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Background

What is Oriental Medicine?
Traditional Oriental medicine is a comprehensive system of health care with a continuous clinical tradition of over 3,000 years. It includes acupuncture and herbal treatment as well as massage, dietary therapy, meditation and exercise. These therapies work with the natural vital energies inherent within all living things to promote the body's ability to heal itself. This system of health care is used extensively by one-quarter of the world's population who reside in the Orient and is rapidly growing in popularity in the West.

What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a system of healthcare based on an energetic model rather than the biochemical model of Western medicine. The ancient Chinese recognized the vital energy behind all life forms and life processes. The called this energy Qi (pronounced chee). In developing an understanding of the prevention and cure of disease, the ancient physicians discovered a system of cyclic energy flowing in the human body along specific pathways, called meridians. Each pathway is associated with a particular physiological system and internal organ. Modern science has been able to measure the electrical charge at these points, thus corroborating the locations of the meridians mapped by the ancients.
Disease is considered to arise because of deficiency or imbalance of this vital energy in the energetic pathways and their associated physiological systems.
In determining the flow in the meridian system, acupuncture uses an intricate system of pulse and tongue diagnosis, combined with other signs and symptoms to create a composite diagnosis. Treatment is then aimed at bringing the body to a balanced state of health by freeing up the flow of vital energy.

Frances Pearre, L.Ac
Yelm Acupuncture Clinic
204 Yelm Avenue West
Yelm, WA 98597

Frances Pearre, L.Ac.
Licensed Acupuncturist

      A Diagram of Acupuncture Meridians

What is Required to Practice Acupuncture in Washington State?
The laws in the state of Washington are very stringent, requiring educational background in Acupuncture Science, Western Science and extensive clinical training. Persons with the necessary background must pass an exam given by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM) before they are authorized as Licensed Acupuncturists (L.Ac.) Acupuncture is a covered benefit under the provisions of Washington's Health Care Reform Law. Please check with your health plan for details.
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Interview with Frances Pearre, L.Ac.
Reprinted with permission from Nisqually Valley News Friday, May 21, 1999 "Oriental medicine, a 6,000 year old tradition, employs many time-honored techniques that are used to stimulate the body to activate its self-healing powers.
   In the East, the use of acupuncture, moxibusion (a warming process) and herbal remedies long have been known to enhance the immune system and the sense of well-being that are essential in keeping the body strong in its resistance to disease.
   "The overall benefit is that it is a systemic system," said Ms Pearre, a licensed acupuncturist and owner of the Yelm Acupuncture Clinic. "Even though we treat a local problem such as a stomach ache or back ache, we're affecting the entire body - the entire physical, emotional and mental spectrum."
    "The effects are wide-spread. A person will not only be free of pain after one or two treatments, they will feel very relaxed. They'll have a relaxation response. That's a very important effect of acupuncture. Sometimes, it's a major breakthrough for the entire system. The relaxation allows the body to take over and do its thing.
   When the body relaxes, it reorganizes back to its natural state and eventually goes back to homeostasis, a state of balance.
    This will happen over a period of time. How long it takes depends on how ill a person is and how chronic the condition is. But amazing things happen that we, from our Western perspective wouldn't think could happen."
    As an example, here in the West, a person on kidney dialysis is not expected to recover kidney function. However, one of the acupuncture instructors in Seattle was treating a man for this condition. He was treated every week for about six months and was continuing to have regular dialysis as well, when one day his doctor told him that he had recovered some kidney function. The man continued the acupuncture treatments and after a few more months, his body had restored enough kidney function that he was able to go off of dialysis completely.
   Acupuncture can have an instantaneous effect as well. For example, I treated a woman who came in with back pain and hip and knee problems that she had had for 10 to 15 years. The pain was keeping her awake at night in spite of taking pain killers. We did the first treatment and when she came in for the second, she said she was totally cured."