Tammy Day

Tammy’s work in acupuncture is grounded in an unusually deep understanding of movement, anatomy, and manual therapy. She has practiced massage therapy for nearly three decades and completed her Master of Science in acupuncture in 2007, bringing to Chinese medicine many years of experience assessing and treating the body through touch.

That experience continues to shape the way she needles, just as acupuncture has changed the way she works manually. For patients with muscular, structural, or movement-related complaints, the two approaches are integrated rather than treated as separate options.

Before either came dance. Tammy holds a BFA in dance, and that training remains visible in her clinical work: in the attention she gives to structure, alignment, movement, and the ways a body adapts and compensates over time.

Training and lineage

Tammy holds a Master of Science in acupuncture from the Swedish Institute, with training in Traditional Chinese Medicine and the traditions of Classical Chinese Medicine. She has also undertaken extensive continuing study with Jeffrey Yuen, whose teachings in Classical Chinese Medicine form an important part of the shared clinical foundation of the practice.

Classical Chinese Medicine represents a distinct current within the field: older, less standardized, and particularly attentive to the individual presentation of the patient rather than the application of a fixed protocol. Tammy has continued to build on that foundation through extensive training in medical massage, shiatsu, tui na, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, Manual Lymph Drainage, and foot reflexology, in which she is certified by the American Reflexology Certification Board.

These are not simply separate techniques added to a list. Decades of manual practice have given Tammy a broad vocabulary for working with the body, and she moves between approaches according to what she finds, what the patient needs, and how the body responds.

What Tammy brings to the room

Tammy’s particular strength lies at the meeting point between acupuncture and manual therapy, but her practice extends well beyond musculoskeletal care.

For pain and movement-related problems, the combination of acupuncture and hands-on treatment can be especially useful. Acupuncture can address pain and patterns of muscular tension, while manual assessment gives Tammy another way to understand how an area is moving, where it is restricted, and how the surrounding structures may be contributing to the problem. Treatment can then move naturally between acupuncture and manual work rather than requiring the two to be approached separately.

At the same time, Tammy has a broad acupuncture practice. She has extensive experience working with fertility patients and supporting people during cancer treatment, including patients undergoing chemotherapy. In these situations, the work is necessarily different: attentive to what the patient is going through, responsive to changes from one treatment to the next, and coordinated with the medical care they are receiving.

She also treats allergies and other general health concerns and works within the classical tradition with patients whose reasons for coming may be primarily emotional rather than physical.

Whatever brings someone in, Tammy is an attentive and focused practitioner. She takes her time, listens carefully, and stays closely engaged with what is changing over the course of treatment rather than simply repeating the same approach from visit to visit.

What a treatment with Tammy is like

Unhurried, observant, and individualized from the outset.

Tammy wants to understand what is happening now, what has changed, what you have already tried, and how your body has responded. With musculoskeletal complaints, that may include manual assessment and attention to movement and restriction. With fertility treatment, supportive care during cancer treatment, or other health concerns, the questions and treatment naturally look different.

Treatment follows from what she finds. Depending on why you have come, that may mean acupuncture, manual therapy, or a combination of the two, adjusted as the session develops. Her breadth of training allows her to change the approach rather than forcing every patient into the same treatment.

The same flexibility applies to massage. A session can be deeply relaxing, highly focused, or move between the two. You do not need to arrive knowing whether you need deep tissue, tui na, orthopedic work, reflexology, or something else. Tammy can make those decisions with you as the treatment unfolds.

Facial acupuncture and microneedling

Tammy also provides facial acupuncture and microneedling.

Facial acupuncture approaches the face within the broader framework of Chinese medicine, while microneedling uses very fine needles to create controlled micro-injuries in the skin, stimulating its natural repair response. Tammy can help patients determine which approach is appropriate for what they would like to address.

Microneedling is offered specifically with Tammy and is booked as its own treatment.

Teaching

Tammy taught advanced massage therapy at the Swedish Institute for twenty years and currently teaches acupuncture at Pacific College of Health and Science. At the Swedish Institute, her courses included Introduction to Eastern Theory, Advanced Western Massage Techniques, and Assessment of Soft Tissue Dysfunction.

Taken together, those subjects describe her clinical work unusually well: the theory of Chinese medicine, the technical skill of Western manual therapy, and the assessment required to determine what may be contributing to a musculoskeletal problem.

Teaching those skills for two decades has also required Tammy to articulate what experienced practitioners often do intuitively — how to observe, palpate, assess movement, choose an approach, and change course when the body responds differently than expected.

Credentials

• Licensed Acupuncturist, New York State
• Licensed Massage Therapist, New York State
• M.S., Acupuncture, Swedish Institute, 2007 — Traditional and Classical Chinese Medicine
• B.F.A., Dance
• Extensive continuing study with Jeffrey Yuen in Classical Chinese Medicine
• Certified in foot reflexology, American Reflexology Certification Board
• Trained in medical massage, shiatsu, tui na, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, and Manual Lymph Drainage
• Facial acupuncture and microneedling
• Faculty, Pacific College of Health and Science
• Advanced massage therapy faculty, Swedish Institute — twenty years