Japanese Acupuncture
Kiiko Matsumoto Style (KMS) Acupuncture

Kiiko Matsumoto, LAc, is a world-renowned acupuncturist and teacher best known for integrating the work of Japanese masters such as Master Nagano, Master Kawai, and Dr. Manaka into a coherent and clinically effective style. She is co-director of the KINKO Psychiatric Hospital in Yokohama City, Japan, researching and treating depression using Master Nagano-style. Matsumoto is also the author of several books on acupuncture, based on a growing understanding and deep interest in classical Chinese medical texts. Her two-volume Kiiko Matsumoto’s Clinical Strategies is a seminal work and cornerstone of palpation-based acupuncture. She continues to travel worldwide to teach her style of acupuncture.

Virtually Painless with Therapeutic Results

Lesley Valentine of Artful Life Acupuncture in Portland Oregon is fully trained and experienced in Japanese Style KMS Acupuncture. Lesley employs a gentle approach using the hands and soft palpitation to determine what the body needs. This approach uses a hands-on technique for diagnosis, then applying the smallest, thinnest needles and very shallow needle insertion for stimulation. This makes treatments virtually painless using these tiny gauge needles. For those who are sensitive or fear needles, including children, we can use no needles at all, just using hands-on techniques to stimulate points or stroke the surface of the skin.

Japanese acupuncture emphasizes focused pulse diagnosis and palpation of the abdomen and meridians to identify root patterns. These root patterns help determine the underlying conditions causing the symptoms you may be experiencing.

We can identify patterns of tightness, pain, coldness, heat, dampness, dryness, or other findings and determine which meridians should be the focus of the treatment.

By the end of your appointment, you will feel the changes that have occurred during the treatment.