1/15/04 - Stick it to aches, pains
Acupuncturist works out of Castleberry Hill warehouse

At a converted Castleberry Hill warehouse, Barbara Squires soothes the weary with soft music, exotic fragrances, warmth, massage, sharp needles and electric shocks.

"To be honest, a lot of people never step foot in this building simply because of the word 'needles,' " Squires said.

A licensed acupuncturist and owner of Squires Oriental Medical Arts, 310 Peters St., Squires has received national recognition for helping increase the level of respect in Georgia for the ancient healing method.

She helped get state laws changed to make acupuncture a licensed profession in Georgia, lectured to Emory medical students, was featured in a CNN segment on acupuncture and maintains a thriving practice near downtown Atlanta.

Squires is the reigning national "acupuncturist of the year," so named by the American Association of Oriental Medicine during a convention in Orlando in November.

"She's been a great resource for us," said Dr. Bennett Lee, an instructor at Emory Medical School, who has invited Squires to be a guest speaker at a new elective class on alternative medicine. "Five or 10 years ago, it would be pretty unusual for an acupuncturist to talk to medical doctors. But I think that's changing."

Evidence suggests acupuncture can relieve pain, said Lee, but he remains an "open-minded skeptic" on other uses.

Squires said she treats allergies, addiction, asthma, pain, PMS, repetitive stress injuries and depression and recently is seeing an increasing number of patients being referred to her by fertility doctors. She incorporates massage, herbal remedies, aromatherapy and nutrition into her practice. And she also uses a high-tech form of acupuncture in which she zaps strategic pinpoints on the earlobe with tiny electric shocks -- instead of using needles.

She inserts needles into various body parts but often focuses on the ear, particularly with smokers and those addicted to other things.

"When you're dealing with any kind of obsessive behavior, the closer to the brain the better," Squires said.

The needles are hair thin and hardly cause any sensation when inserted. They usually penetrate a quarter-inch to an inch into the skin, she said, but in some areas can be inserted up to 2 inches.

"If you go into the glutes you can go pretty deep," Squires said. "But they're facedown, so they don't see it, and they don't usually feel it because there's a lot of cushioning back there."

Originally from North Carolina, Squires was a professional psychologist for 15 years. While working as a drug counselor for Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, she became frustrated with the lack of successful treatment, until she heard about the use of acupuncture to fight addiction.

"This was the first time I could actually see some progress," Squires said.

She and another psychologist proposed an acupuncture-based drug treatment and were awarded a grant from the city of Baltimore. She directed the program for a year and a half. The successful program was featured on ABC's "20/20."

But Squires decided she would rather practice acupuncture than be an administrator, so she obtained a four-year degree from the Florida Institute of Chinese Medicine in 1994 and has been sticking pins in people ever since.

In Atlanta since 1995, Squires moved her practice from Buckhead to the Castleberry Hill neighborhood four years ago. She and artist Diane Hause bought a raw warehouse next to a U-Haul storage center and converted it. The ground floor is split between Squires' acupuncture studio and Hause's art studio. Upstairs is a residence with a rooftop garden.

"It's a great commute, only 32 steps down," Squires said.

Squires said she usually sees about eight patients a day.

"It makes me feel better in a general way," said patient Kathy Huggins of Tucker. "I sleep better, and my sinuses are great. Originally, I came in for a knee problem."