What is your last straw illusion? Take the tracking challenge!

Normal life situations can sometimes be the proverbial last straw to break your camel’s back when it comes to your health.  Why is it that we have such a hard time seeing the problem coming? We hear people (or ourselves!) say, “It was a good day until I reached down to pick up my suitcase…”, or, “My headaches come randomly, and take away normal life so I can barely function…

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Try cupping with your next massage

cupping

Cupping marks can look alarming when you see the circular marks on the skin!  It is important to understand thought that these are not real bruises as you would get from an impact. These are from micro-bleeding from capillaries, caused by a temporary suction from the cups (like a hicky!). The marks on the skin can vary in a pattern and colour (from light red to dark purple). They can…

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The Stability Ball Deadbug – one core exercise everyone should be doing!

Stability Ball Deadbug Everyone, from the sedentary desk worker to the competitive athlete need core stability, whether for correct posture and general back health or to optimize athletic performance.  This exercise requires you to target the deep core musculature to maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement and builds core endurance – both integral to good posture throughout the day and generating power from the legs and arms in sport….

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Direct Billing

For your convenience we can do direct billing to Great West Life, Sunlife, Greenshield,  Blue Cross and ASEBP (Alberta Teachers), SSQ Financial Group, Chambers of Commerce, Desjardins, Cowan, First Canadian, Industrial Alliance, Johnson Inc, Johnson Group Inc,  Maximum Benefit and CINUP. Currently Blue Cross and ASEBP (Alberta Teachers) allow direct billing only for massage but not acupuncture, however, clients who are covered can submit for reimbursement on their own.  Blue Cross…

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“what’s up with cupping?”

cupping

Since Michael Phelps was seen with prominent cupping marks on his shoulders during the Olympics, cupping has been more recognized and accepted in the west as therapy for athletes.  But at the Acupuncture Turning Point we have long time integrated cupping into most treatments that involve chronic musculoskeletal pain, whether you are an athlete or not! Cupping can gently break the adhesions and bring new vigor to tissues associated the inflammation…

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Time for tea?

by Gord Grant PhD, RAc My grandmother, Beatrice Hemming, always had tea at 3pm (I mean, always). She spoke with a British accent when she was a young child. But upon immigrating to rural Alberta from South Africa with her family, she told me how the kids at school teased her for the way she sounded, and would ask her to say “water” in that way the British do –…

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Acupuncture and the Back Mechanic: flexion/stretching can make back pain worse

As you would expect, we serve many people from Edmonton at our clinic and give them acupuncture for back pain.  Many come with a history of sitting too much and not getting enough exercise.   But ironically, just as many, maybe even more, despite or because of extensive and consistent strength training and/or stretching, complain of low back pain and intolerance to sitting. Why is this? There can be many reasons….

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Acupuncture at the end of the rope

Acupuncture is not main-stream, and indeed, is very different – different enough for you NOT to try it until you are at the end of your rope! So this means people often come to see us when everything else has failed.  Unfortunate but true.  But it is often just the nature of change; a necessary and unavoidable stage before, when facing a difficult issue, we will try new things.  Here…

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Focused on function not pain

By Gordon Grant and Alina Tousseeva, Medical labels are often misleading.  Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), carpel tunnel syndrome, patella-tracking syndrome, sacral iliac dysfunction – these specific conditions focus on the painful joint or muscle, and can miss the big picture…. and the solution! We often meet people with chronic injuries who come to our clinic and who have not been fully improving with exercises. They are frustrated, and are ready…

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Health counselling is more than patient-centred care

From the thousands of people who have walked through our doors at The Acupuncture Turning Point, we have rediscovered again and again the best way to serve each one.  We promote the unfolding discovery that happens when a person pays better attention to his or her own body rather in contrast to taking a prescriptive approach. We strive not to take on the role of a white coat professional who…

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