About The Practitioner
Olivia Russell MSA, AEMP, L.Ac.
Olivia (she/her) obtained her Bachelor of Science in Natural Health Sciences, Master of Science in Acupuncture, and certificate in Chinese Herbal Medicine from Bastyr University. Olivia has worked in the Chinese Herbal Medicine dispensary at Bastyr Center for Natural Health. She completed an advanced preceptorship at the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital in Chengdu, China, and is board certified through the NCCAOM. She also was an acupuncturist at The Pin Cushion, a community acupuncture clinic in the Capitol Hill Neighborhood. Her specialties include reproductive health (gynecology), fertility support, musculoskeletal pain, headache, migraine, TMJ, stress, and anxiety. When not treating patients or making herbal medicine, she enjoys spending time in nature, camping, cooking, reading, and watching football.
About Acupuncture
Acupuncture is the insertion of sterilized, single use filiform needles just below the skin, into strategic points on the body. The needles are very thin, about the diameter of a single human hair and often patients do not even feel their insertion. The points are located along channels, or meridians, which are located across the body. It is believed that qi (pronounced chi), or the body’s vital energy, flows along these channels. When someone is in pain, or unwell it means that there is a blockage obstructing the flow. A practitioner will pick points that correspond to the patient’s condition to help bring the body back to a state of balance, so that healing can occur. Benefits of acupuncture can include reduction of pain, increased immunity, improved digestion, stress relief, decreased healing time for injuries, regulating female cycles, alleviating painful menstruation, ease with labor and delivery, fertility, reducing fatigue, improving sleep quality, and reduced frequency and intensity of migraines.