Welcome to Everspring Health a new lifestyle, health and healing cooperative serving Minneapolis, St. Paul and the greater Twin Cities metro area. Our focus is on developing a community healthcare resource where health, wellness and quality of life are the same ambition of holistic (whole life) health and healing programs. Everspring practitioners serve as your advocate for better quality of life and more effective use of health and healing resources. Everspring Health's programs are custom designed to each individual's needs, including supporting any current medical program, but specifically designed to accomplish your goals for improved quality of life. Direct clinic service resources may include acupuncture, tuina medical massage (acupressure), dietary therapy, herbal therapy, exercise therapy and lifestyle consulting. Our services are available to the general public and we are currently accepting cooperative memberships for those interested in supporting our mission and benefiting from more convenient access to service.

2012 has been a big year for us as we work to expand our membership and grow into the full capacity our model is designed to embrace. Our ambition is to continue to expand our service offering to present the next generation of integrated qualified medical services including chiropractic and physical therapy among many more supportive health services to the Minneapolis/St. Paul communities. If healthcare is to truly be revolutionized it must be begin with the partnership between the practitioner and the client. We are the first of a kind healthcare cooperative where health advocacy is the core around which we will build the model for the next era in healthcare. We are looking forward to offering daily living programs (yoga, tai chi/qi gong, meditation, cooking classes, biking/hiking trips, retreats, etc.) via our Everspring Living resources bringing our model closer to the lives of our clients.

Examples of our programs

Detailed constitution based daily living programs – Everyone has certain tendencies or patterns from which they approach most daily practices. These tendencies are what make each individual unique with regards to their talents and capabilities but they also tend to lead towards most of the chronic symptoms and disease patterns as well. By identifying and helping our clients understand their constitution they can begin to understand their own tendencies thus allowing for their talents to be maximized all the while tendencies for illness can be significantly reduced. This then begins the practice of actual preventive medicine, where quality of life care becomes a practical principled system from which to work rather than just throwing darts in the supplement isle hoping to stumble onto something that might be useful. We help you understand all the opportunities and then work with you to develop a lifestyle that supports your goals for your best life.

Surgery preparation - We help our clients develop a plan for surgery preparation and post op recovery for when they get back home. This can help shorten recovery time allowing for a more pleasant experience, a more complete recovery and shorter down time from work.

Chronic disease support – We develop programs that use proven techniques to address many chronic conditions addressing many of the most pressing symptoms that may interfere with quality of life. We help many people who experience digestive disorders (GERD, IBS, colitis, Crohn's, gluten sensitivity), woman's health, weight-loss, chronic hives, among so many others.

Pain management – These programs can range from simple post workout soreness (thus shortening recovery time) to joint pain to chronic back pain to conditions like Fibromyalgia, EDS, Chronic Fatigue, headaches, TMJ, etc.

Quality of life programs – Some clients are looking for greater refinement, the opportunity to do more with less to experience life at a personally optimized level. We help clients develop programs that support daily living lead to better experiences of life whatever those goals or intentions might be. We work in partnership to discuss opportunities with clients and then develop a plan to create the desired experiences.

While treatment plans for allergies vary greatly, with results ranging from temporary relief to complete remission, acupuncture and related therapies can often relieve allergy symptoms within a short period of time. The first objective is to reduce the acute allergy symptoms so that an effective strategy can be developed to address the underlying condition. As we are able to develop a holistic program we can effectively work to prevent the disease process from reoccurring in the future.

Allergies usually occur when our immune system is unable to digest or effectively process (i.e. metabolize or protect against) something within our environment. Allergens can vary from pollen, pet dander, mold, various foods, drugs and more. The body tends to react via an inflammatory process as a means of trying to remove the allergen or protect the body from it doing further harm.

When a client presents with allergy symptoms, we’ll need to perform a full intake and make the proper diagnosis. Symptoms may include a stuffy nose, copious mucus, lung/sinus congestion, fatigue, headache, indigestion, irritable bowels, redness, swelling, etc. To develop a holistic program to reduce or eliminate the condition it is important that we consider the whole pattern of symptoms that the client is experiencing. This includes considering dietary habits, energy levels, sleep patterns as well as other lifestyle practices.

Together with your practitioner, you can begin to understand how all those elements of your life may relate to the allergy symptoms you are experiencing. Effective therapy strategies will first focus on the acute symptoms in an effort to reduce them enough to address the underlying condition, then follow-up care for the chronic, remission stage begins. Oftentimes the acute stage is so influential that the chronic symptoms must be address in the opposite season (i.e. fall vs spring, winter vs summer) to make an effective investment in the underlying cause.

Acupuncture as well as chiropractic therapy supported by dietary therapy and herbal therapy will form the main components of most people’s health program for the treatment of allergies. Acupuncture may include the use of point local near the nose/sinuses, on the arms/hands and legs. Dietary changes are likely to be very beneficial in the effort to control the symptoms through the elimination of food and drinks that may cause mucus to form. When our diet is optimized for our constitution and for our presenting condition, clients will experience less mucous, less inflammation, increased energy, better breathing and a greater sense of well-being.

The pursuit of more refined personal health and quality of life requires that we shift our paradigm to a proactive partnership with the natural course of our lives. We must understand our own tendencies and the tendencies of the natural cycles of which we are often aware of but all too often ignore. By changing the way we enter into our day and our journey for better quality of life the process becomes more personalized and far more realistic. When entering into a personal commitment towards greater quality of life if we keep in mind the thoughts below it is likely that we find that they help contribute to the effectiveness of our efforts.

Be positive – In this modern world we are far too often told or too often decide for ourselves that life is a downhill experience. The truth is no one has a corner on the market for predicting your reality. Enter into your day as if the whole world is available as a resource to create the experience of peace and prosperity you desire. The benefit of pursuing quality of life is that there is always something we can do to make our day a little better and in many cases we can continue to refine that experience for as long we would wish.

Be realistic – As human’s we have a great talent to visualize the “ideal” reality in our minds. Too often, however, our vision is slightly skewed from the natural reality. It is certainly appropriate to have a vision of what we wish to accomplish but we must also be flexible in how that reality ultimately manifests in our daily lives. We must acknowledge that the governing force within our lives comes from nature and it is our responsibility to harness that force in the pursuit of greater balance. So when we decide improved quality of life is something that is important to us we need to be realistic about our expectations

Be responsible – Engage in the process. A good support system for health and quality of life will work with us to empower ourselves to make decisions and take actions that pay off. However, no matter how talented our support staff may be they cannot do it for us.

Be observant – Truly knowing what one wishes to accomplish requires observation. We need to know where we are now and where we would wish to be for any program to be successful. Improving our ability to be observant is a skill that will pay off manyfold and throughout most any area of our lives.

Be patient – When working to refine our daily living we need to keep in mind that it is daily living not a procedure it is a process. We have trillions of cells in our body so we should not assume that one workout, one meal or one treatment will solve our challenges. It takes time for our body to read the signals that we want it to change and then to have our cells turn over. The rule of thumb is that any commitment we make to change our bodies is 90 days and then to add one year on the end of that date to where our body will adjust to the “new you”. So if we lose a pound of fat it will take at least one year from the last day of burning up that pound for the body to adjust. Be patient!

Be disciplined – We need to set ourselves up for success. We need to be disciplined in our efforts to not only show up to our visits with our practitioners but to create an environment at home and work where we can succeed. Being disciplined in the beginning leads to practical lifestyle integration within a reasonably short period of time where the investment compounds thus providing substantially more effective and more permanent results.

Be persistent - Each day, every day is a new day, a new opportunity but also a new commitment we must make. What we accomplished yesterday was great because it got us to today but what we wish to experience tomorrow must come from how we live our life today. As Einstein said "Nothing happens until something moves" meaning that the actions we take lead us to results that we experience. A peaceful and productive life is an action not a destination. If we want peace, we must be peaceful. If we want productivity, we must be productive.

Be present – Enjoy the day. Live each day as if it was our only measure of our life because that is exactly what it is. Our lives are the aggregating experience of the each moment stored in the memory held in our bodies. The only opportunity we have to shift this experience in a direction we prefer is to focus on how we are living in this very moment. When we choose to embrace our true nature and to share that experience with those around us the only result can peace and prosperity.

Everspring Health’s service portfolio is designed to focus on personalized results for each client. When you stop in to visit you will find our approach to be comforting balanced by a distinct interest in understanding your experience. Our responsibility is to be an advocate for your health which requires finding a balance between understanding your goals and advocating for opportunities you might not yet be aware of with regards to your health. You will find that to gain a holistic viewpoint we ask a diverse series of questions to help us gain an effective perspective from which to begin your customized program. We will care about your everyday lifestyle because that is likely the most significant factor in what you are experiencing.

When considering preventive, rehabilitative and quality of life healing protocols the focus is less on which therapy or practice is “mandatory” and more on which therapy or practice is optimal given the needs of the client. Not everything is a nail needed to be pounded back into place; there are many therapies or practices that achieve similar results. What is important, and a significant factor in seeking long-term results, is the strategy that is used to effectively integrate therapies and practices into your daily life. Understanding this truth Everspring practitioners focus on achieving optimal results in balance with the most effective investment of time, money and effort.

Everspring clients benefit from service programs that focus on three key benchmarks within an individual’s life – stress, diet and sleep. These three observation points provide a distinct feedback system to both our practitioners as well as to the client. By observing stress, diet and sleep clients have something from which to gauge their daily experience while from a clinic standpoint these three factors will reflect the client’s current condition and will reflect progress as these experiences are refined. By rooting our programs in real life factors Everspring practitioners can build a more effective program that is less invasive, more affordable and the results end up being more empowering to the client because they improve daily life. The Everspring approach is similar to trying to untie a knot versus pulling or cutting to address key intentions.

Once we have established a dialog acknowledging the roll of stress, diet and sleep your practitioner will then seek to integrate more detailed or specific therapies that further support or sometimes take lead within an individual’s program. By taking this approach Everspring programs can fit within anyone’s lifestyle as well as working alongside, or in support of, any current medical program the client may be utilizing. Our service objective is to optimize one’s experience, namely their quality of life, rather than trying to fit one’s lifestyle or medical program into a mold that may not be entirely appropriate.

This focus on appropriateness and customization is what allows us to truly engage each client in their own experience and help them to become empowered in their own health and their lives as a whole. Health does just happen and it cannot be imposed even by the best practitioners. The pursuit of health is a partnership between clients and practitioners and this is the service you can expect when you come to visit with us. We seek to understand your experience, your perspective of that experience and then we develop a program with the resources you specifically need, explain why these resources are beneficial and what to expect as your program continues.

Gain more insight 8 Things to Consider...

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To study the impact of De-qi (, obtaining qi) and psychological factors on the efficacy of acupuncture treatment for primary dysmenorrhea, with an attempt to explore the relationship among De-qi, psychological factors, and clinical efficacy.

METHODS:

The patients with primary dysmenorrhea were randomly assigned to a group of acupuncture with manual manipulation (manipulation group, n=67) and an acupuncture group without manipulation (non-manipulation group, n=64). Pain intensity and pain duration were used as measures for evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of the acupuncture treatment. De-qi, the sensations a patient experienced during the acupuncture treatment, was scored on a 4-point scale by the subjects. In addition, the psychological factors, including belief in acupuncture, the level of nervousness, anxiety, and depression, were quantitatively assessed. The personality of the subject was assessed using the Eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ) and 16 personality factor questionnaire (16PF).

RESULTS:

Complete data were obtained from 120 patients, 60 patients in each group. There were statistically significant differences in pain intensity (W=2410.0, P<0.01) and pain duration (W=3181.0, P<0.01) between the two groups. The number of De-qi acupoints (W=1150.5, P<0.01) and the average intensity of De-qi (W=1141.0, P<0.01) were significantly higher in the manipulation group as compared with their non-manipulation counterparts. The correlation coefficients between De-qi and therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture were greater than those between psychological factors and therapeutic efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS:

Compared with the psychological factors, De-qi contributed more to the pain-relieving effect of acupuncture in subjects with primary dysmenorrhea. Moreover, manual manipulation is a prerequisite for eliciting and enhancing the De-qi sensations, and De-qi is critical for achieving therapeutic effects.

PMID: 21994026 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Ernst et al. claimed “acupuncture is neither a safe procedure nor superior to placebo.”

One of the last review articles on acupuncture research from Professor Edzard Ernst, prior to the announcement of his retirement, was met with broad dissatisfaction from the acupuncture research community, with concerns raised that he had presented a biased picture of the state of the science. A summary of the published letters rebutting Professor Ernst’s conclusions is presented below. We urge acupuncture researchers and practitioners to read Professor Ernst’s article in Pain (as well as the full complement of letters to the editor published in a subsequent issue of the journal (Witt et al.; Manheimer and Berman; Karst; Baumler; Usichenko; Henke 2011). For the sake of brevity, we summarize the letters to the editors.

A letter by Witt and colleagues found the article “highly misleading” and criticized the authors’ choice of evidence from different levels within the evidence hierarchy for different parts of the paper. In particular, the writers of the letter criticize the use of case studies to determine the safety of acupuncture and cite several larger-scale studies that had different results.

A letter by Manheimer and colleagues criticized Ernst et al.’s methods of data analysis and evaluation as neither systematic, reproducible, nor transparent and found Ernst et al.’s evaluation criteria for assessing the quality and results of systematic reviews to be poorly defined. The writers of the letter also suggest that Ernst et al. succumbed to presentation bias, presenting data in the Discussion section which were not included in the review.

A letter by Matthias Karst notes that the paper misinterprets one of the cited cases, and suggests that the paper’s other conclusions should be suspect, and also warns of a possible “efficacy paradox” which can lead to false positives when testing complex interventions by means of randomized controlled trials.

A letter by Baumler and colleagues pointed out several inconsistencies and accuses the authors of failing to incorporate basic scientific methodology. Specifically, the writers of the letter find the paper’s aim vague, study eligibility criteria absent, and (like Witt et al.) the choice of case reports in the assessment of acupuncture risk questionable. Like Manheimer et al., the letter-writers found Ernst et al.’s methods of determining the quality and outcome of each review unclear. The letter-writers determine that the paper is “not … based on a careful and scientific analysis of the literature.”

A letter by Usichenko and colleagues, like Witt et al. and Baumler et al., criticized the authors’ use of case studies to determine the adverse effects of acupuncture.

A letter by Christian Henke points out the relatively high instance of drug-related adverse events compared to acupuncture-related adverse events and criticizes Ernst et al.’s choice to include the conclusions of various acupuncture experiments in their discussion, despite the fact that conclusions of papers do not reflect statistical outcomes. The letter-writers also note that some important studies were overlooked.

Finally, a letter by James Mooney criticizes the authors’ addressing of the broad spectrum of acupuncture as little more than a single treatment. The letter-writers note that if only the highest-quality reviews are examined, the results are no longer condemning of acupuncture. Mooney also dismisses the authors’ conclusion that acupuncture should be questioned since it reduces pain in “some conditions while failing to work in many others,” noting that the same can be said about acetaminophen.

The authors’ response ran in the same issue of PAIN: Ernst E. Response from Author. Letters to the Editor / PAIN 152 (2011) 2184–2186. As of Oct 13, it is noted this is withdrawn at authors’ request.

Ernst E, Lee MS, Choi TY. Acupuncture: does it alleviate pain and are there serious risks? A review of reviews. Pain. 2011 Apr;152(4):755-64.

Karst M. Comment on ''Acupuncture: does it alleviate pain and are there serious risks? A review of reviews" Ernst et al. [Pain 2011;152:755-764]. Pain. 2011 Sep;152(9):2181

Bäumler P, Irnich D. Pain. 2011 Sep;152(9):2181-2

Henke C. Pain. 2011 Sep;152(9):2183-4.

Manheimer E, Berman BM. Pain. 2011 Sep;152(9):2179-80

Medical acupuncture is acupuncture that has been adapted from traditional sources for use within conventional health practices. Traditional acupuncture practice originates within many of the whole system traditions in Asia such as Chinese medicine and even some evidence suggests historic European sources. Today acupuncture is practiced in both traditional, integrative and CAM related forms in almost every major health care system in the world.

Medical acupuncture is the classification of the acupuncture for use within the conventional medical construct. The foundation of medical acupuncture is the therapeutic insertion of solid needles in various combinations and patterns. The patterns can be based on traditional principles, modern anatomical concepts or both.

While Everspring Health is a full supporter of any therapy that is applied appropriately for the benefit of the individual and the individual's quality of life. It is equally important to note potential challenges of medical acupuncture so that the client can understand how to use this resource most effectively. Medical acupuncture can be used by licensed practitioners (MD, DO, DC) with as little as 100 hours of training, which can make it difficult to qualify the practitioner's full scope of training with this therapy. Compare this training to a fully licensed and nationally board certified acupuncturist where the practitioner has approximately 1000 hours just on acupuncture, plus clinic application experience.

Again this does not discount the opportunity for benefit via medical acupuncture but one must note that if one is not getting results from medical acupuncture or any source of acupuncture no matter the training one should not discount acupuncture therapy as a whole. Like any therapy, any service for that matter, experience does matter and we should seek the appropriate support for our specific needs.

CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine. Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine, and alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. Integrative medicine combines conventional and CAM treatments for which there is evidence of safety and effectiveness.

Barnes PM, Bloom B, Nahin R. CDC National Health Statistics Report #12 - NCCAM/NIH

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Functional medicine focuses on prevention and understanding a person's core clinical imbalances that underlie various disease conditions. Functional medicine seeks prevention as the key component for the cultivation of health especially with regards to chronic disease. By targeting the underlying cause of disease versus focusing on just accommodating symptoms functional medicine seeks to improve outcomes by targeting one objective, the disease, to accomplish multiple benefits, reducing the symptoms. In the cases of chronic disease with the goal of understanding each individual's physiological, environmental, and psychosocial contexts becomes a necessary part of the diagnostic process.

While functional medicine is perspective of more recent terminology the historical systems of healing (e.g. Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Tibetan medicine, etc.) have utilized the holistic view as a means of approaching disease. All of the healing systems mentioned above seek to target the disease to reduce symptoms in concert with constitutional/personal diagnosis all of which Everspring Health embraces and offers as a part of our service offerings.

This question was once addressed by Dr. Bernie Siegel where he mentioned that we may not be able to cure every disease but people can indeed be healed. The concept here is noting a difference in perspective. The discussion surrounding a cure is focused on a disease and the context of specifically eliminating the disease whereas the discussion of healing is in relation to the individual as a whole. When we seek to cure a disease our focus is on the disease and the process of eliminating that disease. Since healing involves improving the quality of life for the individual as a whole, a disease may still be targeted but in concert with the intent to improve the quality of one's daily life.

An example of healing would be the process where a disease is controlled or reduced to a point where a person's quality of life may be such that the disease no longer interferes with their daily productivity. So while an individual may still have diabetes, for example, they may have no signs of the disease and/or the disease no longer hinders the quality of one's experience in daily living. A key benchmark in the process of healing includes liberation from the disease even if the disease may still be present. This liberation is the experience where one's perspective shifts from focusing on, and possibly being dictated by a disease, to being focused on the appreciation of one's life as a whole. This perspective may still include the presence of a disease but more importantly the focus shifts to the many opportunities they have before them.

This definition of healing is why Everspring Health incorporates healing into the functional mission of our cooperative. We are a lifestyle, health and healing cooperative because each of those concepts is at the heart of what we do everyday. Healing is the process of cultivating quality of life and quality of life is our mission.