Dr. del Castillo recently added acupuncture as a treatment method to help many of his patients.  He trained in San Francisco with Dr. Tsun-Nin Lee in his extensive course for physicians thru the Academy for Pain Research and in 2008 spent 6 weeks in training at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Shanghai, China.

The usual treatment of acupuncture entails placing needles in prescribed points along what have been called channels or meridians.  Needles are sterile and utilized only one time.  There is very little discomfort at the time of placement of needles.  A usual treatment last about 20-30 minutes.  For most medical problems a series of treatments is necessary.  For many chronic problems, long standing treatment is used.
 
Acupuncture is not meant to replace well-proven Western medical treatments, but in fact help in already established treatments and hopefully aid in recovery.  In some instances patients can reduce the number and type of medications depending on their disease states.  At other times, more aggressive western therapies can be avoided with the use of acupuncture.

A very frequent question is whether acupuncture will work for a specific medical condition.  The World Health Organization, several years ago listed a number of “western” medical conditions where acupuncture seems effective.

Dr. Del Castillo offers acupuncture as a means of treatment for some of his patients.  

For what condition is acupuncture adequate?
It can be used for gynecologic and infertility problems.  Importantly it is used for musculoskeletal problem and gastric-intestinal problems.  It has been used as an aid for weight loss as well as emotional and mental problems.

What exactly is acupuncture? 
I t has been used for several thousand years in China and the far East in order to heal health problems as well as to preventively keep a person in good health.

Is acupuncture painful?
Acupuncture uses very thin needles applied to specific points in the body in order to cause its healing effects.  The needles are much smaller than a sewing needle and much thinner than a needle used to give a shot of medication.  They are single use and never resterilized.

How many treatments do I need?
Just as in Western medicine there may be a few treatments to treat and/or cure a patient, sometimes many treatments are needed.  Also just as there are conditions that we cannot cure today with Western medicine such as diabetes, acupuncture will not cure many of those same diseases but certainly can help many of them.