Yonemoto Physical Therapy has been in business now for 32 years. It’s hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly. Lots of changes have occurred in that time and more changes are in store. That is the nature of life.

Medicare rules and requirements are changing weekly and other insurance coverages are also changing. One insurance study is showing that allowing patients to access physical therapy first for musculoskeletal problems, even before a doctor, results in 50% less cost and shorter delays in care. This is something that pleases both the insurance companies and patients. Even Medicare is allowing patients to see physical therapists without a medical referral.

At any rate, in order to stay in business in today’s healthcare climate, Yonemoto Physical Therapy is reducing the size of its facility. The lease has been renegotiated and all equipment, furniture and staff will be located under one roof at its 55 S. Raymond  Ave, Suite 100, Alhambra location. This means that our gym is smaller but adequate. Unfortunately, we had to give up our pool. At this time, it is not certain who will be taking over the 25 S. Raymond Ave, Suite 100 space, but we are recommending patients contact the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center, local gyms with pools and the YMCA for their therapeutic pool needs.

We thanks you for your patronage and hope to continue servicing your physical therapy needs. We also hope to expand services to you that will optimize your health with the qigong (chi gong) classes (an ancient Chinese exercise to improve organ health and longevity), our weight loss program, our detoxification and nutritional services, and our allied services of acupuncture and facial/body wraps to enhance detoxification and health.

The goal of Yonemoto Physical Therapy is to provide physical therapy services to optimize movement and function for enhanced living as well as transitioning a practice that has focused on body repair to now include a focus on maximizing wellness. It is our belief that life is better when you are full of vitality and that it is possible to lead a full and happy life with a healthy lifestyle.

Chinese medicine regards the brain as a very special organ, which relies on the health of all the other organs. When you think about it, it makes sense. Oxygen, needed for life, is supplied by the lungs. Oxygen and other nutrients need to get to the brain via the circulatory system, which is powered by the heart. These nutrients circulate with the blood, made by the spleen and bone marrow. Nutrients are obtained through food, and food needs to be broken down by the digestive system. The digestive system comprised of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and rectum, interfaces with the liver, gall bladder and pancreas. The body needs to be detoxified by the liver, kidneys, intestines and bladder. Each and every organ has an important function, and all contribute to a healthy body.

Qigong, an ancient Chinese form of exercise, focuses on healthy organs, leading to good health and longevity. Qigong has been around for about 3,000 years. Initially, qigong information was kept secret, shared only with the ruling and scholarly classes of society. Since the end of the Cultural Revolution in China around 1976, qigong has been more available to greater numbers of people in China and around the world.

Qigong focuses on moving the vital life force, or chi, through the body. Although similar to acupuncture, qigong does not require the use of needles. Acupuncture and qigong both attempt to remove blocks of stagnant chi in order to restore the body’s own self-correction and thus improve a healthy flow. Once the chi moves, then the blood moves. Think of stagnation causing algae, putrefaction, cloudy water and smelly odors. Once the water gets moving again, all these signs of decay disappear.

Qigong differs from other forms of exercise in that it focuses on the messaging system. The chi circulates messages in our bodies, similar to the way the hormonal system coordinates functions between the various organs. The way you think and the messages that you circulate can influence organ function and many other aspects of the body.

Studies support the benefits that qigong provides, such as improving immune factors in the blood, improving mood, reducing blood pressure, balancing cholesterol, increasing bone density, decreasing joint pain and improving sleep. Practitioners often  recommend it for reducing stress.

Qigong is older than tai chi, easier to do and has more instantaneous health benefits. The practice can be done daily and will continue to provide benefits if continued. Practicing qigong not only reverses unhealthy conditions, but can also prevent disease from occurring in the first place.

Here is another tool to add to your box of health remedies, one that not only helps with brain function, but also helps to improve all of the organs in your body.

Qigong, an ancient Chinese exercise and treatment, benefits both health and longevity. It involves mind and body coordination to improve the flow of the body’s vital life force. Although similar to acupuncture in moving the qi (also called chi), qigong doesn’t require needles and also helps improve organ health. There are a number of schools and approaches to qigong, from exercises you can do yourself, to having work done to you by qigong practitioners.

One simple way to improve your immune system is to improve salivation in your mouth. Doctors and dentists know that saliva helps reduce dental cavities. People with poor salivation tend to have more dental cavities and poorer immune function.

Here is a simple qigong exercise to increase salivation. Clack your teeth together 12 times, move your tongue up and down 9 times, then move your tongue from left to right 9 times, and finally move your tongue out and in 9 times. You should notice increased saliva in your mouth. Swish the fluid around your mouth and swallow it in 3 amounts. You will notice even more saliva afterwards.

Improving the lymphatic flow in the body also improves the immune system. The lymphatic system is similar in structure to the circulatory system but with much smaller vessels. If the blood vessels were the size of straws, then the lymphatic vessels would be the size of silk threads. The lymphatic system removes waste material. Sometimes, if there is a lot of material to remove, congestion occurs, resulting in swelling, heaviness and decreased immunity. Even bone dust from certain surgical procedures can clog lymph nodes and vessels.

Using shaking machines or vibrators or jumping on trampolines can help move the lymph fluid. A simple qigong exercise involves doing mild shaking while standing and relaxing all joints in the body including the jaw, so that when you shake, your teeth clack. Imagine all of the water in your body, which is about 70% of your body composition, moving as a single unit, creating a tidal wave moving waste material out of the cell and driving in nutrition, including oxygen. Also imagine the various types of tissues gliding smoothly as separate units, unsticking any scar tissue that may have developed from trauma, infection or disuse. Your fingers, shoulders, vertebrae, skin and muscles should bounce or move as a wave or flap like a flag blowing in the breeze. The action should appear graceful and flowing, with movement occurring at each separate joint. Care has to be taken to shake at an appropriate speed so you don’t hurt yourself.

From a qigong point of view, this is the only exercise I know of that benefits the hormonal or endocrine system. The endocrine system could be described as the “mobile” messenger system, versus the nervous system which could be described as the “landline.” The endocrine system communicates messages that help with energy production (thyroid, adrenal), digestion (salivary), sexual function (prostate, ovaries), sleep cycles, growth, and coordination of all bodily functions.

As a child, I watched my grandparents doing a Japanese exercise called nishishiki. They would shake their arms and legs while lying on their backs. My grandmother lived to 88 and my grandfather to 97. Later, a 92-year-old Japanese patient told me to shake my hands to stay healthy. Even while playing sports, if a team member missed a point, everyone said, “shake it off.”  Shaking seems to lead to better health and performance.

What differentiates living from non-living things?  Movement.

I have been teaching qigong for about 13 years  and studying it for 15, and I often forget that there actually are people out there who have never heard about it.   A quick and easy description of qigong is “An ancient Chinese form of exercise designed to improve health and longevity.”  It is pronounced “chee gong” and means the practice of moving the vital life force throughout the body.  Similar to acupuncture, it moves the vital life force without using needles.  As an exercise program, it is designed to improve organ health.

Many people are familiar with tai chi and have seen the graceful movements of that martial art which has been adapted for use in promoting health and balance.   Although I have never studied tai chi, people who do say that the basic movements often take up to two years to perfect.  Qigong, on the other hand, is much simpler to learn and can produce health benefits in one lesson.

One of the key aspects of qigong is that it focuses on the message system, unlike other exercise that may focus on cardiovascular health, muscle strength, flexibility or coordination.

The message system is ideas, messages and thoughts that influence how we feel, posture ourselves to the world and color our attitudes.  A book written by Masaru Emoto,  Messages in Water, describes how various words, sounds and images can affect the formation of crystals in water.  The more positive the message, the more beautiful the crystal formation.  Negative messages do not produce crystals.  Since our bodies are primarily water, this book shows the power of positive or negative thinking.

I tell my qigong students to think positive messages telling the body to be healthier, happier, smarter and more beautiful.  The body does listen to these messages.   Eliminating or reducing negative messages improves one’s outlook.  The “News” on television is 80% negative, which can negatively impact each cell of the body.  Think about how talking to different people makes you feel.  Who lifts your spirits?  Who brings it down?  Who are the people you prefer to be around?  Think about times when you didn’t want to do something.  How did your body feel?  Can you remember your attitude?  What about a time when you were excited about something – how did you feel then?  Can you remember the way your body felt?   An instructor of mine once said that a simple touch can produce a cascade of sensation in the body, an indication of many different physiological processes happening.  He reminded us of how sitting in a dark movie theater at age 13 next to the boy or girl you had a crush on, arms just barely touching, could make the whole body respond with strong sensation and emotion.  Hormones are message senders, after all.

Qigong is a discipline that can systematically change the way you send messages to yourself and thereby can improve your health.  It’s an easy practice that only requires you to do it.