It’s amazing what Dr. Wan Cheng Liu can tell about a person by simply feeling his or her pulse. Liu, who has more than 30 years experience in acupuncture and Chinese medicine, has his office at 3601 Victoria Park Ave., Suite 408 (416-490-9708), and from the testimonials he has from patients, you can tell he is popular with them.

Liu puts his fingers on your right wrist, concentrates for about half minute, and then puts his fingers on your left wrist, all the time feeling the pulse.

His diagnosis:  tenseness, shoulder pain, lack of feeling in part of the arm and some other symptoms.  Most of them are right.

Everyone, he says, can get a free consultation and the pulse can usually tell you if there are any problems, He says people shouldn’t drink coffee or alcohol at least four hours before the examination because that can affect the pulse readings.

He shows you the needles he uses on patients. They’re about two to three inches long and he inserts them by hitting the end with a quick flick of the finger.  His patients say they don’t feel much, and Liu doesn’t use any electrical hookups because he knows where to put the needles.

The needles don’t hurt, he emphasizes.  It feels “just like a mosquito.”

“It’s a natural treatment, no side-effects, so you can treat a lot of things.  You can treat more than 100 kinds of disease.  You can adjust the nerve system.”

The patient is usually lying down or resting in the chair when the treatment is applied.

Acupuncture, he says, often shows quick results.  Even after the first treatment, the patient can feel much better, he says, and more and more Canadians are trying it.

Rod Huard, 46, is a firm believer. He’s an oilfield worker and about six years ago he fell 24 feet off an oil tank.  A few weeks later he began having back pains.  He had tried muscle relaxants and painkillers but “they eat your stomach out”.  He went to an acupuncturist in Edmonton and it seemed to help.

A few weeks ago he was working in Wainwright and the back problems flared up again.

“I could hardly walk.  I couldn’t sleep at night for the pain.”

He had heard about Liu and came to Regina to see what he could do.  Now he’s into his twelfth visit.  I haven’t felt better in years. I recommend acupuncture for everybody,” he said.  Huard now is back at work and even the drive from Wainwright to Regina doesn’t bother him any more.

“It used to bother my back to drive.  Now I’m driving three hours a day.  That’s amazing.”

Trish Rector says her whole family goes to Liu, and he has helped them all.

“For me, it was a foot injury and a sore elbow and numb fingers,” she said, adding she puts a lot of stress on her body because she enjoys doing Scottish country dancing.

The treatments, she said, have really helped.

But she’s even more enthusiastic about her daughter, who is studying voice and who has even sung with the Boston Pops.  Her tonsils were swollen and she was afraid what that would do to her voice.  After 12 sessions, the left tonsil was down completely and the right one had decreased a lot in size.

“If it continues she hopes it won’t need surgery,” her mother said.

Rector says she likes the preciseness of the treatments.

“What I like about acupuncture is the fine discrimination they pick up.  They listen to the pulse and, if there’s an irregularity, your work on it before it becomes a major problem.”