Professional Our vision is to provide an educational environment for people with similar high-minded goals to facilitate a paradigm shift in healthcare. More...
		Student East West College of Natural Medicine was founded with the intention of disseminating the philosophy and curative benefits of traditional Chinese medicine to the American public. More...

In the EWC clinic, patients are diagnosed and treated according to the principles of traditional and modern Chinese medicine, and recognized alternative medicine. This includes an integrated view of the health and disease utilizing the best of Eastern and Western medical therapies. Included in Oriental medicine therapies are dietary counseling, various massage techniques, herbal remedies, acupuncture and moxibustion (a technique of stimulating acupuncture points with heat), electro-acupuncture, injection therapies, as well as tuina – a form of Chinese soft-tissue and skeletal mobilization. Other alternative therapies taught at EWC and offered in the clinic include homeopathy and homotoxicology.

About Acupuncture
Acupuncture is one of the oldest, most commonly used medical procedures in the world. Although acupuncture originated in China over 2,000 years ago, it is presently used as a primary healthcare system throughout the world. A method of balancing and building the body's life force or energy known as qi, acupuncturists use specific channels called meridians to regulate and rebalance the body, thereby restoring health. Very thin, individually packaged sterile, stainless steel needles are inserted into points along the meridians in order to disperse energy blockages and mobilize the body's innate healing responses. Needling is only one of a number of energy balancing techniques. Actually, the term acupuncture describes a family of procedures involving stimulation of anatomical points on the body by a variety of techniques. American practices of acupuncture incorporate medical traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. The acupuncture technique that has been most studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation.

For more information see http://nccam.nih.gov/health/acupuncture/#acupuncture

About Chinese Herbal Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine, in essence, views disease as the result of imbalances or blockages in the body's natural energy flow. Such imbalance manifests in physical, emotional and psychosomatic stress-related disorders; and aches, pains, and other discomforts are viewed as symptoms of deeper, underlying health problems. Therefore, a comprehensive diagnosis is completed using a holistic model that takes into account all aspects of the patient’s wellbeing. The basis of Chinese medicine is to rebuild the body's own healing system and that prevention is the best medicine. Herbal medicines are the primary method of treatment. In the EWC clinic, natural herbal formulas as well as prepared tablets are dispensed according to the principles of Chinese medicine.

About Acupuncture Injection Therapy
Acupuncture injection therapy (AIT), also called Biopuncture, is the injection of herbal extracts, homeopathic medicines, nutrients, and other compounds including natural or bio-identical hormones and pharmaceutical substances, such as procaine, by hypodermic needle into specific points and sites on the body to prevent and treat disease. AIT may include regenerative therapies, prolotherapy, mesotherapy, neurotherapy, and myofascial trigger point therapy.

About Homeopathy and Homotoxicology
Homeopathy is the art and the science of healing the sick by using substances capable of causing the same symptoms, syndromes and conditions when administered to healthy people. Any substance may be considered a homeopathic medicine if it has known homeopathic provings (effects which mimic symptoms which it is administered to treat), and is manufactured according to the specifications of the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS). Official homeopathic drugs are those that are accepted for inclusion in the HPUS. In homeopathy, much like Chinese medicine, a key premise is that every person has energy called a vital force or self-healing response. When this energy is disrupted or imbalanced, health problems develop. Homeopathy aims to stimulate the body's own healing responses. Homeopathic treatment involves giving extremely small doses of substances that produce characteristic symptoms of illness in healthy people when given in larger doses. This approach is called "like cures like." The term homeopathy comes from the Greek words homeo, meaning similar, and pathos, meaning suffering or disease. Treatment in homeopathy is individualized (tailored to each person). Homeopathic practitioners select remedies according to a total picture of the patient, including not only symptoms but lifestyle, emotional and mental states, and other factors.

For more information see http://nccam.nih.gov/health/homeopathy

Homotoxicology is system of homeopathy based on the theory of disease developed by Dr. Hans-Heinrich Reckeweg (1905-1985), which understands illness as the human body’s defense against toxic substances (homotoxins) that threaten to overwhelm the intercellular matrix. According to this therapeutic model, the type and severity of an illness are determined by the duration and intensity of an individual’s toxic load in relationship to the body’s inherent capacity for detoxification. Treatments consist of oral tablets of liquid preparations, and injection of minute dosages of specialized medications known as antihomotoxics into acupuncture points and other sites on the body.

For more information see http://www.heelusa.com/about_what_is_homeopathy.html

Definitions are adapted from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM): http://nccam.nih.gov/