Affiliate Practitioners

Duc T. Ly, L.Ac., D.Ac.

Duc T. Ly (pronounced Duke T. Lee), is a nationally board certified Washington and Oregon State licensed acupuncturist. Originally trained in Portland, Oregon, at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, Duc has also practiced and studied in a variety of locations such as Nanjing, China; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Bellevue, Washington; and now Ashland and Medford, Oregon. Duc is a general practitioner specializing in the management of pain and allergies.

Coming from a family of western trained Physicians, Duc was exposed to both Eastern and Western perspective towards healthcare. How is Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practiced in Asia today with Western Allopathic Medicine also available? To see the integration of Eastern and Western medicine practiced side-by-side in today’s modern Asia was one of the main motivating factors that led Duc to go to Asia to study and practice acupuncture. The trips into Asia also reinforced Duc’s  philosophy towards healthcare. “My father, who was a Swiss trained Physician as well as a professor at the Vietnamese medical school, would first apply acupressure and diet therapy if a family member got sick. If the condition persisted, he would take us to our family Acupuncturist and Herbalist. After that, if the problem still persisted, than my father would prescribe pharmaceuticals or surgery as a last resort. That was beautiful! Use the modalities that are the least invasive and most natural first, then move to higher degrees of invasiveness or introduce exogenous synthetic medicines after, as a last resort. That’s how you take advantage of the strengths of each healthcare system available to us. We are so lucky to have Eastern and Western medicine available to us, but only if we can recognize how to use it correctly.”

As a practitioner of TCM, a holistic form of medicine, Duc uses acupuncture, herbs, dietary recommendations, as well as strategies for stress reduction, exercise, and other corrective therapies to gently nudge patients’ bodies back into harmony or balance. “ In TCM we use the terms balance and harmony. Western Allopathic medicine uses the term homeostasis. But essentially the concept is the same. If the body is balanced or in harmony, if we can achieve homeostasis, the body will heal itself. That’s what it’s designed to do! That is the real magic of healing- our bodies can heal itself under the right conditions. Healthcare practitioners help this process along. We are like health coaches, trying to help patients regain their vitality and reach their full potential.”