Cupping

One of the oldest deep-tissue therapies there is, found in early Chinese, Egyptian, and Middle Eastern medicine. Glass cups are placed over acupuncture points or tight muscle and left for ten to fifteen minutes.

We usually recommend it at a first visit — not as a routine add-on, but because it reads the body. The colour and pattern the skin holds afterward shows where circulation is stagnant and how deep it runs, which sharpens the diagnosis we have just made by pulse and tongue.

Coverage varies. A number of plans do not include cupping, so if yours is one of them we will tell you what it costs before we do it. The treatment works without it — this is a recommendation, never a requirement.

On return visits we choose. Fire cupping again where stagnation is still the issue; gliding cupping — moving the cups across the back — where adhesions need breaking up and the nervous system needs settling; or gua sha or moxibustion instead, if your pattern has shifted toward something else.

Expect marks. They are not bruises in the injury sense, and they fade within about a week.

Moxibustion (쑥뜸)

Burning mugwort near or on a point to drive warmth into tissue that needles alone cannot reach. It is the treatment of choice for cold patterns — cold hands and feet, period pain that eases with a heating pad, an aching low back that worsens in winter. Patients who run cold often notice this more than anything else we do.

Moxibustion for a breech baby

This is one of the most common reasons people are referred to us. If your baby is still breech — bottom or feet down — in the third trimester, moxibustion is a well-established, non-invasive option that many midwives and obstetricians in Los Angeles are comfortable recommending alongside standard care.

The treatment is simple. A moxa stick is held near Zhiyin (至陰, 지음 · BL-67), a point at the outer corner of the little toenail, for roughly fifteen to twenty minutes on each foot. Most people feel the baby become noticeably more active during or shortly after a session. The working theory is that the warmth increases fetal movement and circulation to the uterus, giving the baby the activity it needs to turn on its own.

Timing matters more than anything else. The usual window is 33 to 35 weeks — early enough that there is still room to turn, late enough that the baby is unlikely to flip back. It can still be attempted later, but the odds fall as space runs out. If you have just been told your baby is breech, come in sooner rather than waiting.

A typical course runs daily for about ten days. We treat you in clinic and teach you or your partner to continue at home between visits, since consistency matters more than intensity here.

To be straight with you about the evidence: the 2023 Cochrane review found moderate-certainty evidence that moxibustion alongside usual care probably reduces the chance of the baby still being breech at birth. Evidence on whether it reduces the need for external cephalic version is uncertain, and it probably makes little difference to the cesarean rate. We treat it as worth trying early because it is low risk and the window closes quickly — not as a guarantee.

Please keep your OB or midwife informed, and let us know if you have placenta previa, are carrying multiples, have had previous uterine surgery, or have any pregnancy complication. Some situations call for us to hold off, and we would rather coordinate than guess.

Gua Sha

Scraping the skin with a smooth-edged tool — jade, horn, or steel — to encourage lymphatic drainage and circulation. On the body it mobilises soft tissue, releases adhesions, and helps break down scar tissue. Applied to the face with a lighter hand it brightens the complexion and softens fine lines.

We use it for Bell's palsy, restricted movement, and as an addition to facial treatment.

Cosmetic & Facial Acupuncture

A non-surgical approach to fine lines, sagging, and dullness, working by increasing circulation and stimulating collagen rather than by paralysing muscle. We will be straight with you about the commitment: meaningful results take ten or more sessions, plus maintenance. We work alongside licensed estheticians on this.