New River Healing Arts, Acupuncture & Massage, Blacksburg, Va

05/17/2023

I'm at the Virginia Tech Staff Appreciation Day at Lane stadium. I'll be doing some free ear acupuncture so people can get a taste of acupuncture. Things are just getting warmed up. They've got games, a DJ, a band, massage...

09/23/2021

Very nice article summarizing what we know or think we know about vitamin D and its impact on Covid-19 infection risk and its potential for treatment of Covid-19.

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/blog/2021/08/28/vitamin-d-and-covid-19

Note: You can watch my presentation based on this research from the 2021 Ancestral Health Symposium here, watch a much longer video that covers missing slides and answers questions about the talk here, download a PDF of my slides here, and see a short list of minor corrections to the presentation in...

02/18/2020

08/11/2018

I've noticed a lot of headlines lately suggesting that probiotics can cause the digestive condition called SIBO.
It looks like bad science reporting to me.
It reports on a single small study and doesn't weigh the rest of the evidence. If you want to read more about it, check out this article / video.
https://drruscio.com/can-probiotics-cause-sibo/

Can taking a probiotic make SIBO worse? One study suggested yes. However, this study is very misleading. Let’s discuss.

11/20/2017

Will taking care of your gut bacteria help you to live a longer and healthier life? Apparently, healthy older people have gut microbiomes similar to those of healthy, younger folk.

In one of the largest microbiota studies conducted in humans, researchers have shown a potential link between healthy aging and a healthy gut.

10/29/2017

Learning more about treating physical trauma with Chinese Medicine this weekend.

09/15/2017

I've often seen patient with gastro-intestinal problems benefit from acupuncture. They see less pain, better movements, less reflux, and more. A few studies suggest the treatment helps lower inflammation and regulate immune function in the gut.

Acupuncture helps Crohn's disease patients. The mystery as to how acupuncture achieves these results has been solved...

09/11/2017

All forms of medicine involve placebo effect. That's just our minds affecting our symptoms or disease processes. Acupuncture is often accused of being only placebo, but perhaps neuroscience is beginning to prove that assumption false.

Placebo acupuncture can ease short-term pain but the real thing might help to reverse the underlying pathology of a disease

08/23/2017

Our local crisis hotline will be training new volunteers soon, beginning September 13. Limited space available. Apply today at nrvcs.org/raft and make a difference in the lives of others.

06/03/2017

I sometimes recommend patients track their nutrition
for a few days to get a baseline. I recently discovered this site:
https://cronometer.com/ I haven't used it much but it seems to track more nutrients than most free sites I've used.

03/29/2017

Picky eating can have long-term health implications. This is an interesting article about solving picky eating among children.

A time-tested, easy-to-follow protocol to get your kids to eat broccoli.

02/14/2017

If you're curious about what your DNA has to say 23andme is having a sale today for Valentine's Day. Not much time left!

Learn more about your health, traits, and ancestry with 23andMe.

11/09/2016

A recent study published in "Nutrition and Diabetes," concluded that acupuncture added to Metformin therapy further improves insulin sensitivity. It also improved other markers of metabolism and inflammation.

From the abstract: "Conclusions: Consequently, Metformin and acupuncture combined therapy is more effective than Metformin only, proving that acupuncture is an insulin sensitizer and is able to improve insulin sensitivity possibly by reducing body weight and inflammation, while improving lipid metabolism and adipokines. As a result, electro-acupuncture (EA) might be useful in controlling the ongoing epidemics in obesity and T2DM."

10/06/2016

After reviewing the existing body of knowledge, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) removed acupuncture needles from the category of "experimental medical devices." The FDA now regulates acupuncture needles, just as it does other devices such as surgical scalpels and hypodermic syringes, under good manufacturing practices and single-use standards of sterility.

09/22/2016

Acupuncture has been shown to be just as effective as Prozac for treating depression.

09/20/2016

Melatonin helps control your sleep and wake cycles. In a study done in 2004, it was found that acupuncture increased nighttime melatonin production and total sleep time. To put it simply, if you're having a tough time getting to sleep, acupuncture can help.

09/16/2016

Acupuncture can be used to effectively treat primary headaches, namely tension and migraine, which are the most common forms.

09/14/2016

Can acupuncture help relieve pain? Well, in a study involving nearly 18,000 participants, some had acupuncture, some had “sham” acupuncture, and some didn’t have acupuncture at all. Overall, acupuncture relieved pain by about 50%.