Acupuncture Services | Camarillo
Active Spine & Sports Care
Acupuncture is a 3,000-year-old healing technique of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 1997, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) documented and publicized acupuncture’s safety and efficacy for treating a wide range of conditions. Acupuncture is now covered by many insurance policies and is used most broadly to relieve pain.
How does acupuncture work?
Acupuncture improves the body’s functions and promotes the natural self-healing process by stimulating specific anatomic sites – commonly referred to as acupuncture points, or acupoints. Dr. Austin Westbay stimulates acupoints by insertion of fine, sterile needles into the skin. Pressure, heat, or electrical stimulation may further enhance the effects. He also uses other acupoint stimulation techniques – manual massage, moxibustion or heat therapy, cupping, and the application of topical herbal medicines and ligaments.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, if the flow of energy in the body gets blocked, it can lead to pain, lack of function, or illness. Acupuncture therapy can release blocked energy in the body and stimulate function, evoking the body’s natural healing response through various physiological systems. Modern research has demonstrated acupuncture’s effects on the nervous system, endocrine and immune systems, cardiovascular system, and digestive system. By stimulating the body’s various systems, acupuncture can help resolve pain and improve sleep, digestive function, and sense of well-being.
What happens during an acupuncture treatment?
First, your acupuncturist will ask about your health history. Then, he or she will examine your tongue’s shape, color, and coating, feel your pulse, and possibly perform some additional physical examinations depending on your individual health needs. Using these unique assessment tools, the acupuncturist will be able to recommend a proper treatment plan to address your particular condition. To begin the acupuncture treatment, you lay comfortably on a treatment table while precise acupoints are stimulated in various areas of your body. Most people feel no or minimal discomfort as the fine needles are gently placed. The needles are usually retained between 5 and 30 minutes. During and after treatments, people report that they feel very relaxed.
How many treatments will I need?
The frequency and number of treatments differ from person to person. Some people experience dramatic relief in the first treatment. For complex or long-standing chronic conditions, one to two treatments per week for several months may be recommended. For acute problems, usually fewer visits are required, usually 8 to 10 visits in total. An individualized treatment plan that includes the expected number of treatments will be discussed during your initial visit.
Common Conditions Treated with Acupuncture
Hundreds of clinical studies on the benefits of acupuncture show that it successfully treats conditions ranging from musculoskeletal problems (back pain, neck pain, and others) to nausea, migraine headache, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and infertility.
- Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
- Biliary colic
- Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
- Dysentery, acute bacillary
- Dysmenorrhoea, primary
- Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
- Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
- Headache
- Hypertension, essential
- Hypotension, primary
- Induction of labor
- Knee pain
- Leukopenia
- Low back pain
- Malposition of fetus, correction
- Morning sickness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Neck pain
- Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
- Periarthritis of shoulder
- Postoperative pain
- Renal colic
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Sciatica
- Sprain
- Stroke
- Tennis elbow
Complex Approach to Healing
In addition to acupuncture, Dr. Austin utilizes specialized techniques such as cupping, gua sha, electro-acupuncture and infrared heat therapy that enhance therapeutic effects and help expedite the healing process. He is a firm believer that movement is medicine, and has a gift for inspiring embodiment through various styles of dance, yoga, self-massage, and breathwork. He incorporates various forms of hands-on techniques including reflexology, tuina, and myofascial release.
At the core of his work is the remembrance that every(body) has the innate ability to recenter and come back into a state of ease, clarity, and peace. Acupuncture assists us on our healing journey by bringing free flow to areas of the physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies that have become stagnated, overworked, or overlooked. Chinese herbal therapy can also be incorporated to treat deeper patterns of disharmony and chronic conditions. These holistic, nature-centered healing modalities have been utilized for thousands of years, and there’s a reason why… they work!