“I have worked with Boyd for the past two years professionally through Nursing Research and Nursing Education and our shared affinity for complimentary therapies. Additionally, I see Boyd personally for acupuncture sessions. He is extremely professional, holistic in his approach to care, provides detailed explanations and has excellent results. I would recommend him in terms of either furthering research in acupuncture or for providing acupuncture as a practitioner without reservations.”
Treatment Philosophy
At Piedmont Acupuncture we strive to create a comfortable and supportive environment, will be fully attentive and listen carefully to your concerns and needs, and will employ the most efficient and safe traditional Chinese medicine to promote deep healing and engender optimal wellness.
Results Oriented: First and foremost, we employ treatment strategies that through our experience, historical precedent, and scientific evidencing will provide our patients with the fastest, safest, and most thorough relief and promote optimal wellness. We will carefully listen to our patients top priorities regarding treatment and let their search for relief guide treatment efficiently.
Evidence Based: As NIH/NCCAM funded researchers, we understand the importance of scientific evidence to guide clinical treatment. We stay abreast of the very latest research (and quickly post study abstracts, full-texts, and relevant commentary on our FACEBOOK page and BLOG)
Patient Centered: Chinese medicine is completely non-protocol - we individually diagnose and treat each unique patient. The Western medical (biomedical) diagnosis is only a jumping off place; we must reframe and identify the patterns of disharmony (the Chinese medical diagnosis) using our multi-faceted diagnostics traditionally known as Looking, Asking, Listening, and Touching. From this focused understanding of the mind, body, and spirit in front of us, in this moment, an individually tailored treatment principle becomes clear, and unique treatment follows.
Safety First: "Primum non nocere" - First, Do Ho Harm - should be the guiding principle framing all medical interventions. We use only sterile, disposable, one-time-use surgical stainless steel needles, and typically use what are widely accepted as the finest, sharpest, and smoothest needles on the planet: Seirin®™. We carefully chose the safest treatment approaches we can, and employ with great mindfulness and precision, both time-tested and more modern techniques with the patient's safety our highest priority.
We attempt a treatment approach which balances more modern science-based techniques with classical Chinese medicine, which has its roots in the Classical Era of Chinese history (Han dynasty and prior). The "old ways" view the human being as a microcosm of the universe, and therefore the health of the planet is inseparable from our own. In keeping to these highest precepts, we seek to understand physiology in an ecological fashion, and to honor the roots of these insights by the observation and protection of natural rhythms. We believe that the power of Chinese Medicine lies in its ability to understand patients of all backgrounds and ages as a whole person and recognize the intricate relationships at work in each human being, and are dedicated to each and every patient as a unique individual.
We are strongly influenced by the stream within Chinese medicine called 養 生 (“Yang Sheng”), whose strongest historical proponent was the famous master Sun Si Miao. “Yang” (養) means to nurture, to nourish, to care for;“Sheng” (生 ) means life or living. “Yang Sheng” refers to a large body of self care and self cultivation practices that “Nourish Life” and “Nurture the Living.” These include dietary modifications, breathing exercises, movement and exercise recommendations, and mindful awareness techniques. A real strength of Chinese medicine is its focus on cultivating health and harmony, rather than just focusing on a particular disease state. Rather than treating disease, the focus is on maintaining balance through an awareness of our connection to nature, to our own bodies, and to Spirit. We may have a disease, but we are not that.
There is a famous saying within Chinese medicine - 同病異治，異病同治 ("Tong Bing Yi Zhi, Yi Bing Tong Zhi") - ‘Same illness: Different Treatment, Different Illness, Same Treatment'. Modern biomedical science renames "patterns of disharmony" - illness, injury, disease, dysfunction - which have always existed in varying combinations. Each person exhibits some variation unique to his or her own constitution which occasionally renders a patient’s condition essentially undiagnosable by conventional biomedicine. A Western medical diagnosis is not necessary to effectively treat by classical Chinese medicine, although it is often a helpful starting place from which to differentially diagnose according to Chinese medical theory. Chinese medicine must re-frame illness according to our traditional theories in order to most effectively treat, heal, and prevent. This reframing of illness offers an easier to understand, more straightforward explanation of dis-ease to patients, and therefore generates an awareness that can also enable effective self-care and co-creation of genuine healing.
SHEN (神) - "Spirit"