by Gord Grant PhD, RAc I recently watched an interesting TED talk presented by circadian neuroscientist Russell Foster entitled “Why do we sleep?”. Foster describes how in past eras, sleep was welcomed and understood as a necessary cycle in our lives. In recent times though, since industrialization, the fact that we spend about 1/3 of our lives asleep has been framed as a problem – sleep has become a foe!…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc The time has come. A turning point is happening in healthcare; although maybe not the one you think! The future is not about life extension through technology and micromanaging diseases — at least not for the majority. Emerging from a former focus on disease detection and symptom mitigation is a network of progressive health professionals who will help reframe the very idea of healthcare itself. They…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc and Alina Tousseeva, RAc The majority of people with complex and unresolved pain find themselves vulnerable and frustrated in this “no-man’s land” of western medicine. Often a specialist will exclude a problem from his or her domain if it does not meet given criteria leading to a clear diagnosis. As such, he or she cannot treat the problem from his or her way of training…
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Over the next months I will investigate and experience healthcare practices outside of my own field to better understand the science and tradition behind them. I intend to share my findings with my clinical team, my clients, and the public, so that we can all make more intelligent decisions about our healthcare choices. I will start by looking into naturopathic medicine, since ND’s are the general practitioners of complementary healthcare….
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Our move to the new clinic space has been an opportunity to re-examine our vision of what our work is aiming to be . I think anyone – individuals or groups, a single person or a community organization, a family business, or a corporation – can benefit from re-examining and stating their vision and reason to be from time to time. For us at The…
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“It was the last straw!” Have you ever used this saying? It is an ancient Arabic proverb dating back to a time when we used camels, or a similar animal like a horse or ox, for carrying our heavy loads.
The dictionary defines it as the very last thing one experiences in a long series of mishaps or disappointments that tips the balance to a final loss of patience, temper, trust, or hope. It is an apt metaphor I like to apply regarding our health, when a health problem emerges suddenly, or a sports injury occurs without any particular accident or trauma. Indeed, a cataclysmic failure of health can occur without clear warning. Oddly, the last correlated and reasonable cause – “last straw” – often seems relatively not potent enough to cause the problem on its own. Think of a woman who gets breast cancer after a stressful period in life; the stress is not enough to “cause” this is it? Or a guy gets back into soccer and his knee ligament gives out on a simple fall; it is not just that he is 40 and out of shape now? A 46 year old woman becomes clinically depressed after missing a promotion at work; she cannot blame menopause on her hypersensitivity, can she?
by Gord Grant PhD, RAc For thousands of years, acupuncture has been claimed to unblock Qi (“chi”). Qi is described as a universal energy flowing through meridian pathways up and down the limbs and interconnecting the internal organs. The original concepts of Qi or Yin and Yang powerfully and poetically describe the nature and ecology of the body and mind. In modern times, even though science can quantify energy in…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Acupuncture or counselling, provided alongside usual care, can benefit patients with depression, according to a large, well-designed study. Unfortunately, antidepressants alone don’t work for more than half of patients. There is a demand and a need for non-drug solutions for mental health issues like depression. “Until recently”, says Dr. Hugh MacPherson and his research team, “systematic reviews of acupuncture and counselling for depression in primary care have…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Panda bears have it easy. A panda doesn’t need to make any food choices. They just eat bamboo — ALL day long. Oddly, a panda bear, like its bear cousins, has a complete omnivore-type digestive system, capable of handling an omnivore’s diet. Behaviourally though, they have evolved to only eat just bamboo. That’s their niche. They have special gut microbes they inherit from their mothers…
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by Gord Grant PhD, RAc Drs. Terry Selfe and Anne Taylor of the Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies (U of Virginia) reviewed the scientific research published in English journals. They included randomized, controlled experiments studying the effects of acupuncture on knee osteoarthritis. Ten trials representing 1456 participants met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. They concluded that these studies provide evidence that acupuncture is an effective treatment for…
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