Mention acupuncture and thoughts of sticking needles in the body come to mind. But there’s a local man who does more than that in his practice.“I am practicing Korean style acupuncture as taught by one of the great masters Dr Ingil Lee. It is qigong or moving acupuncture,” said Troy Tweed, owner of Chinese Healing Arts Ltd.Dr Tweed explained that in addition to inserting needles in specific areas of the body to alleviate a multitude of medical complaints, he also guides his patients through a simple exercise.“We have you do the exercise with the needles in you,” he said.The exercise, like the placement of the needles, differs depending on the person and their specific complaint.And the conditions he treats are wide and varied ranging from sports injuries like torn ligaments and sore muscles to diabetes, high blood pressure and even stroke.“Our weight loss programme is very popular. Some people loose up to 25lbs a month when they stick to the programme,” he said.Another unique feature of the moving acupuncture is that most times clients leave a treatment with some small needles still in place.“We put little tacks in your ears,” he said. “These are very small acupuncture needles that we leave in. The client can easily remove them — we usually say after seven days,” he added.According to Dr Tweed, the long duration acupressure in the ears and the prescribed daily exercise make the moving acupuncture technique more potent than techniques where the client has needles inserted and removed in a single session.“My teacher calls it martial arts acupuncture and said this makes it very powerful, very strong,” said Dr Tweed.Under his tutelage for nine years, Dr Tweed explained that his teacher, Dr Lee, comes from a long line of acupuncturists and medical doctors.“Everyone in his family is an acupuncturist and many are also physicians. His father, his father’s father, his uncles — all the men are highly educated in medicine. He (Dr Lee) has been studying for over 50 years. It’s the family acupuncture — like a family secret,” said Dr Tweed.In fact Dr Lee has not trained anyone in the technique except Dr Tweed. “He has one child, a daughter, and I am his only student,” said Dr Tweed.The process was long and thorough.“I was with my teacher for five or six years before I inserted my first needle,” said Dr Tweed who is now a licensed certified acupuncturist.He said acupuncture is an intricate science and that he has to touch his clients to feel exactly where their acupressure points are.“A good acupuncturist senses where to put the needles. His hands have to be very sensitive in pulsing for the points. In fact my teacher said some of the best acupuncturists are blind,” said Dr Tweed.And it’s not enough to find the correct points. Dr Tweed explained that the angle and degree to which the needle is inserted, are also vitally important.Dr Tweed has been offering his services locally for a year and a half, replacing Korean acupuncturist Alex Kim who was with the company for four years.“The acupuncture I practice now is quite different, in that it’s only acupuncture. I don’t burn moxin,” he said.And he considers that he is still a student of Dr Lee. He consults with him on each of his patients.“We have a very close relationship with Dr Lee. He is also a certified herbalist and often speaks with our patients and prepares herbal remedies specific to their unique situation,” he said.Dr Lee is in Manhattan and if patients want, Dr Tweed said he is happy to make arrangements for them to meet and have a treatment with him.“We (he and his wife Regina) are so thankful to Dr Lee in giving us this gift,” said Dr Tweed. “I know that I am not doing the healing. What is true is that I know a method of acupuncture that helps people to heal themselves.”Those healings have included patients no longer having to take pain medication, high blood pressure medication, and some medications for diabetes.“I’ve had clients that after coming to me three of four times, see their blood pressure, their blood sugar, normalise,” he said.“I’ve had guys come to me because they want to get off drugs, and I’ve done the acupuncture for them and it’s worked,” he said. “There are points to do with cravings and when I work on them, it helps those who want to quit their addictions,” he added.A single session isn’t usually enough to completely eliminate a complaint, but according to Dr Tweed, there’s often a noticeable improvement after one session.“It depends on the condition and the person, but usually a client will not need more than ten sessions,” he said.“It’s not about having them dependent on us,” said Dr Tweed. “That’s why we teach them the exercises and encourage them to do them daily. We want them to have freedom and to be healthy.”Local insurance companies respect the validity of acupuncture and offer coverage in most cases.A session at the Chinese Healing Arts Centre in Warwick costs $125 and lasts about 45 minutes. The Tweeds also make home visits for $175.For more information you can contact them on 236-4000 or visit their website www.littleherbalshop.bm or at Chinese Healing Arts Ltd on Facebook.