In her desire to lose weight, Politi had tried everything from Weight Watchers to Nutrisystem to numerous exercise programs, but nothing stuck.
So she elected to try an unorthodox treatment: acupuncture.
When she came to Dr. YanHong “Gina” Meng, a licensed acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, she expected that only her weight issue would be counteracted. But Politi was amazed to see that many of her other ailments – stress, insomnia, tension – disappeared as well. She had not just found a doctor. She had found a friend.
“There’s this whole element that is missing in traditional western medicine,” Politi said. “You feel better when you leave than when you came in. It’s not just ‘Oh I hope it works.’ You know it works.”
As the founder and head doctor at Meng’s Acupuncture Medical Clinic, Meng uses her skills to treat a patient’s whole body through acupuncture, herbs and other natural remedies.
Acupuncture is a centuries-old technique used to heal patients. Practitioners believe that the body has twelve systems within it, each centered around and named after a specific organ. When chi, or energy, flows undisrupted through these systems, a person stays healthy. But if it is interrupted by some kind of stress to the body, he or she becomes ill.
“You need everything to be smooth like I-95,” Meng explained. “You have to drive at 60 [mph]. If you drive at 90 or 40, you’re off balance.”
By pricking patients with needles, Meng opens up those channels and restores the body’s natural flow. The type of sickness determines which system needs cleansing.
Meng has found that most patients do not have only one problem. Typically, a myriad of ailments stem from an overlying issue. Overweight patients also tend to suffer from heart palpitations, digestive problems, high blood pressure and even insomnia.
“We look at people’s whole body,” Meng said. “We treat them at the root.”
Although most of her patients come to her for weight-loss help, acupuncture also helps people manage pain, skin disorders, breast diseases, and even recover from surgery.
