Shiatsu Massage

Shiatsu (Shi = finger, Atsu = pressure) is a traditional Japanese massage therapy based on the acupuncture principle. In Shiatsu, the therapist usually applies vertical pressure on the acupuncture points or along meridians (energy lines linking acupuncture points) with fingers, elbows or sometimes with knees. Shiatsu is very effective for many minor health problems. More and more people are using it for relaxation or stress release. For those who have an in-bred fear of needles, choosing Dr.Kokubo's well-trained and caring hands for Shiatsu can be a better solution.


Kampo Herbology

Alongside acupuncture and moxibution, herbal medicine is the other major pillar of traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese herbology was introduced to Japan along with acupuncture. Like acupuncture and moxibustion, the Japanese eventually improved, refined and validated the original Chinese formulas through clinical experiences for over a thousand years.
By the 18th century the established herbology was called "Kampo" which suited the people, land and culture of Japan.
Still sharing the same principle of Chinese herbology, most raw herbs are imported from China and other Asian countries. Herbs are then processed and formulized by Japanese Kampo doctors (who have studied both modern scientific medicine and traditional oriental medicine), and several major pharmaceutical companies specializing in Kampo drugs.
Currently TSUMURA & Co.,a hundred-year-old Japanese company, largest Kampo drug manufacture in the world is a leader in the scientific research on the efficacy and the pharmacology of Kampo and Chinese herbs. Traditionally Chinese herbs are cooked in water up to an hour and the resulting thick liquid concoction (usually quite bitter) is drunk warm. Now Kampo or Chinese herbal remedies manufactured by Japanese Kampo drug companies are readily available in forms like pills, capsules, powdered, granules, tincture,etc. for easy intake without losing the original herbal potency.


CHARACTERISTICS OF CHINESE & KAMPO HERBOLOGY

Using herbs for ailments must have begun from the very beginning of human history, and it has been the most common modality of treatment worldwide. Each region of the world has very unique herbal remedies depending on the climactic and geological differences for plants. However, Chinese & Kampo herbology could be the most sophisticated and systematized herbal medicine of all, based on the complex theories and principles developed as a culmination of thousands of years of clinical trials and validation. Its main characteristics are ollowing:

* Each formula contains at least several different raw herbs (mostly of plants, some times with animal parts or minerals) and usually taken orally as a concoction after being cooked in water.

* Since the formula is usually a combination of many different ingredients, it contains a large number of chemical substances that interact with each other for multiple effects--whether mutually enhancing, synergistic or suppressive. Thus the overall effect of the formula is quite different from that of individual herbal ingredient. This is a very unique and fascinating aspect of Chinese & Kampo herbology, but at the same time it becomes so difficult, almost impossible for scientists to understand the biochemical structures and interactive mechanism of the formula.

* The multiple effects of the formula often make it possible to treat various different health problems or multiple complaints of a patient with a single formula. For example, "Keishi-bukuryou" is one of the most commonly used Kampo formula for treating female reproductive diseases like menstrual disorders, infertility, PMS, menopausal symptoms, Cyst or tumor,etc. At the same time this formula can be very effective for treating high blood pressure, various skin diseases, eye diseases and neurological disorders such as hysteria, anxiety, depression, and insomnia as well.

* Usually the formula is prescribed according to each patient's overall health conditions including symptoms, constitutional type, energy level, food preference,etc., not on the basis of given names of diseases by western medicine. This means that very different formulas would be prescribed for the same disease diagnosed by western medicine. For example, if all ten patients with migraine headaches (of no particular cause) visit both a western doctor and a Chinese & Kampo doctor, the prescribed medication would be more or less the same by the first western doctor, but would be totally different by the latter. It is also not unusual that some ingredients of the original formula used for the patient are either added or subtracted, or a totally different formula is used during the course of treatment as the disease state changes.

* Since Chinese/Kampo herbology was established as a very sophisticated, empirical medicine through thousands of years of clinical experiences on billions of the sick, every formula consists of herbs that interact with each other to exert the maximum effect with minimum adverse reactions and toxicity. In general, herbology works slowly and steadily by enhancing the body's innate natural healing power. Therefore, it is very effective in treating various internal chronic diseases without causing side effects reagrdless of the duration of use. Some of them, of course, work very well for acute cases depending on the ailment.

At our clinic Dr.Kokubo will decide whether or not the patients should use Chinese & Kampo herbs for their health problems, or what kind of herbs should be prescribed for the patient's condition after a thorough examinations.