Asheville's First Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

Dr. Nancy Hyton, DACM
Click Below to Book Online 24/7

Practicing Since 2007, Private Sessions, Comprehensive Care

What Acupuncture Treats

Along with herbal medicine, 5 element nutrition, and topical therapies like cupping and gua sha, acupuncture is one of the foundational therapies of Chinese Medicine. This is a complete medical system that has existed for thousands of years, developing theories and treatments for just about every common human condition along the way. Like a family physician, I consider myself to be a general practitioner so I work on all sorts of things including auto-immune disorders, complex and chronic conditions, digestive disorders, emotional imbalances, exhaustion and fatigue, internal organ issues, nervous system issues, pain of all types, reproductive issues, and respiratory issues. Another important part of my practice is wellness, focusing on longevity and the prevention of illness and imbalance. Please click here for more information about what I treat.

 

How Acupuncture Works

Acupuncture has both general and specific actions. In general, acupuncture stimulates your body's natural healing response system-wide. For example, acupuncture activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the compliment to the sympathetic fight-or-flight nervous system that is triggered by stress and anxiety. In the parasympathetic state we become deeply relaxed, heart rate and respiration slow way down, the mind quiets, and the body focuses on healing, repair, and replenishing energy reserves. The specific actions of acupuncture include localized effects on pain and, by tapping points on the channels that pass through them, the regulation and normalization of internal organ function. Acupuncture points have dozens and dozens of other specialized actions as well so they can be used to treat a wide variety of diverse conditions. Please click here for more information about how acupuncture works.

 

A Holistic Approach to Health and Healing

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are holistic in nature, indicating an approach that looks at your health as a whole, as one interconnected and unified system. In practice this means treating multiple systems simultaneously instead of focusing on single, isolated symptoms, defining the physical and the emotional as inseparable instead of treating only one or the other, and addressing your outward symptoms as well as the underlying imbalances that are causing them. Holistic medicine also seeks to tap your innate healing power, promoting and assisting it with gentle therapies that restore normal function and replenish what has been depleted. Please click here for more information about the holistic approach.

 

Preparing for an acupuncture appointment is simple. My main recommendations are to wear loose clothing, make sure you are neither hungry nor thirsty, and generally plan to take it easy on the day of your treatment. The appointment itself is about an hour long and begins with a case history, aiming to understand your chief complaint within the framework of your overall health. The acupuncture treatment itself takes place on a standard massage table in a private room. I usually choose about fifteen points and the needles stay in for about 30 minutes. Please click here for more information about a typical session.

 

Acupuncture needles are quite unlike the medical syringes that most of us are familiar with. They are as short and flexible as whiskers, more like a small wire or pointer, and are never used to inject or withdraw anything. In fact, they are so thin that it is difficult to simply put them in without bending. Because of this, they come with what is called a "guide tube," a small plastic sleeve that stabilizes them. The acupuncture needles I use are made of surgical grade stainless steel, come prepackaged in sterile packets, and are used only once and then disposed of in a medical sharps container. In general, they really don't feel like much, though occasionally some people with have a reflexive twitch or feel a tiny pinch. Please click here for more information about the needles.

 

Making a Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine

The main goal of diagnosis in Chinese medicine is to identify what we call patterns or clusters of symptoms. This is done by framing your chief complaint within the context of your overall health, looking at the different ways in which other organ systems may be affected. This not only points to any deeper imbalances that may be the common root of multiple symptoms, it also helps identify what version you have of the pattern, helping me to craft a more targeted and individualized treatment for you. The main tools of diagnosis that we use in Chinese medicine include the case history interview, observation, palpation, and tongue and pulse diagnosis. Please click here for more information about making a diagnosis.

 

Treatment Principles of Chinese Medicine

The main goals of Chinese medicine are energy flow (as seen in the theory of chi), balance (yin and yang), and the optimal functioning of all internal organ systems (the 5 elements). In practice, this means keeping the channels open, eliminating excesses of things like toxins and inflammation, replenishing deficiencies of things like energy, and ensuring that all of the internal organ systems are functioning optimally, supporting each other and working together in harmony. Please click here for more information about the treatment principles.