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Sometimes I end up talking about books I've read or am reading with my patients. And also, of course, what they are reading. Here's a list from the last year or two that I've enjoyed:

Pachinko -- Min Jin Lee      She's a Korean-American author. This book traces a young woman's journey from 1910 Busan, Korea, through much of WW2 and after into Osaka, Japan, where it chronicles her and her family's life as ethnic Koreans living in Osaka. Personally I found it fascinating especially since my brother-in-law currently lives in the neighborhood where much of the book takes place.

An American Marriage -- Tayari Jones --  This is set in Atlanta and Louisiana and tells the story of a tragic incarceration of an African-American man and his wife in the contemporary South. 

Daily Rituals - How Artist's Work -- Mason Currey  --  A fascinating book about American and European artists/writers/composers and how they structure their days and get their creative work done. Some of these little 2 or 3 page summaries are laugh out loud. Some are just interesting. 

Stay tuned for more!

               Acupuncture, as I practice it in Montclair, NJ,  is a physical treatment on the same spectrum as therapeutic massage, physical therapy, and chiropractic. Although often the main tool is a very thin sterile needle, an acupuncturist also employs cupping (like Michael Phelps in the Olympics), or warming techniques such as moxibustion (warming an herb on the acupuncture point), and mild electric stimulation similar to TENS used my physical therapists.

               The feeling and process of acupuncture is very relaxing. Most patients get extremely relaxed and some fall asleep. It’s common for a patient to be a little anxious for the first treatment because it is new and needles are involved. The needles are inserted with a little plastic tube that gives a stimulus that distracts from any unpleasantness. After the first treatment any nervousness is usually replaced by looking forward to symptom relief and the stress-relieving relaxation of the treatments. In other words, many patients look forward to the treatments and use them help stress as well as pain.

               Acupuncture is part of the broader field of traditional East Asian medicine with historical roots in China, Korea, and Japan, as well as other parts of Asia. Some practitioners also treat with very sophisticated herbal formulas. TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) herbalism is very complex. It is not like taking some over the counter Echinacea and Vitamin C for a cold.  Various factors such as constitution, warmth or coldness of symptoms and emotional factors go into putting together a formula consisting of one but often 8 or even 16 different herbs.  I will refer some of my acupuncture patients to herbalists.

               An acupuncturist also might suggest traditional exercises related to Tai Chi or Qi Gong or meditation according to Five Element ideas. Nutritional recommendations according to traditional ideas are also part of the overall treatment.

               So acupuncture is really about much more than "acus" (the Greek word for needles)"puncturing". It’s a kind of physical treatment that ends up helping not only physical symptoms but also stess-related feelings. 

So, I get asked a lot (And treat often)  if acupuncture helps arthritis. It does! It helps all sorts of knee pain from sports injuries to plain old accidents. But yes, arthritis as well. If you want a very long, detailed analysis, as I know some skeptics do, please read the National Institute of Health analysis:

"On the basis of the findings of the studies reviewed, acupuncture should be considered a viable adjunct or alternative treatment of knee pain and dysfunction associated with osteoarthritis of the knee for the thousands of individuals across the country who are suffering from symptoms of this chronic disease."

NIH Acupuncture and Osteoarthritis of the Knee Study