Welcome and Thank You

Hello and thank you for checking out my website and blog. My name is Jorga Houy and I’m a Licensed Acupuncturist. I’m currently in the process of redoing my website and part of that is this blog. I’ve realized that many people are curious about acupuncture and Chinese medicine, but don’t really know that much about it, and that’s why I’ve decided to start this blog – to educate people about Chinese medicine and what I do. So with that in mind, let me say welcome to the inaugural post of my blog.

Gong Hay Fat Choi

As I write this, the Lunar New Year (aka “Chinese New Year”) is rapidly approaching. It will soon be the Year of the Snake; the snake being a symbol of transformation, wisdom and of medicine itself, so that seemed like an auspicious time to get this whole thing going. As I said, a lot of people are curious about acupuncture and Chinese medicine, so this blog is in part, my effort to address many of the questions I hear over and over again. I’m an acupuncturist, which is somewhat of a misleading title; yes, I do acupuncture, but that is only one part of a complete system of medicine. The tradition of Chinese medicine has been going on for thousands of years in an unbroken chain since early humans first figured out that rubbing a painful spot made it feel better. Chinese medicine encompasses acupuncture, acupressure, herbal medicine, cupping, meditation, qi gong and various other techniques; it has its own system of diagnosis which is holistic, focusing primarily on the person rather than the disease, and which takes all aspects of a person into account.

Three Treasures

For all of my life, I have been completely fascinated by the human body, mind and spirit (what the Chinese call the “Three Treasures”) and I am very thankful that I have found the field of Chinese medicine as it addresses all three aspects of a person in a systematic way. Using the Three Treasure model, I have broken down what I do in my practice into three areas: Recovery, Wellness and Performance.

Recovery

Recovery is, as it sounds, recovery from disease. In my practice I focus heavily on pain, so recovering from pain is a big part of what I do. Chinese medicine is quite effective at resolving pain issues. Acupuncture can help you heal faster and heal better. Over the years, my desire to be an excellent practitioner has led me to believe that a good understanding of orthopedics is very important in the treatment of pain, so I combine my knowledge of Chinese medicine with Western orthopedics. Recovery is also recovery from other illnesses, colds and flues, digestive problems, menstrual difficulties.

Wellness

Wellness is a state of being in balance, a balanced body, balanced emotions and balanced internal functions. Once you have graduated out of the Recovery stage, it is important to prevent recurrence. A big part of Wellness is prevention. The Chinese have a saying: “a burglar only gets in if you leave a window open.” People often get sick when the seasons change because their immune systems are operating in a sub-optimal way, and not able to keep up with the changing weather. Active people often get injured because they have an underlying muscle imbalance or they don’t know how to move properly. For pain issues, I combine traditional Chinese knowledge with cutting edge modern methods such as the FMS protocol, an evaluation system for basic movement patterns; this test reveals patterns of compensation and is a guide for both acupuncture/pressure treatment and prescription of corrective exercises.

Performance

Performance is the realm of going beyond a baseline of balanced function. We all want to be the best at what we do. For the athlete, this is performance enhancement, getting stronger, faster and more focused. For other people, performance may involve having an immune system that functions at its best or prolonging youth, achieving what we call “radiant health” in the field of Chinese medicine.