BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Acupuncture, the Chinese treatment of sticking needles into the skin, is used to treat many ailments as diverse as pain, digestive disorders and anxiety.
- A local acupuncturist is using new technology to hone her craft
- The acugraph measures energy in the body and can help determine where treatment is needed
- The practice is used in Bethlehem at The Calm Space
Clare Dismuke-Setzer, of Emmaus, has used the practice for years to treat different problems — "Pain, mostly back pain, down the leg, that had been going on for almost a year and a half,” she said.
Dismuke-Setzer is a patient of Ilyse Garber, acupuncturist at The Calm Space, a holistic mental health facility in Bethlehem, who said she's using new technology to pin-point exactly where patients need treatment.
The device is called an acugraph and is a digital way to measure energy in the body.
“Your body has an innate healing abilities and acupuncture, the needles are like little tuning forks, they tell the energy where to go, so we are energetic beings and when something is off in our energy, it can create illness disease, like physical, mental, emotional."Ilyse Garber, acupuncturist at The Calm Space, a holistic mental health facility in Bethlehem
Garber said she is the only person locally using the technology.
Shows ... how everything is connected
Garber explained acupuncture by saying, “your body has an innate healing abilities and acupuncture, the needles are like little tuning forks.
"They tell the energy where to go, so we are energetic beings and when something is off in our energy, it can create illness disease, like physical, mental, emotional."
She said an acugraph "hooks up to my computer and there is a little ... probe that has a Q-tip tip attached to it, and you moisten that, and then the patient holds on to this little rod, which helps to conduct the energy.
“It's my hope that I could help my patients to become more aware of their body and what's going on."Ilyse Garber, acupuncturist
“I take that and I measure specific acupuncture points on the hands and on the feet.”
Garber said the measurements are recorded on the computer and she then can show the acupuncture process and treatment result over time to patients.
"I wanted to introduce the acugraph into my practice because it shows my patients how everything is connected,” she said. “It's my hope that I could help my patients to become more aware of their body and what's going on. "
The acupuncturist has been practicing with needles for years, but just started using the new technology in the spring.
