Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine for Women?s Health

Posted by davidscrimgeour on December 5th, 2014

By Kathy Thorpe, MA, CHom, Boulder, Colorado

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine have been used to treat women’s health issues for centuries.  Chinese Medicine brings a comprehensive understanding of the physiology of women as seen from a broad, holistic perspective.  For women to attain optimal health, Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine focus on the importance of regulating menstrual health, diet, physical, mental and sexual activity and balancing the emotions.  It also addresses all areas pertaining to fertility, pregnancy, childbearing and postpartum health.

David Scrimgeour, acupuncturist and women’s health specialist in Boulder, Colorado, explains that critical to the Chinese Medical approach is its emphasis on the prevention of disease.  “One example,” he says, “is the practice of regulating menstrual health through diet and the use of specific cleansing, blood-vitalizing herbs at the beginning of each menses. This practice prevents deficiency and the creation of blood stagnation which is seen as a precursor to disorders such as painful periods, dysmenorrhea, fibroid tumors, fibrocystic breasts, ovarian cysts, PMS and infertility.”

Another distinctive feature of Chinese Medicine, according to Scrimgeour, is the ability to map out the interrelationship of the physical, emotional and psychological components of a woman’s health in a comprehensive model.  This enables the practitioner to treat imbalances that occur on more than one level at the same time. He gives the example of a woman who suffers from depression, an irregular menstrual cycle, digestive upset and fatigue.  While this may be approached as four separate problems in Western Medicine, Chinese Medicine would recognize this overall imbalance as “liver qi stagnation” and would treat it effectively with Acupuncture and specific Chinese herbal formulas.

Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine provide a holistic approach to treating most gynecological disorders. In many cases, it serves as a complement to conventional care and, in other cases; it can be a viable alternative for treating many complex conditions which are not treated successfully with conventional care.

Through Acupuncture and individually selected herbal formulas, David Scrimgeour maintains that Chinese Medicine has had excellent results with the following gynecological disorders: hot flashes & menopausal imbalances, PMS, fertility issues, amenorrhea or irregular cycles, menorrhagia, cystitis, pelvic pain, fibrocystic breast disorders and yeast infections.

David Scrimgeour practices Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine at his clinic in Boulder, Colorado. He also is an Acupuncturist for the Longmont, Louisville, Lafayette and Erie areas in Colorado. For more information, he can be reached at 303 413-9596 or through his website: www.davidscrimgeour.com.

Kathy Thorpe is a natural health writer and blogger who has been writing about alternative approaches to health and wellness for the past ten years. Prior to that, she taught English at U.C. Berkeley and at the University of Colorado. She can be reached at 303 583-0179.