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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - In a society dominated by Western medicine, Martha Rokeby-Thomas wonders how many people understand what it is exactly she does.

Rokeby-Thomas is a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. She graduated from a five-year program at the Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences in Nelson, B.C., in December 2005. She arrived in Yellowknife in June and practises at the D'Orient Spa on Range Lake Road.

Martha Rokeby-Thomas adjusts the position of acupuncture needles in the back of a patient at D'Orient Spa, Aug. 24. - Ben Morgan/NNSL photo

"The Chinese noticed thousands of years ago that the inside and the outside reflect each other," said Rokeby-Thomas.

She said the difference between what she does and Western medicine is largely a matter of philosophy.

Traditional Chinese medicine, she said, treats the body as a whole - there's no difference between the emotional and the physical being.

"It's a medicine based on harmony as opposed to cause and effect," she said.

Of the various treatments at her disposal - typically acupuncture, herbal remedies and massage - Rokeby-Thomas said she uses acupuncture the most.

"What I'm doing is really working with the Qi," she said. "I explained to a patient the other day that most people have the understanding that we're a spiritual being as well as a physical being - Qi is the place in between those two things."

An initial consultation takes a couple of hours and runs around $125, follow-up visits are about $80.

"But before I can treat someone I need to perform a diagnostic so I have to ask them a whole bunch of questions," she said.

Some of the questions could seem odd to some people, she said, such as asking them about seeing little floaters in their vision.

"But all of these strange little symptoms that we all have indicate patterns that are going on within the body."

Dr. Andre Corriveau, chief medical officer for the NWT, said there is no law in the NWT regulating the practices of non-Western medicine but he acknowledged that acupuncture at least has been shown to have medical value for certain types of problems.

"Acupuncture wouldn't be part of the medicare that covers physicians' services and hospital-based care but people could check with their own insurers to see if it would be included in their own coverage," said Corriveau.

He cautioned about mixing herbal treatments with prescription drugs.

As a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, Rokeby-Thomas can prescribe herbs as treatments - typically steeped as tea - for ailments. She said her education provides the knowledge to work with Western pharmaceuticals, but not to prescribe them.

"I'm very well-equipped to work with Western doctors, it's just that they're not super-equipped to work with me, yet," she said. "I have their training, it's just they don't have mine."

She said in traditional Chinese medicine external influences on the body play a big part in the philosophy of why a patient might require treatment. Rokeby-Thomas said it's common for patients to come in for a "tune up" a couple time a year.

"Seasonal attunement is what they call it," she said.

Considering the harsh climate in the North and the external influences on the human body - what she calls pathological influences - she expects to be treating a lot of joint pains and conditions related to exposure to cold, dampness and wind.