Eastern Medical Center, Community Contributor

Teresa Shen, L.Ac, was inspired by her father, Dr. Mason Shen, founder of Eastern Medical Center (EMC) in Pleasanton (est. 1982), to continue his legacy and apprenticed alongside her father. Amazed by the firsthand results she experienced with acupuncture for childhood nosebleeds and severe abdominal pain, she went on to earn her Masters of Chinese Medicine in China at Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2006, and is now CEO of EMC, where she also serves as lead physician and acupuncturist. Today, Shen carries on the family tradition as the latest of four generations of Chinese Medical practitioners, sharing her experience and passion through her clients, speaking engagements and blogs.

Collectively, Shen’s team has expertise in several modalities, including Acupuncture, Acupressure, CranioSacral Therapy, Reiki, Lymphatic Massage, ART (Active Release Therapy), Life Coaching and more. Though the disciplines differ, they all have a similar goal — to promote and support each patient’s restorative abilities. “We’re basically helping to activate the body’s own healing energy,” Shen says.

Patients come to Eastern Medical Center for a wide variety of reasons. Some wish to alleviate pain from chronic ailments, such as migraine headaches or digestive and endocrine issues, or to heal more quickly from broken bones and other injuries. Some seek relief from back, neck, knee and joint pain. Others seek prevention of hereditary illnesses such as strokes, high blood pressure and diabetes. Shen says, Chinese medicine can help just about any ailment, in some way. “We’ve seen some fantastic results,” she says, “Even with people who’ve tried everything, including injections, surgery or even multiple surgeries.”

Area doctors are taking notice and are now referring patients to the Center (EMC) for complementary care. “Eastern and Western medicine are not rivals,” Shen says. “Each has its own role.” Even when patients experience positive outcomes, they’re often surprised by the Eastern approach. “It’s not like conventional medicine,” Shen explains. “If someone comes in with an ankle injury, treatment may call for needles in other parts of the body, such as the wrist. Certain energy channels have a stronger affinity to getting more interaction with certain organs. Everything’s connected and everything works together, so if an ailment affects one thing, it may affect another.”