Posted by admin on Jan 24, 2012 in
Acupuncture,
Chinese Medicine Thanks to everyone who made last nights New Years party such a success. Over 30 people where in attendance at Old Mountain Health Center in Waynesville, NC and almost half of them received acupuncture for all sorts of things including, head aches, tonsilitis, jaw pain, and numbness and tingling in the hands [carpal tunnel]. Also, it looks like everyone enjoyed the traditional Chinese dishes including dumplings, fish, and dragon beans. Special thanks to Kyle Boudreau for help preparing and hauling food and Logan Labbe-Jarrell for help with invites, decorations, candy, and setup/take down.
Thanks again for helping make OMHC’s first annual Chinese New Years Party such a success!
Don’t forget to check your email to see if you are the lucky winner of the raffle for a FREE one hour Tui Na Massage!
Nate Novgrod L.Ac.
Join Us!
FREE Acupuncture, FREE Food, and a Raffle! Don’t miss out on the fun!
Posted by admin on Dec 17, 2011 in
Chinese Medicine,
Uncategorized 
Exiting the Rabbit Hole,
Entering the Year of the Dragon
By Nate Novgrod L.Ac.
January 23rd, 2012 is the beginning of the Chinese New Year. This will ring in the year of the Water Dragon. The water phase will help cool the dragon’s natural fire.
The dragon is the fifth sign in the Chinese zodiac and the only one which is a mythical figure. Dragons are historically said to have the head of an ox, the muzzle of a donkey, the eyes of a shrimp, the horns of a deer, the body of a serpent covered in fish scales, and the feet of a phoenix. They are often portrayed grasping a pearl which is a symbol of its super-natural powers.
Dragons for the Chinese are a representation of the emperor, masculinity, and power. Dragons are associated with natural phenomenon such as thunder, rain, lightning, and whirlwinds. All of these share characteristics with the dragon; immensely powerful and very unpredictable.
After the Year of the Rabbit, a generally calm year, the Year of the Dragon will be full of energy and spirit. It should be a year of good fortune and happiness. The Chinese consider the Year of the Dragon to be a good year for marriage, having children, and starting new business ventures. Money should be a little easier to come by during this year. Though it’s best to use caution as both successes and failures will be magnified this year. There may be more surprises as well as violent natural disasters this year.
Those born in the Year of the Dragon should have an easier time making decisions as well as seeing things from the point of view of others. Dragons are generally innovative, enterprising, self-assured, braves, passionate, conceited, quick-tempered, and creative. Dragons are somewhat of free spirits. Everything they do, they do on a grand scale.
Some famous Dragons are: Calista Flockhart, Colin Farrell, Courtney Cox, Courtney Love, Julia Ormond, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock, and Wynonna Judd.
Nate Novgrod is a Licensed Acupuncturist and Tai Chi instructor here in Waynesville. For more information check out www.waynesvilleacupuncture.com or call (828) 283-0268.
So most people have at least heard that Chinese medicine [aka Acupuncture] can relieve pain.
However, most people only think of musculoskeletal pain such as low back pain, neck pain, or shoulder pain.
What most people don’t know is that acupuncture can relieve almost any pain…..including the extremely common Headache.
Acupuncture can not only relieve the immediate symptoms of the headache, but can help to prevent headaches from reccurring. I have successfully treated a wide variety of headaches here in Waynesville including, migraines, sinus headaches, tension headaches, and even cluster headaches.
If you or someone you know suffers from chronic headaches you might try Acupuncture and Chinese herbs. There are some great herbal formulas that can help alleviate the symptoms and keep them away.
One of the most common questions I get about treating headaches is, “Are you going to put needles in my head?”
I’m not sure why there is such a fear of the tiny needles we use, but generally for treating headaches I don’t put needles in the head.
It is generally very easy to reduce or eliminate pain associated with a headache within moments.
There is no reason to stay in pain. If you have any kind of headache, get some treatment.
If you come in when you just start to feel a headache come on you can prevent it from ever getting bad at all.
Nate Novgrod L.Ac.
Old Mountain Health Center has passed a minor landmark.
It’s now 2 years old. I opened the doors in early Novemeber of 2009 so that I could provide affordable, natural health care for Waynesville and Haywood county. OMHC is the only full time Acupuncture and Chinese medical clinic in Haywood county and I have been pleased to be able to help so many individuals in need over the last two years.
The sliding scale system OMHC utilizes to allow patients to pick what they pay has been an overwhelming success. Patients are able to pay what they can realistically afford, which allows them to return for more frequent visits, which in turn nets them greater results. It’s really a win win for everyone.
I am happy to be in Haywood county treating patients with everything from pain to paralysis and look to continue to do so for the forseeable future. OMHC has steadily grown and looks to keep growing for years to come.
Thank you to everyone of my patients who have allowed me to work with them on their health concerns; without you, I wouldn’t be able to continue to help others.
Nate Novgrod L.Ac.
Several things are changing at OMHC to better serve the needs of Waynesville and help care for as many people as possible whether they are having pain, allergies, or insomnia.
First, OMHC is now accepting credit and debit cards! ask major cards including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. To continue to keep the cost of treatments as low as possible, the drop box is still being used. The new payslips have a section for credit/debit card information. You simply write your card number, expiration date, CVV code, and the billing zip code. I’ll prices the payment for the amount specified and can even email you a receipt. Your card information is secure and will not be saved our used in any way except to process that one receipt. If you choose you can have your card’s detail saved on file so you don’t have to write it down every time.
Secondly, the fee scales for Tui Na massage have changed. The new fee scales are as follows:
30 mins: $30 – $45
60 mins: $60 – $90
Acupuncture w/ 30 mins of Tui Na: $70 – $125
Due to increases in manufacturer and distributor costs OMHC is raising the cost of its in stock herbal patent medications [bottles of Herbal Times Tea Pills]. The cost is rising from $8 a bottle [tax included] to $9 a bottle [tax included]. This will allow OMHC to continue to offer a wide variety of these potent herbal formulas.
Additionally a new pricing policy for custom granule formulas is going into effect as of 7/9/2011. The new policy has granule formulas priced at $0.20 a gram plus the 2% sales tax on food supplements. This means that if you take 3 grams of formula 3 times a day you use 63 grams a week costing you $12.60 plus $0.25 in tax for a total weekly cost of $12.85. This pricing policy is in effect for all standard granule formulas containing herbs that are normally stocked. If a specialty herb needs to be ordered the price per gram for that herb may vary.
If you have any questions about these price changes or anything related to Chinese herbal medicine please contact me via the website or at (828) 283-0268 or stop by the office in Waynesville, NC at 292 N. Haywood St.
Tags: Chinese Herbal Formulas, Chinese Herbs, Chinese Medicine, Herbal Medicine, Herbs, Waynesville North Carolina
Posted by admin on Jul 2, 2011 in
Chinese Medicine So this week has been sacroilliac joint [SI joint] problems and knee joint problems.
The SI joint is a common problem area that can lead to hip and low back pain. This joint can be inflamed or subluxed [slightly out of alignment] as well as having arthritis. In a healthy joint there is mobility but enough strength to maintain the joint structure. This joint is moved every time we take a step allowing the sacrum to nutate or make a small figure eight like motion. Chiropractic adjustments can realign the sacrum and the illium to ease pain, but without dealing with the energetic blockage and subsequent soft tissue imbalance there is no way to keep the joint in the proper place. Acupuncture and Tui Na massage can both be extremely beneficial in righting the imbalance of muscle tone that often pulls the bones out of place as well as opening the energetic blockages that lead to the muscle tension and laxness that make up such imbalances. Bottom line, pain in the low back can easily be treated with Chinese medicine and can have a wonderful synergistic effect when done along side regular Chiropractic adjustments.
Knee pain can be caused by a wide variety of reasons ranging from arthritis to traumatic injury to the ligaments, tendons, muscles, and cartilage/meniscus of the knee joint. The inflammation associated with traumatic injury can be very effectively handled using Chinese medicine including herbal formulas [topical and internal], acupuncture, Tui Na massage, and other lesser known techniques such as cupping, plum blossom, and gua sha. Recent studies have also shown that for damaged cartilage and arthritis that electro-stimulation acupuncture can be very helpful in accelerating the rate at which the body can repair damaged connective tissues and cartilage. Bottom line, blood flow allows healing and all of the above modalities dramatically increase the microcirculation [blood flow withing the tissue outside of the vessels] and thereby improve the rate of healing/recovery.
If you or someone you know is suffering from pain in Waynesville or anywhere in Haywood County. Please consider using one of the five highly skilled and well trained Chinese medical practitioners providing services in Haywood County.
Posted by admin on May 12, 2011 in
Chinese Medicine OMHC is starting a new program in appreciation of all its patients that are referring their friends and families. OMHC wants to help as many people as possible and that is achieved by spreading the word about Chinese medicine and its benefits.
To that purpose. If you refer 3 new patients to OMHC, you get a free treatment [either Acupuncture or Tui Na massage].
How does it work? Simple, take a stack of my cards, write your name on the back [both first & last], and give it to anybody that you know that can be helped by acupuncture, herbal medicine, or Chinese massage.
When I have three cards with your name on it, you get a free treatment!
*Note* The new patient must bring a card in with your name on the back for you to receive Rewards Points. When your redeem your free treatment, it is only the office visit that is covered. If you wish to receive an herbal formula during your visit, it is regular price.
Tags: Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, Old Mountain Health Center, Referrals, Waynesville
Posted by admin on Mar 16, 2011 in
Chinese Medicine Rethinking ‘Normal’ Blood Pressure
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Millions of people who have been told they are on the path to hypertension may never develop life-threatening problems, according to new research that suggests it’s time to redefine “normal” blood pressure. The findings, from researchers at the Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, suggest that as many as 100 million Americans who have been told they have a condition called prehypertension may face no added mortality risk and therefore could reasonably be considered to have normal blood pressure.
The authors reviewed two decades of blood pressure data that tracked 13,792 people from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which enrolled participants from 1971 to 1976. The researchers also reviewed similar data for 6,682 adults from a similar survey carried out between 1959 and 1962.
Current guidelines label people with blood pressure above 120/80 millimeters of mercury as having prehypertension and at higher risk for serious health problems like heart attack and stroke than people with lower blood pressure. But the data review found that people in that category are not any more likely to die prematurely than those with lower blood pressures, according to the study, published in The Journal of General Internal Medicine.
“If we can’t identify an increased risk, is that where abnormal should be set?’’ said Brent Taylor, core investigator for the V.A. in Minneapolis and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota. “It should at least start a conversation about why normal is set where it is. If we make small changes to where we set normal blood pressure, it has huge implications in the numbers of people we identify as being at risk.’’
The current guidelines were determined in 2003, when the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure issued its seventh report updating recommendations. The report was the first time that the panel identified relatively low blood pressure readings as an indicator of future disease. As a result of the findings, tens of millions of people were told they were at risk and were urged to adopt lifestyle changes to prevent blood pressure from creeping higher.
In the latest study, researchers focused on relatively older data because blood pressure treatment was not as prevalent years ago, and as a result, they could better study the health effects of changes in blood pressure as people age. Among people over 50, the most meaningful predictor of poor health was the systolic blood pressure — the first, or upper, number given in a blood pressure reading. In this older group, a systolic pressure of 140 or higher was most predictive of mortality. Among people under 50, it was the diastolic pressure, or second number, that was most predictive. In this group, a diastolic pressure of 100 or more was most predictive of poor health. In younger people, having a systolic reading of 200 or higher was also predictive of higher mortality.
Dr. Taylor said it’s important that the guidelines home in on the people who can most benefit from treatment. He also noted that blood pressure guidelines can end up hurting people if they wrongly label someone as being at risk.
“Maybe those people should be focusing on conditions other than their borderline blood pressure,” Dr. Taylor said. “If we intervene with these people who don’t have a lot of risk, maybe we’re going to cause more harm than benefit.”
Dr. Aram V. Chobanian, president emeritus of Boston University, who was chairman of the 2003 guidelines panel, said those recommendations were based on studies showing that the risk of heart disease starts to rise at readings as low as 115/75.
Dr. Chobanian said he had not read the latest study, which looked at mortality risk rather than heart disease risk, but noted that other doctors have raised concerns about a designation of prehypertension for people with blood pressure of 120/80.
“Some physicians feel it’s an overemphasis, and I understand that,” he said. “If you identify individuals who are candidates for prevention of hypertension, that to me is the greatest point of it, to pick out people whom you want to make — or try to make them — change their lifestyle.”
Dr. Taylor noted that a single study is not likely to change the guidelines, but he hopes the research will be included in the discussion of blood pressure guidelines. The eighth Joint National Committee panel is currently reviewing the guidelines and is expected to make draft recommendations later this year.
Available here
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/rethinking-normal-blood-pressure/?sudsredirect=true
