Beverly Frame’s road to acupuncture began when a bulged disc lead to sciatic nerve trouble and excruciating pain. After a round of prescribed medications from her doctor, the pain did not resolve, so Frame turned in desperation to acupuncturist Lindsay Long. From there, her story had a surprise happy ending with much pain relief after only a few appointments. Frame’s story sounds all too familiar to holistic practitioners, whose approach to healthcare is quickly becoming the preferred method of treatment for many patients in the Maple Grove area.
Although their methods and philosophies may differ, holistic practitioners share the belief that a patient be viewed as a whole person. As Dr. Doug Broman of Broman Chiropractic says, “We look at the physical, chemical, and emotional influences that may cause adverse affects to the patient’s total well-being…instead of looking for a set of symptoms affecting one organ system.” In the end, holistic practitioners are all pursuing the same thing: wellness. From acupuncture and massage to chiropractic care and beyond, practitioners are reaching this goal by tapping into the body’s natural healing abilities. Dr. James Nord of Excel Family Chiropractic explains that “wellness care does not add something to the system, instead, it removes anything that might interfere with normal function. Wellness care trusts that the body would know what to do if nothing were interfering with it.” Lindsay Long practices acupuncture, but her philosophy is the same: “You have to work on treating all of the imbalances in the body to help the body heal itself.”
Wellness isn’t just about avoiding disease or fighting off sickness anymore; it’s about a whole lot more. “It’s what we do to add quality to our lives—why we run a marathon, learn to knit, get a higher education… it’s about living life in a way that celebrates our potential as human beings,” says massage therapist Ross Bergalk. “When I was a kid my mom would send me outside to play because she wanted me to be well, not just healthy.” There are many different holistic avenues to pursue right here in Maple Grove. Use this guide to find out what new treatment might be your ticket to health—and wellness.
Accupuncture
Acupuncture isn’t nearly as scary as most people think, and the experience is strikingly similar to going for a massage in a tranquil room, complete with dimmed lights and quiet music. Hair-fine needles are placed along the body, according to the patient’s ailments. “At worst, people will compare the insertion of a need to a mosquito bite,” says Jessie Siers of Luna Acupuncture. “And I always say, ‘we’re Minnesotans, we can handle mosquitoes.’” But oftentimes patients don’t feel a thing and fall asleep during the treatment.
The old Eastern philosophy, which has been around for thousands of years, revolves around Qi (pronounced “chee”), the river of energy flowing through the body’s meridian system that is connected and nourishes every organ, gland, tissue and muscle in the body. When a needle is placed on one of about 400 acupuncture points that lie on this river, “it’s kind of like pushing a button and saying ‘hey body, we’re slacking on this function, let’s get going,’” explains Siers.
Western medicine is now accepting of acupuncture practice, and sees the meridian system as nerve pathways that, once stimulated, release endorphins that have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects on the body. The same practice can be explained from different viewpoints, and “you don’t have to subscribe to a certain belief system,” says Jill Neukam from the Clinic of Acupuncture “There are physiological effects that happen.”
Lindsay Long of Modern Point Acupuncture specializes in Sports Medicine Acupuncture®, which she explains as the “perfect blend of western and eastern acupuncture.” This practice “changes the way the body holds tone in the muscle…and when muscles are balanced, the internal organs associated with them are also balanced.” Breathing is associated with the muscles in the upper-back, digestion with the mid-back, etc. Long frequently sees patients for shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and tennis elbow.
Acupuncture often has benefits beyond remedying initial symptoms and can be a life-long means to health and wellness. “We’re always trying to create harmony in the body,” says Neukam. “As we create more harmony we’re going to have less of the nagging things that happen over time.”
Modern Point Acupuncture, Modernpointacupuncture.com; 612.845.4668
Luna Acupuncture, LLC, lunaacu.com; 763.954.1670
The Clinic of Acupuncture, theclinicofacupuncture.com; 763.656.8110
Food Therapy
It’s impossible to look at the whole health of an individual without looking at their diet. Although most holistic health practitioners don’t focus on food, many offer supplementary guidance, such as eating whole food that is as close to its natural state as possible, not just counting calories and worrying about fat. At the Clinic of Acupuncture, Neukam thinks about food “as creating vitality for ourselves.” For instance, if something’s been on the shelf for a while, it has less vitality than a piece of fruit straight from a tree. It’s quite simple really, “food that has more life when we put it in our bodies will create more life inside of us,” she explains.
In Chinese Food Therapy, which has been around for thousands of years, “different foods have different qualities, such as warming and cooling foods, foods that tonify blood or energy (Qi), and foods that move blood,” says Long. Food flavor is also taken into account, since “naturally sweet foods nourish the digestive system, sour foods create a positive atmosphere for the liver, and salty foods affect the kidney system and how we metabolize water,” adds Neukam. At The Clinic of Acupuncture, Neukam uses a diet log with each patient and then looks at the different flavors recorded in the log and may suggest introducing new foods or eliminating others to create balance and harmony in the body.
Check with your holistic health practitioner to see how they incorporate nutrition into their practice.
Chiropractic Care
There are many variations in the philosophy and practice of Chiropractic Care, but all chiropractors focus on the same thing: the spine. This holistic practice is based on the principle that the spine influences the nervous system, and the nervous system, in turn, controls all bodily functions. So when “a bone is rotated and is putting pressure on the nerve, it can cause any number of symptoms,” says Dr. James Nord of Excel Family Chiropractic.
Chiropractors perform adjustments on a patient’s spine by applying pressure to certain vertebrae that are locked up or not moving properly. This “releases the pressure on a nerve, allowing the body to heal itself through proper neurological function,” explains Dr. Douglas Broman of Broman Chiropractic. Some nerves, like the ones in the mid-back, are connected to internal organs, like the liver, spleen and stomach, so regular adjustments can help with ailments you don’t typically associate with your back, such as sinus congestion, asthma, stomach problems, and infant colic. “But there is no magic button or adjustment to fix these issues…[chiropractic] is just one small piece of the pie. There are many factors that go into overall health,” says Nord.
As with acupuncture, chiropractic care is increasingly accepted in western medicine. In fact, Nord was a paramedic for ten years before working as a chiropractor, so he enjoys bringing more hard science into his practice, like x-rays. Anthony Macioce, one of the chiropractors at DC Wellness Center, is excited to be using new technology in the clinic to help evaluate a patient’s stress levels. The Insight Discovery stress scanner, which has been used by NASA, measures the stress on the spinal cord and nerves, muscle balance, and heart rate variability. Chiropractors, like Macioce, use the data to help them understand their patient and to devise an appropriate plan. “It’s a nice visual and can track that we’re actually doing what we’re telling people we’re doing,” he says.
Broman Chiropractic, bromanchiro.com; 763.420.8595
Excel Family Chiropractic, excelfamilychiropractic.com; 763.416.1799
DC Wellness Center, dcwellnesscenter.org; 763.494.8787
Massage Therapy
Massage Therapy is often used as a means of relaxation and rejuvenation, but it can also help with pain management and healing. Although massages are relaxing by nature, at a clinical massage, “our goal is to focus on the specifics, not on giving a full-body hour-and-a-half relaxation massage,” says Ross Bergfalk, massage therapist at Broman Chiropractic. He offers a variety of massage techniques, such as myofascial release, positional release, neuromuscular facilitation, and deep tissue, that all serve to “draw the patient’s mind/brain to the area we are working on. It is a communication between the practitioner’s hands and the client’s mind/body complex…a physical stimulation that forces the patient’s mind to take action and move towards healing,” says Bergfalk.
Massages can serve as the perfect complement to other holistic treatments, such as chiropractic care, since both modalities deal with the body’s ability to communicate. It stimulates the muscles and connective tissues to promote healing, and regular chiropractic adjustments ensure the information can travel along the spinal cord without running into a “subluxation roadblock”.
Check with your holistic health practitioner to see about massage therapy offerings.
