Dr. Juan Liu received a Master of Science in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York City in 2011. She is a licensed Oriental medicine practitioner in the state of New York. Prior to studying Chinese medicine, Juan earned a bachelor's degree in medical technology from the University of St. Louis at Baguio City, The Philippines. After she graduated, as a missionary she went back to the Philippines to join the mission of her sister, Shengrong Liu, LAc, to practice Chinese medicine at the St. Francis Natural Health Care Center in Quezon City, Metro Manila, The Philippines. In 2016, they started the first comprehensive Chinese medicine school, the SMIC institute of Chinese Medicine Inc. Currently, there are two courses being offered: one is TCM, the other is acupuncture. Juan received her doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in 2020.
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) affects more than 15% of the U.S. population but evades most practitioners’ radar. Just five years ago, it wasn’t even on my radar, despite already having 20 years of experience as a clinician at that time. The more I dug (similar to leaky gut and post-COVID syndrome), the more I found my patients were suffering from this disorder.
Research supports the effectiveness of selecting the distal acupuncture points for the treatment of microtrauma and for relieving pain, particularly in cases of chronic shoulder pain. But to make the treatment results long-lasting, clinical experience and research suggest that instead of treating the most painful structure first, we identify the inhibited driver, restore reliable recruitment, confirm it with immediate re-testing, and only then address the painful area as a branch of a deeper pattern.
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The motivation behind our practice of medicine is important, impacting not just our experience but also the experiences of those we treat. It is perhaps for this reason that the aspiration to help not just some, but all beings heal, has historically been an important part of the medical tradition. To explain this, we need to consider how medicine is interwoven with other social domains.