About Kendra

Kendra is a licensed acupuncturist and board certified Chinese herbalist practicing Classical Chinese Medicine in Wilsonville, Oregon. She first became interested in Chinese medicine in 1991 when she observed acupuncture treatments at a hospital in Shanghai while on a high school exchange program. Chinese culture, history and language have been a continued area of interest for Kendra. She graduated from University of Pennsylvania with B.A. in East Asian Studies.  In 2002, Kendra fell in love with Chinese medicine while on a Sacred Mountain Qigong retreat with Heiner Fruehauf. Kendra moved to China to study Chinese language and medicine and lived in China for a total of 4 years. She completed her Chinese medical studies in 2011, graduating with honors from the National College of Natural Medicine (now National University of Natural Medicine).

What Kendra most loves about Chinese medicine is it’s highly personalized nature. Looking through the lens of Chinese medicine, no two patients are exactly the same. Both acupuncture points and herbal formulas are chosen for each patient’s unique patterns.  Kendra also loves geeking out on ancient Chinese texts and finding that much of the wisdom recorded there is still relevant for us today. Most of all, she loves getting to share this wisdom with patients.

In the treatment room, Kendra focuses on the overall structure and landscape of the body, observing areas of tension and congestion, in order to find ways to release pain. She relies on traditional methods of pulse taking, tongue observation and channel palpation to arrive at a diagnosis. She specializes in treating chronic pain of all kinds, especially lower back pain and shoulder pain. She also treats chronic disease conditions such as seasonal allergies, diabetes, fatigue, migraines, and neuromuscular conditions. She has trained with Dr. Heiner Fruehauf to treat autoimmune disease, Lyme disease and gu syndrome.

Methods of treatment she may use in a session include tuina/massage, acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping or guasha. She may also prescribe a customized herbal formula and offer diet and lifestyle counseling.

Kendra is now also teaching Classical Chinese Texts at the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM). This allows Chinese Medicine doctoral students to read the classics of the medicine in their original form. These texts form the foundation of Chinese Medicine theory and many of the principles and herbal formulas ( jing fang ) are still used today.

When Kendra is not working in the clinic, she loves to garden and spend time outdoors with her husband and son.