Robert Martinez, L.AC., MSTOM, is a taiji (t'ai chi) instructor and certified acupuncturist working in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. His interest in Chinese medicine has allowed him to share the benefits of acupuncture with several clients.  Read more below to learn how acupuncture can be helpful to your health!

Q: What types of people can benefit from acupuncture? What are some reasons that people use this healing treatment?

A: A lot of people can benefit from acupuncture.  People tend to be skeptical of acupuncture because they don't understand it or are afraid of needles, but there are several reasons why people use it.  Acupuncture can help people who have headaches or migraines, backaches, tiredness and fatigue, physical pain, or Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). It's amazing how acupuncture works for so many health issues.

Q: Do you have to keep getting treatment for it to work?

A: Sometimes you need to receive acupuncture treatment for a while, but it depends on what you're treating the person for. If someone comes to you with an acute or short-term condition, like a wind-cold, one or two acupuncture treatments would probably be enough. However, a chronic condition, like arthritis, could take a month of continual treatments and herbal medicines. Acute conditions can usually be resolved quickly, while chronic cases need more time and treatment. Chinese medicine has been practiced for at least 3000 years. As a result, the Chinese have been able to get rid of things that don't work and only keep what does so acupuncture can be used to solve many health problems.

If you're looking for more information on Chinese medicine, Rob recommends the beginner's book by Ted Kaptchuk called The Web That Has No Weaver. For taiji, he recommends Lawrence Galante's T'ai Chi: The Supreme Ultimate. Also, YouTube is a good resource for both with videos of acupuncture and taiji all regularly posted there.

Read more from Rob Martinez by clicking the links below:

• Starting the practice of taiji (t'ai chi)
• Benefits of taiji
• Who can benefit from taiji
• Acupuncture
• Acupuncture as harm reduction

To listen to our interview with Robert Martinez, click here for our podcast page.

Harlem Word is a series of interviews with Harlem health experts, written by HHPC and reviewed by our Health Advisory Board