AOMA Blog

Nelson Song Luo, PhD, MD (China), LAc “Being a doctor means you must burden yourself and enlighten your patients.” As a child, Dr. Luo spent time every day with his great-grandfather, who practiced traditional Chinese medicine. “My great-grandfather always put his whole heart into patients’ well-being,” Dr. Luo recollects. “When he was 90 years old, a patient’s husband knocked at his door at midnight and asked him to help his wife who was having severe abdominal pain. Even though it was cold and dark outside and he was tired from working all day, my great-grandfather got dressed and went to help her without any hesitation. The most important thing I learned from him was how to take care of patients from the bottom of your heart.” Song Luo received his medical and his PhD degrees from the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Over the course of thirteen years, Luo served at the national neurological center in the China Sichuan State Hospital and Sichuan Provincial Academy of Medical Science; the latter is an academic center where physicians from around the world are able to study the treatment of neurological disease. During his tenure at the hospital Dr. Luo was inspired by the opportunity to work collaboratively with other doctors. Describing this period of his professional development, he says, “It was so interesting to communicate with different doctors to help patients who were experiencing health disasters in their lives. When I see my patients’ symptoms have improved significantly, you cannot imagine how happy I am.” With 19 years’ experience, Song Luo has become an expert in treating neurological diseases, especially pain and muscle weakness related diseases. Speaking of traditional medicine, he notes that, “In Chinese medical philosophy, human beings are intimately connected to nature; we know that many diseases have environmental causes. My job is to get to the root of the cause and help balance my patients’ bodies with individualized treatment.” Song Luo also has abundant experience in treating patients with cardiac, digestive, respiratory, and endocrine diseases. The diseases he has treated include, but are not limited to stroke, insomnia, headache (tension headache, migraine, cluster headache, giant-cell arteritis), back, shoulder and neck pain, wrist pain (carpal tunnel syndrome), facial pain (trigeminal neuralgia), leg pain (sciatica), poor memory (Alzheimer's disease), arm and leg muscle weakness (multiple sclerosis, bell's palsy, erb-duchenne palsy, klumpke's palsy, Saturday night palsy, peroneal nerve palsy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, myelitis, syringomyelia, myasthenia gravis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), stress, limb numbness (diabetic neuropathy), slurred speech (bulbar palsy), and urinary problems (post-surgical urinary retention). Dr. Luo has given lectures to foreign doctors and students from more than 15 countries in Europe, America, and Asia. Here in Texas, Luo has also been invited to give presentations by the Seton Healthcare Family and St. David’s Medical Center to help educate physicians and other health care providers on how Chinese medicine works and the benefits for their patients. Due to his extensive clinical experience, Luo was invited twice by UNESCO and UNAIDS to present at their conferences in Africa and Mexico. The themes of the conferences were infectious disease in underprivileged countries and access to therapies (traditional scientific). Luo’s presentation focused on the treatment of neurological disease with acupuncture and Chinese herbs. “I will never forget my experience treating children in Africa,” he says. “Seeing the poverty and morbidity of children there has affected me personally and professionally. It was a great honor and pleasure to be invited by UNESCO to help patients with such a great need with acupuncture and herbal medicine, especially for those helpless children.” Song Luo moved from his hometown of Chengdu, China to work at AOMA in 2005, where he teaches, supervises student interns, and maintains his private practice in the professional clinic. He loves Austin and says it has a similar lifestyle to Chengdu where people enjoy drinking tea, eating good food, and listening to Chinese opera. He says “in Austin, people enjoy themselves by listening to music, jogging, and eating barbecue”. Dr. Luo loves jogging in the park early in the morning: smelling the fresh air, and listening to the birds singing in the trees. He also enjoys meeting new friends through his students, his church, and in his traveling. Many people don’t know that Dr. Luo has an English name. As he explains, “I had a patient with severe arthritis whose name is Nelson. The acupuncture and herbal medicine treatments were very effective for him. We became very good friends and when my family was going through a hard time his family gave us sincere and selfless help. Ever since then, I have a new English name - Nelson Song Luo. Sometimes, in our lives, naming is the best way to honor a friendship and show your gratitude.”