Ancient Medicine Made Modern
Flowers Nob Hill
Greetings!
My blog had its 10 year birthday in February! If you link below it will take you to the post that shows my first post back in 2009.

First Do No Harm
For some reason, there were many stories in the category of "First Do No Harm" in the main stream press lately.( As readers know, I am a Western trained physician with Board Certification in 2 specialties. I admire and believe in medicine. But one still must be careful and always weigh the risk/benefit of medications and procedures.)
T his article that discusses the horrific dangers of mesh used in pelvic surgery and how surgeons continued to use it, among other tales of malfeasance.

In the New Yorker there was a chilling account of how easy it is to get on anti-depressants, how disabling they can be and then how very difficult to wean off of them. Patients have resorted to forming online groups to offer advise and support in discontinuing the anti-depressants since the medical community is unaware or uninterested.

Tiger Woods apparently had successful back surgery on his fourth try, but as the title of the article says, he "won the lottery." Meaning that chances are NOT in your favor for a good, pain free result with back surgery.

And then there is the issue of joint injections with stem cells. Apparently they're not FDA approved. Who knew? Maybe safe, maybe not, maybe effective, maybe not. Oh well!

Auricular (Ear) Acupuncture
There are physiological reasons that ear acupuncture can calm the nervous system. These two recent studies confirm this reasoning.
In this study from the anesthesia community, ear acupuncture lessened the amount of anesthesia needed.
This study shows that parasympathetic activity (rest and digest) increases with ear acupuncture.
Celebrity Acupuncture: Meghan Markle Edition: Health Baby Archie

Meghan Markle used acupuncture to keep healthy during her pregnancy. If it's good enough for the royals, it can work for you too! Healthy royal baby boy!
Acupuncture Press
Longevity, Optimize for Long Life!
This theoretical article discusses how longevity is based on metabolic rate and mitochondrial strength. There are no silver bullets for individuals offered, but interesting insights into what the experts are thinking.

I've always thought that one of the biggest advantages of acupuncture is that it makes the body/mind tougher and more resilient so it actually prevents adverse health conditions.
This point of view is gaining traction!

This recent article shows that in animals warm needle acupuncture shows anti-aging effects by lowering the stress response.
From Martha Stewart
30 minutes of exercise a day to avoid early death. Just do it! Walking is fine. Martha knows best!
Heart Rate Variability (Stress Levels) and Inflammation
Inflammation is now linked to everything from heart disease to irritable bowel disease. As readers know, I study heart rate variability, type of stress monitor, in conjunction with acupuncture treatment. This paper surveyed the literature and found that inflammation goes down with a more healthy HRV. The specific HRV parameters are discussed. This certainly validates my approach! The graph on the left shows High Frequency HRV data which goes up with lower inflammation. This data is from a clinic patient.
Conditions Treated
Allergies
Allergies are a focus of my practice
Anxiety/Panic Attacks
Acupuncture is very helpful for Anxiety and Panic Attacks
Migraine/Headache
Migraine patients are a sizable portion of my practice
Online Appointments are now an option. This is for your convenience. I'm glad to receive your calls/emails/texts to make or change your appointments, but if you'd like to try the new system give it a try!

  1. Ongoing patients, go to Book Now page. Scroll down to see the sign in.
  2. Put in your email address. Put in Clinic Treatment or Cosmetic Acupuncture according to the day and time you prefer.
  3. Unfortunately, you cannot change a current appointment, but you can add one. So if you'd like to change an appointment, look for a new time and book it. It will alert me of the new appointment and I will cancel the old one.
  4. New Patients Go to Book Now page sign up for a First Time Patient visit at time and day that works for you.
Kristen Sparrow MD
2000 Van Ness, Ste 310
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-775-0117