Treatments

Many people come to Chinese medicine because it is a holistic system of medicine, rather than a technique for treating one kind of complaint. Although, people do come for help with specific conditions, including:

Stress and insomnia, arthritis, asthma, sciatica, back and joint pain, circulation problems, anxiety, panic attacks, fatigue, bodily aches and pains, infertility, impotence, menstrual problems, migraines or headaches, skin conditions and sports injuries.

Gisela treats patients on a seasonal basis, as a preventative measure to build their immune system, or because they feel unwell in themselves without being ‘ill’ in the medical sense. Chinese medicine is now more frequently used alongside conventional medicine in the treatment of both acute and chronic disease.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a system of healing which has been practiced in China and other Eastern countries for thousands of years. It is a safe and effective system of medicine, now used world wide. It involves the insertion of very fine needles at specific points on the body in order to stimulate or unblock the flow of energy or ‘Qi’. The Qi and blood flow through a system of channels called meridians, connecting internal organs with external organs or tissues.

By stimulating certain acupuncture points along these meridians through needling, the flow of Qi and blood can be regulated and disease is treated.

Gisela also uses electro-acupuncture, passing a low frequency electrical current via the needles. It helps to relieve pain, enhance and boosts the treatments effectiveness.

Chinese herbal remedies

Gisela is trained in prescribing Chinese herbal remedies and she only uses those that have been certified by Good Manufacturing Practice standards. Together with acupuncture, herbal medicine is a major pillar of Chinese medicine. Herbalists rarely prescribe a single herb to treat a condition, they created formulas instead. A formula usually contains at least four to twenty herbs. Herbal formulas can be used in a range of preparations: as pills, tablets, capsules, plasters or powders.

The various combinations of temperature and taste give the herb its properties that can influence the yin and yang energy patterns of the body. There are herbs that will warm, cool, are tonics or that will move stagnation and so on. Herbs do not possess one quality but are mostly a combination of properties and temperatures and may reach one or many of the body organs.

Moxa

Gisela uses moxa or moxibustion, which is an ancient technique used in Chinese medicine. A stick or cone of burning mugwort (Artemesia vulgaris) is placed over an inflammation or affected area. E.g. for tendonitis the moxa stick is burned over the elbow area or the cone is placed on an acupuncture point and burned. The cone is removed before burning the skin. The purpose is to stimulate, warm and strengthen the blood and the Qi energy in the body.

Gisela uses moxa for people who have a cold or stagnant condition. It is particularly known for its ability to turn breech presentation babies into a normal head-down position that is considered safe during childbirth. She also highly regards it for fertility treatment or for menstrual cramps, where the stick is waved over the abdominal area. Often, the cramps disappear immediately.

Cupping

Cupping is a traditional Chinese therapy. Gisela places a glass cup on the skin and uses heat or suction to expel the air creating a vacuum. Cupping releases stagnation of any kind within the body. It stimulates the flow of blood to aching or damaged muscles. It removes congestion and enhances the flow of lymph drainage. Cupping can help to relieve painful muscles, joints and initiate healing. Gisela finds it is an effective treatment for back pain, rheumatism, arthritis, joint pain and injury.

In some cases, the cup may be moved along an area of the body.

In practice a red area is formed on the skin. This technique is said to promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, and alleviate swelling and pain. Cups placed on the shoulders often help patients who have a cold, flu or fever.

Auricular

Auricular (ear) acupuncture is where acupuncture points on the outer ears are treated to help relieve many complaints and conditions. The ears represent the whole human body. There are as many as 200 points on the outer ear, each point named after areas of our anatomy, i.e. knees, hips, shoulders, liver, heart etc. The outer ear acts like a switchboard to the brain. Treating a point on the ear triggers electrical impulses, from the ear, via the brain, to the specific area of the body that is being treated.

E.g. for a painful back, by treating the points ‘back’ or ‘sciatic’ on the ear would help alleviate the pain.

Gisela also uses it for patients with drug, alcohol and tobacco addictions and to enhance other treatments such as anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia, obesity, pre-menstrual syndrome, hormonal imbalances and fertility.

Reiki

Reiki is a system of hands on healing. It is a Japanese word, which means universal life force or energy. This life force energy flows through all matter and can give you a powerful healing. Gisela, as a Reiki Master Teacher, has undergone a series of attunements to transfer energy from the highest possible source that is then channeled.

Reiki gives you a balance of energy that is just right for you. People’s energy levels and outlook are often changed for the better as well as feeling improvements in any physical symptoms. Reiki is a treatment that touches the physical, emotional and spiritual levels.

During a Reiki treatment you may feel a sense of elation, well being and purpose that you may not have felt for some time. Whereas, others may feel a peaceful serenity or just quietly introspective.