Services

Acupuncture Visit
Includes a health intake, physical exam, and treatment including acupuncture and other relevant therapies listed below. Extra time is added to the first visit to get a more complete understanding of your current health as well as your health history. We also discuss your short-term and long-term health goals.
  • Acupuncture
  • Electro-acupuncture, electroacupuncture
  • Acupressure Massage
  • Cupping
  • Herbal Medicine

Targeted Treatments
​These sessions are shorter (30 Min) and focus on one treatment method only.
  • Cupping
  • Acupressure Massage

Free Phone Consultation
Please feel free to call us at 651-225-1600 with any questions about acupuncture or how it can help you.
Have questions? Call us 651-225-1600 or email us riverislandclinic@gmail.com
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers a valuable, rich, lengthy, and extensive treatment history. Within it are thousands of years of development and research which we benefit from greatly today. There are many methods of treatment within TCM including but not limited to: Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, cupping, Tui Na (body work), and moxibustion.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is the insertion of fine needles into acupuncture points. The needles are either then left to passively augment the flow of Qi (chi) or technique is applied to the needle to actively adjust the flow of Qi. In western terms, we use needles to provide stimulus that travels along pathways (nervous, muscular, and connective tissue) called the kinetic chain to broadly affect the body. Sensations that may accompany the insertion of needles are heat, fullness, tingling, or movement. 
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A virtue of Acupuncture is that points are selected on an individual basis and may even change from visit to visit as symptoms change and improve.
Herbal Medicine
 As opposed to some forms of herbalism and western medicine, Chinese herbs are often used in formulas instead of being used individually in larger doses. Formulas allow you to mix herbs to enhance their positive effects and reduce or eliminate any negative side effects they may have. 
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The benefit of this herbal practice, as with acupuncture, is that it allows practitioners to compound formulas to match each patient. Instead of having a standard formula for a particular condition you can increase the clinical effectiveness of the herbs through this tailoring. This ideally means faster results with less side-effects.
Cupping
Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which special cups are put on your skin for a few minutes to create suction. The suction pulls the body tissues apart to allow better blood flow and to break up stuck or knotted tissue. Cupping is very good for pain and tension, but can also be used effectively to treat colds and flus.
Acupressure massage
​The main style of massage that is learned and practiced by acupuncturists is Tui Na. Tui Na uses a combination of quick and slow hand motions, so it tends to be more invigorating as well as relaxing. We also practice a style of massage, based on the Yin Style Ba Gua school of medicine, that uses  slow movements and is deeply relaxing. We use a combination of Yin Style Ba Gua and Tui Na when doing body work.
Yin Style Ba Gua
Yin Style Ba Gua is a broad school of practice that contains medical and well as martial practices. Within the medical practices are exercises to increase sensitivity and control of Qi (chi). What this means, practically speaking, is training the body how to move to effectively preform acupuncture and bodywork techniques. These techniques work by using the bodies own pathways, nervous, muscular, and connective tissue, called the kinetic chain.
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​We learned these practices from the Association for traditional studies.
Want to learn more about what we do and how we
​can help you? Call us 651-225-1600 or email riverislandclinic@gmail.com