Massena business making a point

MASSENA — Christina L. LeBoeuf specializes in sticking people with needles.

This summer, she opened Light Touch Acupuncture, Massena's first acupuncture practice. Though there are not many alternative-medicine practices in the area, she said the branch of traditional Chinese medicine is catching on.

"It's picking up; it wasn't at first. Some people have already had acupuncture in Fort Covington and I have been getting some referrals," Ms. LeBoeuf said.

Her small practice consists of one room, complete with a treatment table, maps of acupuncture points on the wall and dozens of individually wrapped sterilized needles.

In a front room of the old white house at 172 Main St. are shelves of herbal medicines and remedies, to complement what she does with the tiny needles. Soft music plays throughout the practice, which is painted in white and light green.

Acupuncture is slowly gaining followers, mostly in urban areas. It is generally accepted as a treatment for nausea relief and for pain from a variety of ailments, from headaches to carpal tunnel syndrome, according to Ms. LeBoeuf. In 2006, an estimated 3.1 million adults and 150,000 children in the United States used acupuncture, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Acupuncture is designed to treat a person's physical problems, but also takes into account their mental and spiritual health, Ms. LeBoeuf said. That's why she spends up to two hours talking to her first-time patients, to get a feel for their entire history.

"If you go to a doctor with a headache, you'll get Tylenol," the Massena native said. "If five people come in to get headache treatments, they're going to get five different treatments."

There are hundreds of acupuncture points all over the body, and various combinations of them treat different ailments. The treatment works quickly, according to Ms. LeBoeuf, who has a master's degree in oriental medicine from Atlantic Institute of Oriental Medicine, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

"A lot of people are surprised that they leave here without pain. They come in with a migraine and they leave without it," she said. "I don't question it. It's been working for 4,000 years."

Though things at her practice are getting busier, she still has room for new patients and would like to see a few more filter into the house, which she shares with Quiet Mind Yoga.

"Some days are really busy, when I can't take anyone else unless I do someone on my lunch break. I'll do that if I have to," she said. "Other days, there's more down time."