DEARBORN — Michigan is behind the rest of the country when it comes to alternative medicine, according to local acupuncturist Mostafa Belkhalfia. The state implemented laws regulating acupuncture just last year, becoming the 41st state to do so. Belkhalfia came to Dearborn from California after the laws passed, looking to offer a new kind of health care to the local community. “Here people tend to not be familiar with acupuncture,” Belkhalfia said. “Michigan is years behind… In California they believe in the alternative way.”

Mostafa Belkhalfia

Belkhalfia came to the U.S. from Morocco in 1984. He studied biotechnology and spent 10 years working for a pharmaceutical company in California before becoming fed up with Western medicine. He said that the researchers  he worked with never themselves used the prescription drugs that they studied. “They don’t believe in Western medicine… I spent 10 years making medicine for them, so I know the side effects. The good thing about acupuncture is that there are no side affects… I became fascinated by holistic medicine.”

He mocks common commercials for prescription drugs: “Beware. This can cause liver disease, sclerosis, heart attack… This medication causes nausea, gas, vomiting… So what the hell?”

Soft-spoken but animated, Belkhalfia, who spent a year studying alternative medicine in China, enthusiastically demonstrates for curious newcomers how acupuncture works, while offering random words of wisdom. “The power that makes the body heals the body,” he said. Acupuncture treatments involve the insertion of fine needles into the body at specific points corresponding to organs targeted to curb health problems. “Always, pain curves pain. You insert it in the meridian. When you insert it, it enhances the energy,” he said. The stimulation from the slight pain of the needles is said to boost qi, or energy flow, in a patient’s blood along meridians that connect to internal organs. For problems with acid reflux, a sterile needle of a specific size is placed in the lower leg. “The blood is the servant of the qi. If the energy is good, the blood circulation is good,” Belkhalfia said. Maintaining balanced energies, he said, is the key to health. “This is why old emperors in China, they died young because they had too many wives. Sex can deplete energy.”

In addition to acupuncture and herb concoctions that Belkhalfia prescribes to enhance effects, he also practices hijama, otherwise known as cupping. Hijama involves placement of glass, plastic or bamboo cups, heated with a flame, onto the upper back of a patient to create a vacuum sucking dead blood cells out through the skin. The procedure is said to promote circulation of blood and qi, subdue swelling and expel cold and damp pathogens. Hijama is well known in the Muslim world, where it is said to have been recommended by the Prophet Muhammad. Belkhalfia said it has been used by the Chinese for thousands of years. The ideal time to perform hijama, according to some Islamic texts, is during a full moon in warm weather. Belkhalfia said that is because gravity plays a role in the effects of the procedure. Using hijama, acupuncture and complex herbal concoctions at his office on West Warren Avenue in Dearborn, Belkhalfia said he can treat fatigue, smoking, obesity, stress, diabetes, back pain, carpal tunnel, acne, impotence, arthritis, headaches…

He also offers lifestyle advice based on what he learned from the Chinese. “They live longer. They know how to balance the mind and the body,” he said.  Manor Medical Center

Dr. Mostafa Belkhalfia 10645 W. Warren Ave. Dearborn, MI 48126 313.529.9922 PHOTO:City of Dearborn