Traditional vs Modern Acupuncture in Mill Valley

I’m an Old-School Purist

Here at Luminate Mill Valley, the approach I take is much more aligned with traditional Acupuncture style. In my clinic, you won’t be saddled with take-home lab kits and requisition forms for blood work. Instead, you’ll experience the aroma of mugwort wafting through the treatment room and being sent home with your weekly supply of Chinese herbal prescription.

Again, I want to emphasize that the key for the patient is finding the unique flavor suitable to her/his palate. Having served the local Mill Valley community and San Francisco Bay Area for twenty years utilizing traditional Acupuncture approach, I have witnessed the therapeutic benefits and efficacy of this particular style and I hold the conviction that this is the best way I know how to help those in need.

Traditional vs. Modern Acupuncture - Different Paths Same Destination

When comparing the two approaches, it comes down to different strokes for different folks. While the methodology varies amongst the two styles, the aim is the same as both embrace a holistic approach to diagnosis and treatment. Both adopt the understanding of how all organ systems work together and rely on each other for optimal functioning. With that said, each approach takes a different path to arrive its destination.

The methodology used in modern Acupuncture is what is known as evidence-based medicine, a more reductive and quantitative approach utilizing lab results, blood work, and imaging. In this way, it resembles conventional Western medicine. In contrast, I prefer traditional Acupuncture approach utilizing tongue and pulse differential diagnosis in order to identify the underlying pattern of disharmony to treat the root of the problem. One important point about differential diagnosis: this is a uniquely traditional Chinese medicine concept-the belief that more than one underlying cause can create the same physical manifestation/symptom. An example would be the chief complaint of chronic fatigue due to hypothyroidism.

In modern Acupuncture treatment using lab work, this will show up as increased TSH/thyroid stimulating hormone and will probably be treated with hormone replacement therapy, namely some type of thyroid glandular supplement.

In traditional Acupuncture approach, I would dig deeper and investigate the underlying imbalance which causes sub-optimal functioning of the thyroid gland. This is where differential diagnosis comes into play, determining whether it is the deficient Kidney Fire or the compromised transformative function of the Spleen organ caused by excess damp, which one is at the root of the problem. This is the finer point of traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis which has no parallel in conventional medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, there is no One size fits all. Metaphorically, if you just keep pulling out the weeds ( treating symptomology ) without ever uprooting them, the deeper problem never goes away. Neither approach is better than the other, each deserves its own merit. But since I am a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, I stick with what I know best.