Acupuncture
Acupuncture in Washington DC
Acupuncture Will Make Your Day!
Acupuncture is the fundamental tool we use at Cherry Blossom Healing Arts, and those tiny needles deliver BIG results. While you’re relaxing on one of our comfortable tables, the needles are increasing circulation to traumatized areas of your body, helping to release endorphins, and promoting autonomic balance. The result is a break in your busy day, your specific complaint feeling better, and an overall improved sense of physical and mental wellbeing!
Acupuncture Benefits
The health benefits of acupuncture are astonishing and widespread. Though acupuncture is an ancient practice—its healing power is entirely modern. Acupuncture has measurable effects on your body, such as releasing endorphins and increasing circulation to injured areas—promoting physical healing and helping you to feel good. It’s a combination that makes acupuncture a powerful tool in holistic healing!
Acupuncture
Acupuncture works cumulatively in order to deliver amazing results to your overall health and wellbeing. Most patients notice that their overall health begins to improve once they begin a course of treatment. Even things that were not main complaints tend to improve such as stress level, sleep quality, and energy level. Acupuncture is our go to deliver deep and lasting healing.
Acupuncture helps your body heal on a deep level.
Acupuncture and Moxibustion Therapy
After inserting needles, your acupuncturist may put some Artemisia Vulgaris—also known as mugwort—on certain acupuncture points and burn it. This technique is called moxibustion, and it produces a pleasant and subtle odor as well as gently warming the area.
Moxibustion has a special place in women’s health. It helps to warm the uterus, a practice related to fertility and is especially adept at helping to turn breech babies to the correct position for vaginal birth.
Acupuncture and E-Stim Therapy
Electroacupuncture or ‘e-stim’ is very similar to acupuncture. Small clips are placed on needles to stimulate a specific point more than the needle alone would. E-stim is helpful for various types of pain as well as women’s health issues like PCOS, uterine cramps, and labor induction.
E-stim is effective for pain and many issues in women’s health.
Acupuncture and cupping go together like stress relief and relaxation.
Acupuncture and Cupping Therapy
Cupping is an adjunctive therapy that increases blood flow and reduces muscle tension. It’s become famous in recent years, with well-known athletes publicly using it in their recovery regime. Cupping is a lot like a reverse massage, where instead of someone pushing down or kneading your muscles—your muscles are getting gently pulled up by suction in the cup. This increases the blood flow to the area and reduces muscle tension. Combined with an acupuncture treatment, cupping can be very effective in musculoskeletal pain relief! Learn more about our Cupping Treatments.
Gua Sha & Acupuncture Treatments
Gua sha is cupping’s lesser-known cousin. It functions in much the same way as cupping—by releasing adhesions in the muscles, it reduces tension and promotes circulation. Unlike cupping, a stone tool is pushed across the skin. When utilized with acupuncture, it can be effective for muscle pain and tension relief.
Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine in DC
All our acupuncturists are also board-certified specialists in Chinese herbal medicine, some of the only people so-qualified in the District of Columbia.
Your acupuncturist may prescribe Chinese herbal medicine for you. The formulas are custom made in our in-house herb pharmacy. These custom formulas work with the acupuncture you receive to continue your treatment from home and help resolve your main complaint. Learn more about how we treat with Chinese Herbal Medicine.
Nutrition & Acupuncture Treatments
When optimally nourished, your body can make the best use of acupuncture treatments. The synergy good nutrition and acupuncture have means you can heal faster and more completely. Learn more about how we incorporate Nutrition and Wellness into our treatment plans.
Nourishing nutrition and acupuncture work synergistically to help you heal faster.
Supporting Your Health & Wellness
I highly recommend Cherry Blossom
I have been going to Cherry Blossom for almost a year. I always appreciate how helpful Elyse is by how carefully she listens to what is going on and how many ideas she has to help improve how I am feeling. Her treatments have helped me deal with an autoimmune disease I have and have helped me adjust to moving to the DC area. Recently, I went to her with an acute injury. I had a bad sprained ankle. I was amazed at the improvement after one session with Elyse.
Read MoreWhat We Treat
Acupuncture’s effectiveness reaches from your mental wellbeing to your foot pain, and everything in-between. Our treatments fall into the following five main categories.
Chronic and Acute Pain
Mental Health
Fertility and Perinatal Care
Women’s Health
Internal Medicine
Conditions We Treat With Acupuncture
Acupuncture supports diverse biomedical procedures while also being effective for a wide variety of ailments, such as:
Pain Relief
Acupuncture works with the natural processes of the body to target pain receptors and stimulate long-term healing. We can help:
- Acute (recent) or chronic (ongoing) pain
- Recovery from outpatient or inpatient procedures or surgery
- Sports injury or pain from overuse
Anxiety & Depression
Acupuncture is an excellent complementary therapy to traditional mental health care. Our acupuncturists utilize a multi-pronged approach to treating anxiety and depression, and will support your progress through the stressors of daily life. We can:
- Treat physiological symptoms of anxiety and depression
- Mitigate the body’s fight-or-flight response to stress
- Alleviate symptoms of IBS and other ailments exacerbated by stress
Stress
DC is stressful! The pandemic is stressful! Work is stressful! Our acupuncturists can help. Acupuncture treatments can:
- Lower cortisol
- Release endorphins
- Help you quiet your mind
- Decrease activity in the limbic system, reducing pain and stress
Insomnia
Good sleep is the foundation for optimal wellness. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can increase the total amount of sleep and sleep quality. We can help:
- Difficulty falling or staying asleep
- Ease reliance on prescription medication for insomnia
- Fulfill more restorative sleep sessions
Fertility
We take a caring approach to family planning and fertility. Acupuncture can help increase pregnancy in those who are trying to conceive whether or not they’re using Assisted Reproductive Technology. We can help:
- Increase blood flow to the ovaries and uterus
- Increase chances of implantation
- Increase the incidence of viable follicles during STIM
Perinatal Care
We care for women through all stages of pregnancy and postpartum, from the first trimester to the first year of motherhood. We specialize in treating:
- Morning sickness
- Pain associated with pregnancy
- Heartburn
- Labor induction
- Breech presentation
Allergies
Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can relieve the symptoms of seasonal allergies. We can help you:
- Mitigate inflammation
- Reduce allergy symptoms
- Prevent seasonal allergy flare-ups
Your Acupuncture Treatment Plan
Your journey to better health begins before you step through our doors. You'll be able to easily schedule an appointment online as well as fill out your health history form before you arrive at our office—maximizing conversational and treatment time with your acupuncturist.
At your first appointment, your acupuncturist will discuss your health history, get input from you on what your treatment goals are, and develop a treatment plan. They'll then treat you using whatever services are best suited to your specific symptoms.
Although plans vary depending on the patient, most typically run for four weeks. At the end of your first visit, your acupuncturist will give you a written treatment plan. At subsequent visits, you'll discuss your symptoms and whether they've improved, regressed, or stayed the same. Your acupuncturist will adjust the treatment plan based on your input and their ongoing diagnosis of your condition.
When your main complaint is resolved, you can reduce treatment or work on another symptom. Still thinking it over? Take a look at our Testimonials page to see what other patients are saying.
Tiny Needles—BIG Results
Acupuncture is a powerful wellness tool, especially when combined with moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, and herbal medicine.
Those tiny needles, in the hands of our expert acupuncturists, hold the potential to treat your back pain, headaches, insomnia, stress, and help you take care of your pregnancy, among a wide variety of other health issues. They become even more powerful when combined with the other modalities of Chinese medicine—all of which our acupuncturists can bring to bear on your symptoms.
Want to experience this for yourself? Head to our booking page and schedule your first appointment.
We’re in-network with CareFirst/BlueCross and Aetna and are happy to check your insurance benefits for you.
Be well,
The Cherry Blossom Team
