulder
Postoperative pain
Renal colic
Rheumatoid arthritis
Sciatica
Sprain
Stroke
Tennis elbow

2. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed:

Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
Acne vulgaris
Alcohol dependence and detoxification
Bell’s palsy
Bronchial asthma
Cancer pain
Cardiac neurosis
Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation
Cholelithiasis
Competition stress syndrome
Craniocerebral injury, closed
Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent
Earache
Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
Female infertility
Facial spasm
Female urethral syndrome
Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
Gastrokinetic disturbance
Gouty arthritis
Hepatitis B virus carrier status
Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3)
Hyperlipaemia
Hypo-ovarianism
Insomnia
Labour pain
Lactation, deficiency
Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
Ménière disease
Neuralgia, post-herpetic
Neurodermatitis
Obesity
Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
Osteoarthritis
Pain due to endoscopic examination
Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein-Leventhal syndrome)
Postextubation in children
Postoperative convalescence
Premenstrual syndrome
Prostatitis, chronic
Pruritus
Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
Raynaud syndrome, primary
Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Retention of urine, traumatic
Schizophrenia
Sialism, drug-induced
Sjögren syndrome
Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
Spine pain, acute
Stiff neck
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
Tietze syndrome
Tobacco dependence
Tourette syndrome
Ulcerative colitis, chronic
Urolithiasis
Vascular dementia
Whooping cough (pertussis)

3. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because treatment by conventional and other therapies is difficult:

Chloasma
Choroidopathy, central serous
Colour blindness
Deafness
Hypophrenia
Irritable colon syndrome
Neuropathic bladder in spinal cord injury
Pulmonary heart disease, chronic
Small airway obstruction

4. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture may be tried provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment:

Breathlessness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Coma
Convulsions in infants
Coronary heart disease (angina pectoris)
Diarrhoea in infants and young children
Encephalitis, viral, in children, late stage
Paralysis, progressive bulbar and pseudobulbar

How does acupuncture work and help me feel better?

2011-01-12T22:32:00.004-05:00

Acupuncture works on the qi and blood in our body through needles inserted on acupuncture points on channels and meridians throughout the body. Channels and meridians are like grids all connected to each other. Through these lines, qi, the source of life, and blood should flow freely. When there are problems, our body manifests the symptoms, hence getting sick.

Acupuncture needles get access to our qi and blood through the acupuncture points and help them to heal themselves by promoting the body’s innate self healing power. For this reason, acupuncture is very safe, with minimal side effects from the treatment.