NCCAOM certified, Maryland licensed
Acupuncture at Acuherb Clinic
Sterile, single-use needles from a physician who has practiced in Ellicott City since 1997. Electro acupuncture is also offered, and treatment runs alongside the medicine and the doctor you already see.
Chapter 01
Very thin, sterile, and used once
The needles Dr. Liu uses are very thin stainless steel, nothing like an injection needle. Inserting one into the skin is not painful in the way a shot is. In this clinic every needle is sterile and used exactly once before it is thrown away, so nothing that touches you has touched anyone else.
Most people feel a slight sting at the moment of insertion, and that is usually the whole of it. Dr. Liu also offers electro acupuncture, where a small current runs through certain needles during the session, for cases where that suits the treatment plan better than needles alone.
Treatment room at Acuherb Clinic with a table made up in fresh linens and a heat lamp
Alongside the rest of your care, not instead of it
Acupuncture at this clinic is not offered as a replacement for the medicine you already take. Treatment can be given at the same time as your existing prescriptions, and Dr. Liu asks you to keep up your regular visits to your own primary physician while you are seeing her.
That is a deliberate part of how the practice runs, not a formality. She wants to know what your doctor has already told you before she decides anything, and she expects that relationship to continue rather than be handed over to her.
Chapter 03
What the health authorities have said about it
None of what follows is a claim this clinic makes about what it can do for you. It is what three bodies put on the record about acupuncture in general, quoted as they wrote it, and it is their position rather than a promise from us.
The clinic's own published summary of that record reads: "In 1979, the World Health Organizations has cited 104 different conditions that acupuncture can treat, including migraines, sinusitis, the common cold, tonsilitis, asthma, inflammation of the eyes, addictions, myopia, duodenal ulcer and other gastrointestinal disorders, trigeminal neuralgia, Meniere's disease (ringing in the ears coupled with dizziness), tennis elbow, paralysis from stroke, speech aphasia, sciatica, and osteoarthritis. In 1993, FDA classified the acupuncture needle as a medical device. In 1997, US National Institute of Health (NIH) concluded that there are clear evidences that needle acupuncture treatment is effective for postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting, nausea of pregnancy, and postoperative dental pain."
Whether any of that bears on your own case is a conversation to have with Dr. Liu directly, at (410) 313-8226, not something to assume from a list.
Insurance and what a visit costs
Dr. Liu is an in-network provider for Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, JHU, United Health and VA medical insurance, and the clinic also accepts personal injury and worker's compensation claims. Coverage for acupuncture varies by plan, so it is worth a call to your own insurer before your first visit to confirm what applies to you.
Acuherb Clinic, rated 5.0 from 6 Google reviews. Call (410) 313-8226.
From people who have sat on that table
“My initial approach to acupuncture and overall [treatment with] TCM started with a skeptical but open mind. It is an understatement to say that I'm very pleased with my results.”
Jerry H., Catonsville
“Dr. Liu's treatment relieved my pain from the stroke 10 years ago. My hand function has also greatly improved. I can do many things now, such as tying my shoelaces by myself.”
J. M., Ellicott City
Consulting desk, Ellicott City
Dr. Liu took her degree in medicine at Hunan Province University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1984 and is Maryland licensed in acupuncture and NCCAOM certified in acupuncture and Chinese herbology. She has practiced from this room in Ellicott City since 1997, and the desk where she reviews your history before any needle goes in sits a few feet from the treatment table.
The waiting room at 10304B Baltimore National Pike is small on purpose. There is no bank of treatment bays and no rotating staff, just one practitioner who has been at this address for close to thirty years. Call (410) 313-8226 to ask whether acupuncture suits what you have before you book anything.