2026

Bi syndrome (1)·cupping therapy (1)·disc herniation (1)·Low back pain (1)·sciatica relief (1)·spinal inflammation (1)·spondylosis (1)·TCM back pain (1)

Low back pain is arguably the most ubiquitous biomechanical failure of the modern human form. Whether it manifests as acute lumbago following a sudden postural error, the radiating neuropathy of sciatica, or the chronic, insidious ache of structural degeneration, spinal pathology severely limits our functional degrees of freedom. Patients arriving at our Nyon clinic frequently… Continue reading Treating Low Back Pain Through Acupuncture

acupuncture (15)·chinese medicine (6)·neuroscience (7)·theory (5)

In clinical practice, patients experiencing a sudden onset of severe pain or profound exhaustion frequently express bewilderment. They describe an innocuous trigger—bending to pick up a pen, a minor disagreement at work, a slightly disrupted night of sleep—that seemingly caused a catastrophic systemic failure. We often contextualize this using familiar idioms: “the straw that broke… Continue reading Error Stacking and the Somatic Tipping Point: A Predictive Model of Chronic Pain

In the landscape of “alternative medicine,” a common and persistent trend exists to misconstrue what Qi (气) actually is. Rather than utilizing Qi as a refined language system highlighting dynamic interrelationships within physiology—or between ourselves and our environment—it is often miscategorized as a supernatural force. This is sometimes referred to as the “reification” of Qi,… Continue reading Navigating Medical Qigong: Skepticism, Somatic Focus, and Clinical Reality

A patient was recently deferred from donating blood immediately following an acupuncture session at our clinic. Because modern clinical practice utilizes sterile, single-use needles—rendering the historical risk of bloodborne infection effectively obsolete—patients are often surprised by this restriction. However, the twenty-four-hour waiting period enforced by organizations like the Red Cross is not based on infection… Continue reading Blood donation after acupuncture

Today, we’re looking deeper into the physical body to explore another one of TCM’s concepts through the lens of groundbreaking modern neuroscience. For centuries, students of Traditional Chinese Medicine have wrestled with the concept of the Wu Shen, or the “Five Spirits.” Classical texts like the Huangdi Neijing assert that consciousness is not confined to… Continue reading The Minds Within: Organ-Intrinsic Nervous Systems and the Five Shen

chinese medicine (6)·FEP (1)·neuroscience (7)·theory (5)

In this post we will continue to bridge the classical frameworks of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CM) with the cutting-edge neuroscience of the Free Energy Principle (FEP) and Active Inference. For thousands of years, Chinese Medicine has utilized a highly sophisticated, systems-based language to describe human health and disease. Today, modern theoretical biology and cognitive neuroscience… Continue reading The Predictive Body: Chinese Medicine Through the Lens of Active Inference