Two powerful healing modalities — traditional acupuncture and guided therapeutic stretching — working in concert with chiropractic and massage to restore your body's full potential.
Classical acupuncture rooted in thousands of years of Chinese medicine, practiced with precision and care by our licensed acupuncturist — John Tourkolias, L.Ac.
John Tourkolias is a California-licensed acupuncturist (L.Ac.) co-located at Village Health Center's 5406 Village Road location in Long Beach — where his name appears on the building's exterior signage alongside Village Health Center.
Working in close collaboration with Dr. Tropeano, John provides traditional acupuncture as a natural complement to chiropractic adjustments and massage therapy — creating a genuinely integrative care experience that treats the whole person, not just isolated symptoms.
Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner offering acupuncture therapy at 5406 Village Road, Long Beach — same building as Village Health Center, listed on exterior signage.
John Tourkolias, L.Ac. · 5406 Village Road, Long Beach
Acupuncture works by stimulating specific points along the body's meridian pathways — restoring the natural flow of qi (vital energy) and triggering the body's own healing mechanisms. Clinical evidence supports its effectiveness for a wide range of conditions.
Fine, sterile needles are placed at precise anatomical points to stimulate nerve fibers, reduce inflammation, and encourage the release of endorphins and neurotransmitters. The result is a cascade of physiological responses that promote pain relief and healing.
Your acupuncture session is tailored to your specific health history and goals. Here is what a typical visit looks like at Village Health Center.
John Tourkolias conducts a thorough intake — reviewing your health history, current symptoms, lifestyle, and wellness goals. Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnostic methods (pulse and tongue assessment) complement your intake to build a complete picture.
Based on your intake, John selects the precise acupuncture points and modalities suited to your condition. Treatment plans are coordinated with Dr. Tropeano's chiropractic recommendations for maximum synergistic effect.
Ultra-fine, sterile single-use needles are gently placed at treatment points. Most patients feel little to no discomfort. You rest comfortably for 20–40 minutes as the treatment takes effect — many patients find the session deeply relaxing.
Following treatment, John reviews your response and may coordinate with Dr. Tropeano to schedule complementary chiropractic or massage therapy on the same day — maximizing the benefit of your visit to Village Health Center.
Same-day appointments are often available.
Book Acupuncture
Village Health Center and John Tourkolias L.Ac. share the same building at 5406 Village Road in Long Beach's Village neighborhood — as evidenced by the exterior signage. This co-location is not coincidental; it is by design.
Dr. Tropeano and John Tourkolias have structured their practices to work in concert — enabling patients to receive chiropractic, massage, and acupuncture care in a single appointment block, without traveling between providers.
Guided by a trained therapist, assisted stretching takes your body beyond what you can achieve alone — unlocking range of motion, releasing chronic tension, and accelerating recovery in ways that are simply not possible through solo stretching.
Guided therapeutic stretching at Village Health Center
Assisted stretching — also called guided or facilitated stretching — is a hands-on therapeutic technique in which a trained therapist moves your body through carefully calibrated stretches, targeting specific muscle groups and fascial chains with precision that self-stretching cannot match.
Sessions at Village Health Center are designed to complement your chiropractic care and massage therapy — addressing the muscular and connective tissue components that work alongside the skeletal and soft-tissue treatments Dr. Tropeano provides.
PNF techniques use the body's own neurological reflexes to achieve deeper, more lasting lengthening of muscle tissue than passive stretching alone — often doubling the effective range of motion achieved in a single session.
Guided stretching targets not just muscle bellies but the fascial web that encases them — addressing the root cause of many movement restrictions and the chronic tension patterns that resist conventional treatment.
Each session follows a deliberate sequence — warming target tissues, progressing through ranges, then stabilizing gains. When paired with chiropractic or massage, the sequence is coordinated to maximize systemic benefit.
A chiropractic adjustment restores joint alignment — but if the surrounding musculature remains tight and contracted, it will pull the spine back toward dysfunction within days. Assisted stretching addresses the soft-tissue component that reinforces and extends the adjustment's effect.
Similarly, massage therapy releases surface tension and promotes circulation — but assisted stretching takes the lengthening process deeper, targeting fascial and muscular layers that hands-on massage cannot fully access. The combination produces results that neither modality achieves alone.
When acupuncture is added to this matrix — calming the nervous system and reducing neurological tone in overactive muscles — the stretching session becomes more effective, and its results more enduring.
Stretching lengthens the muscles surrounding adjusted joints, reducing recurrence and allowing adjustments to hold longer — often cutting the frequency of necessary visits.
Post-massage stretching locks in newly relaxed tissue length and prevents the rebound tightening that can occur as muscles cool — extending the therapeutic window significantly.
Acupuncture reduces the neurological tone that resists stretching. Following an acupuncture session, muscles accept greater length with less discomfort — and the gains are more stable.
I came in for a chiropractic adjustment and left having experienced acupuncture and a stretching session in the same visit. Three months later I'm sleeping better than I have in years. This place is different.
Since 1984, Village Health Center has been building toward a single vision: a care environment where chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and stretching are not separate specialties — they are coordinated instruments of a single, coherent treatment philosophy.
Years of Dr. Tropeano's Experience
Integrated Healing Modalities
Coordinated, Whole-Body Care Plan
Same-day appointments are available. Whether you are seeking acupuncture, assisted stretching, or a coordinated care plan combining multiple modalities, our team is ready to build a treatment approach tailored to you.
5406 Village Road · Long Beach, CA 90808 · 562-429-4446
Monday – Friday · 9:00 am – 6:00 pm