Two modalities.
Four traditions.
One system.
Most pain isn't caused by one thing. A tight muscle pulls on a joint. A compressed nerve amplifies the signal. The nervous system rewires around it. Treating one layer and hoping it resolves the rest is why the pain keeps coming back.
Acunatomy was built to treat every layer — together, in the same session.
This isn't the acupuncture
you're picturing.
Most people associate acupuncture with relaxation, stress relief, or Eastern wellness. That tradition has value — but it's not what happens here.
Acunatomy is clinical. Anatomical. Every needle is placed based on what the assessment found — not a protocol, not a meridian chart on the wall, not a standard set of points for your diagnosis.
The assessment drives the treatment. The treatment targets the source. And because acupuncture alone doesn't reach every layer, it's paired with dry needling — a separate modality that targets the muscular dysfunction acupuncture doesn't address.
Direct. Deliberate.
Deactivated.
Trigger points — hyperirritable knots in muscle tissue — refer pain, restrict range of motion, and maintain dysfunction. They don't release with stretching, foam rolling, or massage. They require direct mechanical input.
Palpation identifies the precise trigger point within the taut band of muscle. This is not the area of pain — it's the point generating it. Gluteus minimus trigger points refer down the leg in the exact pattern of sciatica. Upper trapezius trigger points drive headaches behind the eye. The referral pattern tells you where to look.
A fine filiform needle is inserted directly into the trigger point. The muscle produces a local twitch response — an involuntary contraction that confirms the active point has been reached. The twitch is the reset. It's the moment the sustained contraction releases.
After deactivation, the muscle returns to its normal resting length. Blood flow restores. The referred pain stops. Range of motion returns. What felt permanent was a sustained contraction — and once the trigger point releases, the downstream pattern clears.
Massage compresses the surface. Stretching pulls from both ends. Neither reaches the contracture at the center of the trigger point. Dry needling accesses it directly. The research literature — from Travell and Simons through Dommerholt — consistently confirms that mechanical disruption of the trigger point is the most effective route to deactivation.
Regulate. Reset.
Restore.
Acupuncture at Acunatomy targets four clinical pathways — each measurable, each supported by peer-reviewed research.
Downregulates the pain signal at its source. Resets the central sensitization that keeps the nervous system overreacting long after the original injury has healed. This is why chronic pain responds differently than acute pain — and why it requires a different approach.
Modulates the inflammatory response — reducing excess while preserving the body's natural healing process. Targets the local tissue environment around joints, tendons, and nerve pathways where chronic inflammation compounds dysfunction.
Activates the parasympathetic nervous system — the body's recovery mode. When stress, poor sleep, and muscle tension reinforce each other, the cycle doesn't break on its own. Acupuncture interrupts the loop at the neurological level.
Engages the neuroimmune axis — the interface between the nervous system and immune function. Relevant for autoimmune-related pain, post-surgical healing, and conditions where the immune response itself is contributing to tissue dysfunction.
Trained across systems.
Applied as one.
Each acupuncture tradition excels in a different clinical context. Eugene trained in all four — not to use them interchangeably, but to apply the right approach to the right problem.
The broadest clinical framework. Addresses systemic patterns — sleep disruption, chronic inflammation, stress-driven tension — through the body's regulatory systems. The foundation for treating the whole picture, not just the point of pain.
Refined palpation and gentle technique. Highly sensitive to subtle imbalances in muscle tone and tissue quality. This is where the diagnostic precision comes from — feeling what imaging can't show.
Constitutional treatment. Recognizes that the same condition presents differently depending on the individual. Two patients with the same MRI findings may need entirely different treatment strategies. This tradition is why.
The bridge between acupuncture and dry needling. Built on the work of Travell, Simons, Dommerholt, and Gunn. Maps the specific points in muscle tissue that refer pain, restrict movement, and maintain dysfunction.
The result: a practitioner who doesn't default to one system. The case determines the approach — not the other way around.
Acupuncture alone doesn't reach the muscle.
Dry needling alone doesn't regulate the signal.
A trigger point in your piriformis can compress the sciatic nerve. Deactivating it with dry needling releases the compression. But if the nervous system has been amplifying that signal for months, the pain perception persists even after the physical source is gone.
Acupuncture resets the nervous system's response. Dry needling removes the mechanical cause. Used together — in the same session, informed by the same assessment — they resolve what neither can alone.
Both methods working together — on the origin, not the symptom.
The pattern clears. Function returns.
Grounded in research.
Applied in practice.
The clinical approach at Acunatomy draws from peer-reviewed evidence and the foundational work of leading figures in pain science and myofascial medicine.
A Cochrane review of 8,727 patients found acupuncture significantly more effective than sham acupuncture and no-acupuncture controls for chronic pain — with effects persisting beyond the treatment period.
Dry needling has been shown to produce immediate improvements in pain pressure threshold and range of motion in patients with myofascial trigger points, with sustained effects at follow-up — particularly when combined with other modalities.
The combined use of acupuncture and trigger point dry needling addresses both the peripheral source (muscular) and central processing (neurological) components of chronic pain — a dual-mechanism approach increasingly supported in pain science literature.
Clinical references available upon request. Acunatomy's approach is informed by the work of Travell & Simons, Dommerholt, Fernández-de-las-Peñas, McGill, Gunn, and Baldry.
The approach starts with your assessment.
Out-of-Network Insurance Accepted: Empire BCBS · Oxford · United Health Care · Cigna · Aetna · Self-Pay Available