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Section: Being Well
Maximizing Your Health with Acupuncture
By Anthony Chabala
Suffering from chronic aches and pains? How about migraine headaches that you can’t seem to shake with over-the-counter meds? Are you lacking the energy that makes you your usual vivacious self?
The Chinese medicine of Five Element Acupuncture, rooted in Daoist philosophy, may be just what your health regimen is in need of. “Acupuncture is part of complimentary medicine,” says Niki H. Bilton, the academic dean at the new Ongiara College of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Fort Erie, Ontario. “It can be used as part of an integrated health approach, in conjunction with Western medicine and all nutritional work. It’s not an either-or situation.” Studies prove that acupuncture can be more effective overall as well as more cost effective when used in partnership with Western medicine. Complimentary medicine “can really maximize a person’s health as they enter the aging process,” says Bilton.
Chinese medicine understands and recognizes different causes of disease. Some are more external causes, like bacteria, viruses, accidents and trauma. Yet there are also internal causes, such as extensive worry, grief and melancholy. “It’s inherently in the system of medicine that there are proven protocols for helping people with emotionally caused stresses and strains,” Bilton says. For example, people who worry often sometime develop sleep disorders, loss of appetite and nausea. Chinese medicine has the ability to support the individual emotionally while dealing with the causes, internal or external, which can ultimately alleviate or remove the results of physical conditions.
Acupuncture assists persons going through change, and different kinds of transitions in their midlife, and beyond. These can range from children leaving home, going from being a parent to a grandparent or changing careers. “Acupuncture is really just supporting a person to be who they are and live their life to the fullest,” says Barbara Simpson, acupuncturist at Gate of Life in Buffalo. “It’s not necessarily about the physical kinds of things, but the emotional things that are happening for people as well.” Much of the work done in acupuncture is based around the natural movement of seasons, and each season contributes its own energy. “People need to understand that when their energy goes down in the winter, they’re not necessarily sick,” says Simpson. “It’s what should really be happening.”
Bilton has been working in conjunction with Simpson and Patricia Mahone from the Gate of Life Acupuncture practice located on Hodge Avenue in the Elmwood Village. Simpson and Mahone recently relocated to Buffalo from Maryland to be part of the movement of the Ongiara College of Acupuncture in Fort Erie. “We moved to Buffalo to be part of the movement of the college and to support that from this side of border,” says Mahone. Both women have been working with Bilton in advanced study in the field for years.
Once the college opens in Fort Erie, part of the training for the students will be in the clinic. The student clinic will enable the local population to come and have treatments at a reduced price, and seeks to fill a vital role in Western New York’s growing interest in acupuncture. “It will give access to people who normally wouldn’t even consider going for any private treatment because they can’t afford it,” says Julie Lawson, principal of the college.
For more information on the Ongiara College of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, visit www.ongiaracollege.ca or call 905-894-1323. Gate of Life is located at 187 Hodge Avenue in Buffalo and can be reached at 887-2919. Other practices in the area include Guan’s Acupuncture, 646 North French Road in Amherst (564-0922); May Wang, 6511 Main Street in Williamsville (626-0102); and Shen DAO Acupuncture, 334 Bryant Sreet in Buffalo (883-3166).
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