Tri City Healing
69 State St., Suite 812
Albany, NY 12207
(518) 640-7722
Dr. Deborah Fahrbach, DACM, L. Ac.
Acupuncture is a 3,000-year-old healing technique of Traditional Chinese Medicine which is now widely practiced in the West. A system of integrative medicine that involves pricking the skin or tissues with needles, Acupuncture is used to alleviate pain and to treat various physical, mental, and emotional conditions. The very fine, filiform needles penetrate the skin at specific points on the body with the intention of manipulating the bodies energy known as Qi (pronounced “Chee”), in order to return the body to balance.
Acupuncture aims to restore the body's natural balance by stimulating homeostasis. It's best known in the West for pain relief and continues to be extensively studied by institutions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the National Institute for Health (NIH) because it consistently outperforms other "conventional" therapies - including pharmaceuticals. In 1997, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) documented and publicized acupuncture’s safety and efficacy for treating a wide range of conditions.
Acupuncture focuses on overall well-being rather than treating only specific, isolated symptoms. The aim of acupuncture is to restore equilibrium within a person's physical, emotional and spiritual aspects. Many patients come in for regular, quarterly, or annual "tune-ups" because it helps them maintain the balance they've worked to obtain.
When prescribed correctly, Chinese herbal formulas have strong therapeutic effects without disrupting the body's balance or creating other health problems since the ingredients are found within our natural environment rather than being artificially manufactured in a laboratory. Formulas allow for various symptoms to be treated at once since they can be tailored specifically to your symptoms and constitution.
Herbal certification is an endeavor that takes years to achieve and is considered a practice of continual study through one's lifetime.
In the U.S., only practitioners who have achieved and maintain NCCAOM certification in Chinese Herbology or Oriental Medicine can be considered competent Chinese herbalists.
Cupping draws stagnant blood and other fluids that have fallen out of healthy circulation up to the skin level and away from the injury so that healthy free circulation can be restored to the affected area. As skin is the body's largest organ, it contains about 20% of your blood volume at any given time. The skin has an amazing network of capillaries that make it a fantastic vehicle to transport all the stagnation that cupping pulls up into it. Cupping creates a space for oxygen, living cells, and nutrients that are an aide to healing.
The body’s capillary system at the skin level carries the toxins to the liver and kidneys, where they can be metabolized and excreted.
Tui Na is a therapeutic form of massage and has been used in China for more than 5,000 years. Defined as “the ancient healing art of fingers and strength,” tui na (pronounced “twee nah”) has been gaining international attention for its safe and effective treatment for a wide variety of conditions. Tui na massage therapy is used for giving special treatments to people of all ages, from infancy to old age. Practitioners use their finger, hand, or elbow to apply pressure to a specific body location. This Chinese medicine modality makes use of rhythmic compression techniques along different energy channels of the body to establish harmonious flow of qi throughout the body and bringing it back to balance.
By applying pressure to meridians, acupoints, and groups of muscles and nerves, tui na removes blockages and works deeply with the positive energy of the body.
Gua sha is a healing technique of traditional East Asian medicine. Sometimes called ‘coining, spooning or scraping’, Gua sha is defined as instrument-assisted unidirectional press-stroking of a lubricated area of the body surface to intentionally create transitory therapeutic petechiae called ‘sha’. Raising sha removes blood stagnation considered pathogenic in traditional East Asian medicine. Modern research shows the transitory therapeutic petechiae produce an anti inflammatory and immune protective effect that persists for days following a single Gua sha treatment.
This accounts for the immediate relief that patients feel from pain, stiffness, fever, chill, cough, wheeze, nausea and vomiting etc, and why Gua sha is effective in acute and chronic internal organ disorders including liver inflammation in hepatitis.