MAS - Manchester is relocating in a few weeks. If you are wondering why, head back a few posts on this very blog to read more.
What: MAS - Manchester is moving to a great new home with plenty of free parking.
When: Last Day of operations on Canal St = Friday, June 21 - closing at 3pm.
First Day of operations on Hanover St = Monday, June 24 - opening at 9am for normal clinic hours thereafter.
Where: Our new address will be 895 Hanover St in the East Side Plaza.
Our neighbors to our left (when facing the building) is Aloha restaurant.
3 miles separate the Canal Street location from MAS future-home at East Side Plaza, on Hanover St.
Here are a few driving routes on a map to show ways to travel from Canal Street to Hanover St.
The following is offered as if one were at our current location on Canal Street in Manchester...
Similar to how CBD has very recently captured the collective imagination, Dry Needling (DN) has made a dent in the collective cultural awareness over the past few years, mostly via adoption into physical therapy and chiropractic practices.
Nowadays, the staff at MAS is asked fairly frequently about dry needling, so we've put together a small amount of information about it from our collective perspective. We offer this as experienced licensed acupuncturists, who've both employed and received dry needling, and from our experience from speaking to dozens of people who've also received DN, mainly outside of MAS.
Our definition: Dry needling involves repeated needling directly into knotted muscle fibers, each time causing a twitch in said knot, for the purpose of ultimately coaxing it to become exhausted and release.
A few things we'd like to get out of the way, up front.
First things, first: dry needling is an acupuncture technique, called 'trigger point' needling in different circles. The term 'dry' was apparently attached to the technique when adopted by medical professionals to distinguish it from a prevailing needling technique performed with a hollow hypodermic that would be used to inject various substances into the flesh.
First things, second: At MAS, we want lots of people to get acupuncture. In light of this, we support people getting acupuncture in all forms - including dry needling - as readily and affordably as is possible for them. We understand this is not a popular opinion in our profession, but we stand by it.
...and third: We have not and likely will not offer dry needle/trigger point needling at MAS. There are several reasons for this, one of which is we normally don't find the technique any more effective than the distal-needling we primarily employ. Also, more than any particular technique, receiving treatment as often as is appropriate clinically, is the factor most closely related to feeling better in our experience.
You may have heard Maslow's Law of the Instrument: if the only tool you have is a hammer, you'll see the world like a nail. DN reminds us of this notion. Repeatedly and directly needling into a muscle knot is one way of approaching helping to resolve the knot via acupuncture needle, but it certainly isn't the only one.
Alternately, one could choose to stimulate strategically connected acupuncture points further away from the muscle knot. These can be effectively employed like the light switch on the wall controls the lights on the ceiling. In addition, this approach will eliminate the likelihood of the great soreness after a treatment as compared to the DN approach. It's also our preference to do so as a tremendously more gentle means to an end.
Just like the piano is a tool that can played in many ways, the acupuncture needle can be employed in distinctive ways as well. You wouldn't expect all pianists to tickle keys in the style of Fats Domino, right? In the same way, MAS acupuncturists aren't limited to a heavy-handed direct-needling techniques either. While these can be effective, no doubt, they simply aren't always going to be the best choice across a broad array of clinic situations, from our perspective.
A few other thoughts to share...
Dry needling is normally felt much more intensely than most other acupuncture techniques. So if you've had DN done in past and are thinking, "that's what acupuncture feels like", hold that thought. You may surprised at how softer different approaches can feel, while providing good results.
To the folks who have been left to wonder if they can receive acupuncture at MAS when they've had DN alongside at their PTs office, Yes, please come on in and grab acupuncture treatments. As we normally aren't directly needling locally (ie. where the target pain is located), treatments at MAS will not further test the area needled with DN. Just the opposite, in fact, where a reduction in inflammation via movement of blood and body fluids aims to ease local soreness and pain.
Not all approaches will hit the spot for every person. If distal acupuncture techniques haven't done the trick after a course of treatment, DN may be a good choice. Some folks do well with a more passive approach, others more direct. For our part, we never want to see you stuck on a hamster wheel, just spinning in place. Any referral that we feel would be of benefit for you in your goals, we are most happy to make. This happens regularly at MAS, where we are grateful for many outstanding providers of many stripes, in and around southern NH.
One of the most satisfying things about Manchester Acupuncture Studio is our connection to a bigger network of affordable acupuncture providers and patients. We want acupuncture to become more affordable and accessible to as many people as possible. That's why we are among the founding members of
The People's Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA).
POCA is a cooperative created to include anyone who has a stake in seeing more affordable acupuncture options; patients, acupuncturists, acupuncture clinics themselves, needle manufacturers, etc. etc. The point is to join together in order to more effectively move broad affordable acupuncture opportunities forward.
For example, among other initiatives, POCA provides micro-loans to help support new or expanding affordable clinics all over the country. POCA has also helped to create the first affordable acupuncture technical school, POCA Tech.
POCA Tech - a fully accredited school of Acupuncture - affords its students a complete acupuncture-centered education at ~ 25% the cost of a traditional acupuncture program. Upon successful completion, POCA Tech graduates are job-ready to provide their communities with affordable, high-quality acupuncture treatments.
Again, POCA's membership is made up of patients, organizations, clinics, and acupuncturists. Many of us have been members of POCA for many years.
Benefits for POCA membership are pretty impressive - while the cost is modest.
For as little $25/year, each member receives:
- 3 free new patient treatment coupons to give to friends and family, accepted at any POCA member clinic. (These alone are valued at over $75 dollars)
- A membership card that gets you a free treatment the week of your birthday at your POCA clinic of choice.
- A POCA "passport" to take with you when you travel and visit Community Acupuncture clinics around the world.
- Free e-books available on POCA's website. This, just in case you want to geek-out on Chinese medical theory.
- Access for POCA's monthly e-newsletters.
In addition, MAS runs specials for current POCA members throughout the year.
To wit: for the remainder of April, all acupuncture treatments in Manchester & Nashua are $10. Just bring in your POCA membership card.
In addition, treatments will be completely free of charge on May Day - Wednesday, May 1st. Yay!!
We offer specials like these in order to help bring more members into the POCA fold and say a big Thank You to our fellow members.
Please join, or renew, your POCA membership today.
Clinic-goers in Manchester,
Thank you very much for your patience with the extended parking crunch at Dow Street Plaza, our home in Manchester for the past four years.
We know it's been frustrating for you and has even limited your access to acupuncture treatments here at times.
We know you've had to park in places that have required extra effort for you to enter the clinic.
For what it's worth, it's been a taxing eighteen months for all of us in different ways, once the parking lot became available to a large number of off-site vehicles.
Because of this situation, we've made the decision to move MAS Manchester operations in order to ensure plenty of free parking available to you, period.
When we say we will always work to provide you with access to affordable, acupuncture treatments, we aren't kidding.
This will always come first here.
As it turns out, not only will the next MAS Manchester home clinic offer lots of free, convenient parking – it also sits right on a bus route.
Look for announcements for the date of the grand opening at the East Side Plaza on Hanover Street over the next weeks.
Until then, thanks again for sticking with us.
It's a long-held truism in the realm of Chinese medicine, that Springtime is a favorable time of year to include natural sour-flavored foods to one's plate in small amounts at each meal.
The thinking here is it's an advantage to do so for the parts of our system that are involved in clearing the heavier residues of the winter diet and assisting getting things moving anew upward and outward.
Read more about recommendations the Chinese medical classics make for us down below.
Aside from citrus juices like lemons and grapefruit, a number of natural sour-flavored foods can be found among those that are fermented. Fermented foods are produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms.
Think pickles or sauerkraut or kimchi as common examples.
Adding to the case for fermented foods in the Springtime, or any time of year for that matter, is information like this that comes out of modern research. This research from the National Institute of Health suggests fermented foods have the measurable effect of aiding the beneficial bacteria in the lower digestive system, but also improves our ability to perform various mental processes such as memory recall, orientation to the outside world, learning and furthering language skills.
