Mishe Skenderova, LAc, MSOM, worked in acute and intensive care units as well as oncology infusion rooms before founding Zelena Medicine — and is a breast cancer survivor herself. She is explicit that acupuncture supports cancer treatment and does not replace it.

BASALT, Colo. — August 16, 2026 — When an oncologist tells a patient to find an acupuncturist, the referral often comes with a condition: find one who actually understands what cancer treatment does to a person. At Zelena Medicine in Basalt, patients find a practitioner who has stood on both sides of that experience.

Martina "Mishe" Skenderova, LAc, MSOM, spent nearly 18 years in healthcare — in hospital intensive care, wound care, post-surgical rehabilitation, and oncology infusion rooms — before opening Zelena Medicine in January 2026. She is also a breast cancer survivor.

That combination is unusual, and it's the reason a growing number of her patients arrive by physician referral.

"Some of the people going through or recovering after cancer treatment came to me because they know I'm a survivor," she says. "But their oncologist also told them: yes, get acupuncture, but get it from someone who has specific experience in this area. Those two things together are usually what brings someone through the door."

Her years in hospital acute-care and oncology settings shaped how she works with patients.

"Acupuncture and dry needling for someone who's been through chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation isn't the same as acupuncture and dry needling on a body that hasn't," she says. "You have to know what you're working with, even from a biopsychosocial perspective."

That scope extends well past the needling itself.

"Patients used to come to me with questions that would catch me by surprise, because for one reason or another, they didn't get to ask their doctor: 'My period stopped during chemo. Is that normal?'" she says. "Now, after years of oncology work, we don't just do the needling. We also talk about sexual health, how to deal with pre-surgical anxiety, lymphedema risk, getting back into movement and exercise, ways to manage hot flashes and night sweats, and what supplement fads to avoid versus what may be worth considering. I try to connect people to resources and referrals they may not know they can benefit from."

A hard line on what acupuncture can and can't do

Skenderova is unusually direct about the limits of her own work, a stance she describes as a response to how wellness care is often marketed.

"What I do does not cure cancer. If someone is coming to me because they think I'm going to cure their cancer naturally, that is not what I do, and I am very explicit about that — on my website, and in the room," she says. "But there is a lot we can do to support the ecology of the body and mind, and get people through treatment with less stress, less pain, and fewer side effects. It takes a village to help someone face a cancer diagnosis, and I'm really good at being part of that village."

She is equally wary of practitioners who generalize from their own recovery.

"There are wellness influencers out there saying: 'I cured my cancer with smoothies and vitamins, and you should too.' Whatever that story is, it isn't the full story," she says. "It doesn't make sense to push your specific case as the thing that will work for everyone; cancer is way too complicated for that."

What her work offers instead, she says, is support through treatment and into recovery: pain, numbness and tingling, nausea, scan anxiety, sleep disruption, dry mouth, digestive distress, and brain fog — issues that conventional oncology care often lacks the bandwidth to address. Her practice's website puts it plainly: "healing is more than a cure."

Asked what that looks like in practice, she is specific.

"I know how to safely needle someone's latissimus dorsi trigger points after breast reconstruction for rapid improvement in overhead arm mobility. I know how to build a treatment plan for peripheral neuropathy that delivers lasting relief. And I know how to address bladder leaks and urgency five different ways without medication," she says.

It is also, she notes, not the conversation most people expect from an acupuncturist.

"You won't hear me talk about meridians and qi — unless you ask — because we focus on the issue at hand, whether that's pelvic pain, hot flashes, or jaw pain after surgical intubation," she says. "Instead, you'll hear me ask about your life, your family, your passions and beliefs, and how your current health challenge may be impacting all of that."

Peripheral neuropathy: the practice's clinical center of gravity

Peripheral neuropathy — the burning, numbness, and tingling associated with nerve damage that can follow chemotherapy, diabetes, or injury — is the condition Skenderova treats most often, and the one she most wants to be known for.

"Neuropathy is the thing I treat most and something I love treating," she says. "It's also one of the conditions where people have most often been told there isn't much to be done. At Zelena Medicine, there is actually a lot we can do to start shifting those symptoms."

Her training includes a Master of Science in East Asian Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Care Acupuncture, Memorial Sloan Kettering's Integrative Medicine for Acupuncturists, EXSTORE Orthopedic Acupuncture, Point Injection Therapy, and Pelvic Floor Acupuncture and Dry Needling. She is also a Level 1 Brainspotting practitioner and trained in Compassionate Inquiry and Integrated Somatic Trauma approaches.

Alongside cancer support, pelvic floor therapy, and neuropathy, Skenderova — a trained grief and death doula — also provides end-of-life care, work that grew directly out of her hospice and palliative training.

About Zelena Medicine

Zelena Medicine is an acupuncture and integrative medicine practice at 350 Market St #311, Basalt, Colorado, serving patients across the Roaring Fork Valley including Aspen, Snowmass, Carbondale, Redstone, Marble, and Glenwood Springs. Founded in January 2026 by Martina "Mishe" Skenderova, LAc, MSOM, a licensed acupuncturist, holistic Eastern medicine practitioner, and grief and death doula with nearly 18 years of experience in healthcare. The practice specializes in holistic cancer support, peripheral neuropathy, pelvic floor therapy, pain, and end-of-life care. Zelena Medicine works in collaboration with conventional medical care, providing patients with safe, evidence-informed options beyond what medication alone can offer, and makes no claim to cure cancer.

Learn more at zelenamedicine.com

Media Contact

Martina "Mishe" Skenderova, LAc, MSOM
Zelena Medicine
350 Market St #311
Basalt, CO 81621
(970) 500-0203
info@zelenamedicine.com

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Contact Information:

Zelena Medicine

350 Market St #311
Basalt, Colorado 81621
United States

Martina Skenderova
(970) 500-0203
https://zelenamedicine.com