Things Chinese

I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with some amazing acupuncturists throughout the years. When I was seeing each one of them I’d find myself saying, this is the BEST acupuncturist ever. Jake Fratkin, my very first acupuncturist, who I saw during my dancing years, cured a bad case of tendonitis in my leg with a few treatments. Meanwhile my medical specialist told me to try Advil. Unfortunately, Jake was outspoken and he eventually had to flee Chicago for Colorado where the licensing laws were friendlier than Illinois'. That law, it should be noted, just changed only this May and now they don’t need a doctor referral to legally perform acupuncture on willing clients. (I know, our leaders of the free world are draconian thinkers.) Now, of course, doctors have gotten in on the act: If ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Pearls of wisdom from the AMA. . .But I digress.

In 2005, I was doing some research on a Chinese treatment called gua sha, which is a healing practice, then still little known in the US. Gua sha involves stroking the surface of the skin with a round-edged instrument—some practitioners use one of those Chinese soup spoons, others use one of several instruments designed specifically for the treatment. (See photo above left.) It’s good for removing blood stagnation if you are experiencing, say, pain or stiffness and even for fevers and nausea. It’s also a preventive measure for infectious illnesses.


I finally found a woman who practices right here in Chicago, Larisa Turin, and she’s just fabulous. (Full disclosure, I wrote a story about her acupuncture “facelifts” for Conscious Choice magazine.)

I can’t speak to the benefits of gua sha since when she performed it on me, to the back, it was so that I could feel the sensation and how painful the process is, not because I was experiencing any symptoms. She was gentle but, like cupping, it leaves big red spots on your back. Unlike cupping, gua sha can be painful. I bet it could get pretty rough if you get it done in Chinatown. Or China.

Larisa is a truly gifted Chinese Medicine practitioner. And her story is amazing. She was a medical doctor in her native Russia until her diplomat husband was assigned to a post in Mongolia. To keep herself busy she enrolled in a prestigious Chinese medicine school there. Eventually, she and her family moved to the States and she’s never looked back on her Western medicine former life, though this very background is what makes her so great; she’s the perfect combo of Western diagnosis training and Eastern treatments.

Now Larisa’s practice is moving in still another direction. She’s the go-to girl for women with fertility problems. Women go to her from all over the country; one women from London goes to her too. And her practice is not just limited to young women. She is skilled in all phases of the female reproductive cycle, menstrual symptom relief to menopause.

Give her a holler if you’re a female in need, or a man for all other health concerns.