“A Unique Clinic for the Patients”

The Medical Plaza Ichikawa opened in April 2013, just by the JR Ichikawa station, in the center of Ichikawa, a city of learning and education, as well as an urban residential city in Chiba Prefecture.

This large-sized medical mall, a 1485 m2 space on the ninth floor of a shopping center, juxtaposes clinical treatment with alternative therapies, or “Kenbirei,” such as acupuncture and aromatherapy. Aiming for treatment that leaves patients feeling content, the staff runs their clinic with innovative policies. Takahiro Kato, the chair of the board of the group and the president of Edogawa Clinic, the parent clinic of the Medical Plaza Ichikawa, sat down to discuss the origins and philosophies behind this outstanding clinic.

“Our clinic is a bit unusual, because we also offer many treatments that are not covered by insurance.” The president, Takahiro Kato, has established several clinics for outpatients from the Edogawa Clinic and patients of hemodialysis in the Edogawa ward in Tokyo. He opened this clinic in front of Ichikawa Station, which has no hemodialysis clinic in the vicinity.

Challenge for New Style of Treatment

Four frequently used Quattromano massage waterbeds

His ambition for a new framework for patient treatment is well-depicted in his comments: “The current medical system can cure serious illnesses or injuries, but it cannot work for recovery of general bad health or particular ailments to which the patients are so sensitive. Cases in which, medically-speaking, no care is necessary can be the biggest problem for a patient.”

He emphasized the necessity of various approaches until the patient feels well again. “For example, a person comes for headache, and we find no problems after a CT scan.

What we will do next is usually give him headache medication, but this doesn’t always solve the problem. We have to find the true cause of the headache, which could possibly be stiff shoulders or autonomic ataxia-ailments that cannot be handled with standard medical treatment.”

“Our goal is a clinic that will continually try various treatment methods and styles until we can find the one that really makes a patient feel better-it may sometimes be acupuncture or chiropractic to eliminate the cause of stiff shoulders, or aromatherapy to coordinate the balance of autonomic ataxia, depending on the individual.”
To pursue these ambitions, Kato established “Kenbirei” for treatments using acupuncture, moxibustion, chiropractic, aromatherapy and yoga, integrally contributing to a new treatment system together with the Medical Plaza Ichikawa Station.

“We still have a long way to go to gain acceptance. We believe in this style of treatment, that it can work as a fundamental therapy as well. We will keep on facing these challenges to introduce our Kenbirei therapies as a true alternative.”
The clinic also distinguishes itself from ordinary clinics with its unique interior: plants cover the walls of the waiting room, and there are drawings on the ceiling and walls, a décor which has also been gaining attention and popularity from the patients.

“A Unique Clinic for the Patients”

The rehabilitation room of the Medical Plaza Ichikawa accepts 70 to 80 patients every month. They have three physiotherapists, using products manufactured by OG Wellness, including four Quattromano massage waterbeds (HS-30) and three Physious electrotherapy devices (FS-250). Clinic staff members say that the elderly and people suffering from aging health problems often use this rehabilitation room.

Charming rehabilitation room with drawings on the ceiling

“Quattromano is always our first choice for most of the patients,” explained Dr. Higuchi, one of the physiotherapists of the Plaza Ichikawa. “We usually use Quattromano at the first stage of a course, as a warming up program, although depends on the therapist at which stage of the treatment it is used. In other words, we can use it flexibly, according to each individual case and condition, and I like that style.”

Dr. Sawada is using the Physious “a bit differently.” “Adding to its standard application for stimulating an area of pain, I sometimes count on the Physious for muscle training to help the patients stretch their legs with electric stimulation.” They further expand the applications for the muscle which has long been unmoved due to injuries, for example, for a rehabilitation training to remember how to move it.

Physiotherapists in the Medical Plaza Ichikawa, along with collaborative work with the acupuncturist and the aroma therapist in “Kenbirei,” are dedicated to the treatment to remove even the smallest pain of the patients, to treatments that the patients understand and accept. To realize this goal, they have removed the borders between each kind of treatment.

Installed Equipment

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  MEDERGO (* For sale in Japan only)

  EM-100

  Quantity：2

• 

  MEDERGO (* For sale in Japan only)

  EM-150

  Quantity：2

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  PHYSIOUS

  FS-250

  Quantity：3

• 

  MOBILE PARALLEL BARS 3.5m

  GH-2600

  Quantity：1

• 

  POSTURE MIRROR

  GH-510

  Quantity：1

• 

  QUATTROMANO

  HS-30

  Quantity：4

• 

  ORTHOTRAC LASEDIA

  OL-6500

  Quantity：4