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...

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....

Chinese medicine is an ancient study with a prehistoric past. Its first written history dates back to a time in China known as the Warring States period approximately 2400 years ago. By this time it was already a complex and comprehensive medical system complete with knowledge of anatomy & physiology, diagnostics, natural medicinals, acupoints, a large handful of treatment modalities, and pertinent lifestyle modifications in seek of restoring natural balance. It's very important to first understand that Chinese medicine is a constantly evolving practice and over the centuries and millennia it has by no means been static. We often think of China as being this one grand unified nation as we see it today, but this was not always the case. China was, and in some ways still is, a very diverse nation consisting of many different cultures, languages, religions and philosophies. Being such a large nation geographically, differences from province to province can contrast as much as the...