By Chris Shackleford
Free Press Staff Writer

Estelle Perkins was in pain. Worse, she couldn't breathe. At 81, Mrs. Perkins couldn't even walk from her bedroom to the kitchen.

Numerous trips to physicians brought little, if any, relief.

"They told me they couldn't find anything wrong with me, except that I was a smoker. Even antibiotics didn't help,' she says.

When her daughter suggested an acupuncturist, she felt she had nothing to lose.

After three weeks of treatment, Mrs. Perkins is not only walking again, she's feeling better than she has in years.

"I noticed a difference after the first treatment,' she says from a small bed in Dr. Yeu-Quang Wong's East Ridge office.

Next door, in another examining room, a man lies quietly while Dr. Wong inserts several surgical steel pins into his hands and legs.

Severe arthritis had left the 59-year-old builder unable to work. Now, after receiving his third acupuncture treatment, he says the pain is finally lessening.

"The doctors tried treating me with cortisone (a powerful anti-inflammatory steroid), but you can't take it forever,' he says.

When told he would have to live with pain the rest of his life, he took the advice of a friend and contacted Dr. Wong.

"Sure I was skeptical,' he says, looking like a large pincushion rather than your typical patient.

"But it works.'

And that's the bottom line says the Chinese-born Wong who began practicing the age-old art of healing in 1972 in Singapore.

"My mother taught me the healing arts. She was the first female doctor in Macao, China, and she trained her three sons. I am the third generation of my family to practice traditional Chinese medicine,' the quiet-spoken Ph.D. says.

Acupuncture, one of the world's oldest healing arts, dates back thousands of years. Widely accepted in the Far East, it is rapidly gaining acceptance both abroad and here at home. Although many in the medical community remain skeptical about this and other nontraditional methods of healing, Dr. Wong occasionally receives referrals from area physicians who know of his skill and success.

"When I first came to Chattanooga, I literally had to pull people in to be treated,' Dr. Wong says, smiling.

Now his patient list continues to grow through word of mouth.

Acupuncture, be definition, employs finely shaped needles, usually made of stainless steel, which are inserted into the patient at various pressure points. Once inserted, they trigger signals that promote healing.

According to his patients, the process is quick and does not hurt.

Dr. Wong has treated people for a variety of ailments, from minor aches and pains to serious medical conditions such as stroke, emphysema and heart disease.

While he can't guarantee recovery, his treatments often lessen pain, prolong life and allow patients to live more productively.

Dr. Wong is a firm believer in the healing power of herbs as well. Patients are usually given a combination of treatments, including acupuncture. herbal therapy and acupressure _ using the practitioner's hands, rather than needles, to stimulate the healing process.

Since acupuncture and most other nontraditional forms of medicine are not covered by insurance, treatment can be costly. An average 1-to-2-hour session runs around $100. For that price, Dr. Wong includes any herbs he feels are necessary _ capsules he makes himself from an array of herb jars kept on the shelves of his office.

Does the therapy ever not work?

"Patients who refuse to believe in the healing power don't usually do as well. You have to believe and have faith,' Dr. Wong says.

Just ask Shirley Logan and her sister, Sandra Harmon.

Eight years ago, Ms. Logan came to Dr. Wong seeking help for sever back and shoulder pain, the result of ruptured disks. After a few treatments, she says, the pain disappeared and has not returned.

"We were skeptical, at first. But it really works,' says her sister, who has also been successfully treated for painful growths on her feet and hands.

"I went to an orthopedist and he wanted to operate. But there was also the good chance that the growths would return. I knew my sister had gone to Dr. Wong, so I decided to try it too.'

After treatment, Mrs. Harmon's growths have softened, and the crippling pain she was experiencing is gone.

Hearing this, Dr. Wong smiles and nods. There is room enough, he says, for both traditional and nontraditional medicine.

Reprinted from the Chattanooga Free Press. Tuesday, August 5, 1997.  Page C1.