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Aug 20

Wellness Promoting Baby Massage

My new video on how to perform wellness promoting massage on your babies and toddlers. It is generally recommended to perform massage regularly on children ages 0~3 according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is believed to prevent illnesses and stimulate development. The model used is Claire Cheng, our daughter, at age 100 days. Before you […]

Apr 21

Sewon Kim, L.Ac. is on Maternity Leave until September 2017

We have happy to announce the birth of our daughter Claire in April. My wife Sewon Kim, L.Ac. will be on maternity leave until September of 2017. We would like to use this opportunity to remind everyone the importance of maternity leave and postpartum care. Woman’s body undergoes tremendous change during pregnancy and after delivery. […]

Mar 16

Open heart surgery performed with acupuncture anesthesia

A French team observe open heart surgery performed with acupuncture anesthesia. Using acupuncture for anesthesia offers many advantages: risk of complication is lower and patients recover faster. The word on the green gown says Shuguang Hospital. Most likely the operation was done in Shanghai’s Shuguang Hospital where I did my rotation, internship and residency. This […]

Feb 27

Your gene expression changes seasonally

Scientist at Cambridge University recently discovered that our gene expression changes following seasonal pattern. Such discovery may surprise many people since the public generally assumes their genes are deterministic. Yet in reality, most of our genes are not expressed. At any given time, only around 10% of our gene are expressed. Most people imagine their […]

Nov 18

Protein Restriction for Chronic Kidney Disease

I had a patient come in yesterday for Chronic Kidney Disease. He has been seeing a nephrologist for five years and has been on dialysis for a year already. I was shocked to find out that he said no one ever told him that he needs to restrict his protein intake. This is very basic […]

Nov 16

Guillain-Barre Syndrome Case – Patient E

Patient E is a middle aged woman from South East Asia. She came to see me for her severe case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) in March of 2016. Her condition began after her trip back to her home country in January. She developed severe diarrhea, numbness and tingling in her hands and feet, extreme fatigue, […]

Aug 3

小心不必要的手術

紐約時報報導,很多手術的治療效果不佳,相對於不做手術的對照組幾乎沒有任何好處。在沒有效果的手術當中,以脊柱手術和膝關節的半月板手術最沒有效果。鑒於手術的危險性,紐約時報建議大家以保守治療優先。 在我們自己的臨床觀察中,許多以解決疼痛為治療目的的手術的效果不但不佳,很多時候病人的疼痛反而加劇。手術完後,由於疤痕組織的產生,病人對針灸和中藥的治療反應變差了。 因為手術的危險性與不可逆性,我們建議,除非是緊急手術,病人應該要再看一位醫生以確定手術的必要性。如果沒有需要急著做手術,有疼痛的病人應該嘗試保守得接受物理治療與針灸治療。

Aug 3

Beware of “Useless” Surgery

New York Times reports that many surgeries are still being performed even though evidence suggest they do not help patients. Randomized clinical trials have shown that many surgeries are closed to being totally useless. Most of these surgeries are performed intending to help pain, particularly pains in the spine and knees. However, their success rate […]

Jul 25

做病人的學問

很多人知道做醫生要有很多學問,但是很多人不知道做病人也是有學問的。 我舉個例子好了,我們都知道講經要有學問,但是很多人不知道聽經也有學問。但是在佛教裡,聽經也是一個學問。不知道大家有沒有聽過一個小和尚講經的故事: 有一天, 有一位老居士去廟裡找老和尚要進供養,但是這個老和尚出去受供了,所以沒有人在寺廟裡面;只有一個小和尚留在寺廟裡,這個老居士就供養了這個小和尚。 按照規矩,小和尚受完供養後就要講法了。老居士就恭敬得跪在地上等著小和尚講法;但這個小和尚不會講法,他很緊張地左邊看看、右邊看看就把眼睛閉起來了。老居士就想:「啊!原來法師要跟我講的就是不著兩邊啊!」 小和尚還是很緊張,所以就上面看看、下面看看又把眼睛閉起來了。老居士就說:「啊!原來法師跟我講的就是上無佛道可求,下無眾生可度。」他實在很感歎,就把眼睛閉起來,一直思維小和尚跟他講的法。小和尚一看這個老居士把眼睛閉起來,就趕快從後門溜走了。老居士眼睛一張開來,看到原來沒有法師在臺上,他想:「唉啊!原來法師要跟我講的就是人法兩空的故事。」老居士當場就開悟了! 這個意思就是說:講經是一門學問,聽經也是一門學問。如果你不會聽經,不管誰跟你講經你永遠也沒有辦法開悟的;但是會聽經的話,可能一個小和尚給你亂講經,你也會開悟的。所以,當病人也是要有當病人的學問。

Jul 25

中醫養生淺談

中醫養生,傳統上其實是非常重要的。在唐朝,王冰注的《黃帝內經•素問》裡,養生的《上古天真論》,是排在第一位的。但是,隨著時代的演變,中醫養生的地位就越來越下降了。到了現代中醫養生就排到後面,改成《陰陽應象大論》排在第一位。 現在我們中國的中醫課本也是,中醫養生排在後面。但是其實傳統上來講,中醫養生才是中醫的精髓所在。因為中醫的傳統是來自道家的傳統,所以治病是其次,主要是要合天時,順於道,養生是最重要的。 從中醫來看的話,養生我們分兩個部分。一份算是防病學,一份才算是養生。要做到養生第一要先防病;要看疾病的的概念。在中醫來講,疾病這個概念,跟西醫非常不一樣。西醫它看疾病,它一定要有一個局部、確切的問題。好像你有一個細菌感染了,得了病毒,或者一個指標過高,它一定要很明確的診斷。但其實很多時候也是診斷不出來的,所以就是只打一個標籤而已。 但是中醫來講的話,任何的疾病都是正邪相爭的結果。通常都是正氣先弱了以後,才有邪氣。所以中醫看疾病來講,就是已經先有正氣衰退了,才讓邪氣有機會進入到身體。 如果從養生來講的話,我們要先了解一下基本-中醫的生理學。中醫的生理學是以五藏為主;五藏就是心、肝、脾、肺、腎。