If you’ve ever been treated for an injury or chronic body pain over the past couple decades, then there's a good chance you’ve experienced dry needling, or at the very least you’ve heard of it and considered it as a treatment option. Dry needling is the term that refers to therapeutic needling that doesn’t include blood testing, injections and vaccinations - hence the word ‘dry’. Now of the large many who have had dry needling therapy, some have received it from their acupuncturist, some from their physiotherapist, some from their chiropractor, and others from their sports or athletic therapist. So the question often arises, “what is the difference between each of these professions when it comes to (dry) needling?”. Dry needling is the umbrella term for the therapy as a whole. Inserting dry needles into the body has several different effects and mechanisms by which it can influence the body back into a state of better health. It’s not as simple as “Oh! It’s sore here. Let’s ...

Qi is an abstract term. It only achieves a concrete or objective definition once it has been affixed to a second term providing context. For this reason, qi often plays the same role as ‘god’ does in spirituality. It can be used to unproductively describe spiritual phenomenon. On the other hand, its abstract nature has the ability to pragmatically group phenomenon that relate in ways outside of our current material-scope. On its own, the word qi signifies a rough aggregate similar to our english words “energy”, “vibe”, “spirit”, “feeling”, and “immaterial”. A word used to describe an immaterial feeling or sensation. To define it with latin & greek terms, maybe something along the lines of the affixes “ -ous”, “-ness”, “-y” or “-ity” would be our best translation. For this reason I tend to steer clear of the term as much as possible. If I am able to specify the qi factually, precisely, or in a way that is more familiar to northwestern hemisphere conventions, then I never hesitate t...

We often hear the term homeostasis tossed around when discussing matters of health and medicine. This term refers to the balancing act of health. Too much of either extreme will contribute to disease and dysfunction, and homeostasis is our body's ability to regulate itself and find balance with the extremes that life throws our way. It could be compared to the thermostat in our home in that it carefully senses changes to the environment and then uses what's called a ‘negative feedback loop’ to correct the changes returning us back to our desired state of balance. Homeostasis is a Latin term that literally means 'staying the same' and that 'same' we're speaking of is our state of health. Homeostasis sounds to be quite the static term but in actuality it's quite the opposite. It is a dynamic flux continually seeking health in relation to its environment and is constantly making adjustments every second of our day. When the body is healthy the sensitivi...

Since TCMs recent introduction to the West in the late 60s and early 70s its grown quite the popularity amongst the general public. But considering its ever-growing popularity it's still relatively not the most understood system. Being a Doctor of TCM in Canada I still see a large number of my new patients naïve to the fact that TCM is a complete and advanced medical system (not just acupuncture!) that developed in response to treating all manifestations of disease. Although it is an ancient medical practice it has evolved itself over several millennia to effectively treat some of the most extreme cases of illness. Classical Chinese medicine was not just used for relaxation and mild feel-good spa-like treatment effects. Acupuncture in particular is well-known for its ability to treat musculoskeletal conditions and stop pain, but the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine as a whole in treating more severe internal medical conditions is still not the most common of knowledge....