Good vibrations

Sean McCarthy

Thanks to the introduction of Holistic medical approaches, much professional healthcare now goes beyond the physical to include the mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of modern patients.

Many in the medical community are convinced of the benefits of treating “the whole person,” and a pair of area business are employing this expanded approach in a variety of treatments, often combining Western and Eastern medical practices. Whether it’s acupuncture, herbal medicine, therapeutic massage, Reiki, or meditation, the holistic approach to wellbeing is benefitting people in an array of situations and circumstances.

People are practicing holistic medicine because they’ve seen it work in their own lives, and since every person has an individual experience, these businesses feature a variety of methods and techniques, tailored specifically to the patient.

When Erin Starodub opened Mattapoisett Acupuncture, Herbs and Integrative Medicine in September 2020, she did so with the complete confidence that she could help others on their path to a healthier, more vibrant life. She had experienced the benefits of holistic medicine first hand.

In 2006, in her mid-20s, Starodub was hit by a car while riding her bicycle – a debilitating accident that nearly cost her a leg. But almost a year later, a yoga class would by chance lead to her introduction to the healing and life-changing benefits of acupuncture and Oriental medicine.

After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 2020, Starodub left her lucrative career as a Marine Engineer to practice acupuncture and herbal medicine at 81 Marion Road in Mattapoisett.

“After my bicycle accident I didn’t feel a positive shift until I started doing acupuncture,” Starodub claims. “With acupuncture I felt better mentally and it felt like my spirit came back into my body. I have an understanding of pain and making a comeback of a lifetime. I can treat issues that western medicine really might not acknowledge in some ways that eastern medicine does. I know what works from personal experience.”

Starodub would eventually return to her bicycle and successfully compete in triathlons.

Starodub responds to people’s fears of the needles that are involved in acupuncture.

“Acupuncture is not painful,” she says. “A lot of people don’t even feel the needle go in, they only feel the touch of my hand on their skin.”

Starodub applies needles to a patient’s hands and feet, and occasionally their face, depending on what issue is being treated. The average session lasts for 28 minutes or more. But with most patients, Starodub will combine acupuncture with herbs and other approaches.

“One of the most important parts of a person’s health is nutrition and what they’re consuming,” she says. “I’ll talk with everyone about one or two things they can change. Usually a change in nutrition will make the patient feel so much better and change their life. People see great results.”

Starodub says her background in engineering was a plus when she began studying holistic medicine.

“One of my reasons for success is my troubleshooting skills, my ability to diagnose people,” she says. “I was in a desperate situation. After my accident I had issues that I really had to work through both mentally and physically, but I was able to approach it with an open mind and no expectations and I’m living proof that acupuncture and holistic medicine work. I’ve made a complete recovery.”

Finding the frequency

Gillian Lake knows about recoveries. As the owner of Hands On Health Therapeutic Massage, Lake uses a vast variety of treatments that allows her to treat each client for their specific health needs.

“I don’t have a menu – I have many tools and knowledge of different modalities that I can use depending on what the client presents with,” Lake says. “Every person is unique.”

Located at 2 Wolcott Ave. in North Dartmouth, Lake’s massage work includes techniques such as acupressure, deep tissue, cupping, myofascial release, active and passive stretching, heat and/ or ice application, and IR light exposure to treat tissues and move fluids. But most of her work deals with energy.

“I’m always doing energy work, regardless of what massage I’m doing,” she says. “Energy is neither created or destroyed, it’s merely transferred. We’re all energy, everything has energy. If you’re feeling sluggish or drained, your energy is low and you’ll need a little boost. Sometimes your energy can stagnate and it can cause you pain and cause dysfunction.

“From the moment a person walks through my door I can begin to get an idea of what’s going on with them, just by the way their body moves, and when they talk to me. I can tell by their voice, their volume, and the pace of their words. My first priority is to relax them, which helps me discover more things about them. I usually start a treatment by teaching people to breathe. Many people forget how to breathe. And then we work on meditation.”

And Lake has another unique element to her practice – her ability to act as a medium for some of her clients.

“Sometimes when I’m in people’s energy I get mediumtype messages from passed loved ones, I get messages for people,” she says. “It doesn’t always happen but when it does it’s powerful.”

A former chemist, Lake took to holistic practices shortly after the birth of her first child.

“Medications and drugs can cause more problems than the actual disease,” Lake says. “If you can be healthy without medications, then why not? You can choose good foods and exercise to reduce your pain without the use of opioids and not risk becoming addicted. I’d rather be addicted to massage.

“If someone gets a massage once a week they would spend a lot less time in the doctor’s office.”