I have over 15 years of experience in trigger point therapy, (also referred to as “dry needling”), more than nearly any other therapist in the Northwest. During the assessment and treatment, I carefully consider a patient’s actual experience of illness or distress.

Rather than a theoretical textbook diagnosis, patient care focuses on palpation of the body for myofascial constrictions. I address and release muscles using a needling technique similar to that practiced at regional pain clinics – though the filaments are far gentler and result in little or no tissue damage.

When performed by an experienced acupuncturist, Trigger Point therapy allows patients to manage pain and stress as a result of acute or chronic injury.

As a dancer, my body is my instrument and when it’s broken, I can’t really work around it. I have had chronic hip issues for a long time as well as the usual strains on the rest of my body that come with a discipline like ballet. There have been long periods when my dancing didn’t seem feasible. I started seeing Rachel for my hips and other old injuries and I moved very differently after the first few treatments. Her combination of classical Chinese meridians with Western trigger-points really opened up the areas in my body that were stuck. – Eliana, ballerina