Acupuncturist Practices Eastern Healing in Glen Head

After cracking a rib and tearing cartiledge practicing martial arts, Adam Cantor, 31, was looking for relief. He tried different doctors but none had anything more than pain medications to offer, and he wasn't interested.

He tried a friend who practiced acupuncture, and the results were striking.

"There was no surface bruising, and he brought all that right to the surface," said Cantor.

The bruises appeared, the pain faded - and he was hooked.

His new interest drew him to China, where he studied the craft at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. After his own experience, he decided to study how to combine acupuncture with treatment for trauma and sports injuries, but he also learned the wide range of ailments the ancient art has been known to successfully address.

"This is one aspect of Chinese medicine. It's a very large aspect, but it's one aspect of Chinese medicine, and one that was used to treat almost every and any ailment that presented itself among the Chinese people for thousands of years," Cantor said. "So it was refined through trial and error, through clinical research, over that time."

Chinese healers discovered that pushing a point on the leg helps with digestion, while another spot on the leg helps the shoulder. As they got to know the networks of muscles and nerves that work together in the human body, they also incorporated conditions of the mind into their treatments.

"Classically, mind and body were treated together," said Cantor, who said he has effectively treated patients with emotional problems through a combination of needles applied to pressure points and certain do-it-yourself exercises which he teaches at the practice he opened at 1009 Glen Cove Ave. in July.

One woman reported neck pain, and during the course of her evaluation revealed some emotional trauma she had suffered over time. With that in mind, Cantor targeted points on the patient's body related to emotions, and the neck pain disappeared.

"Certain points in the ear help the chemistry of the brain," he said. "[Acupuncture] can release different chemicals to address those issues."

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Some common physical ailments: stomach pain creates nodules of tension in the leg, and survivors of heart attacks can be left with nodules in the arm. The tissue surrounding these nodules is influenced, Cantor explained, so a properly-placed needle has a ripple effect from the knot outward. Muscles are freed from tension and allowed to glide over each other as they should.

Cantor said he prides himself on being a practitioner who can educate patients as to how they can help themselves, teaching breathing exercises, the mind/body alignment practice of qigong, nutrition and mindfulness meditation.

"I want them to have the tools to not have these problems in the future," he said.

While Cantor was clear that he doesn't discount the work done in the hospital emergency room, his practice can address the wide range of complications and aftereffects of such traumas.

"We gravitate toward Western medicine because our society says that's what works," he said, but with so many common ailments that are prescribed a pill or accepted as a fact of life, this treatment is one that offers not just an alternative but often a cure that is closer in line with the body's natural makeup.

His website links to several recent studies supporting acupuncture's effectiveness, including a Sept. 10 article from U.S. News & World Report on an analysis of previous research involving nearly 18,000 patients in the U.S. and Europe supporting the treatment's success in easing chronic pain.

Cantor also noted the military's employment of acupuncturists to treat returning combat veterans.

He said he's looking forward to an upcoming opportunity to study a cadaver, which he called a unique opportunity.

"I'm always learning, looking to further myself," he said.

Cantor will deliver two local lectures in October: on Monday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Sea Cliff Village Library, and on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Glen Cove YMCA.

For more information, he can be reached at 516-945-9565.

Editor's Note: In addition to studying in China, Cantor also holds a Master's Degree with honors from Tri-State College of Acupuncture in Manhattan.

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