Acupuncture is an essential component in the treatment of all pain conditions. Here is a list of pain conditions that I have had success treating.
But acupuncture is also very valuable in the treatment of Internal Medicine complains, because it affects both the nervous system and the endocrine system directly, as well as neurotransmitters in the brain.
For example, in the treatment of digestive disorders like GERD, or gastritis, or chronic constipation, if you refer to recent research on the “Gut Brain Connection” see http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain you will get a glimpse of how acupuncture can help your digestive disorder.
Acute Pain:
- Sports’ Injuries
Ligament and Joint Capsule Sprains
Muscle and Tendon Strains
Muscle Tears
Disc Injuries
Shoulder Soft Tissue Injuries
Runner’s Knee
Heel Spurs
Tennis Elbow
Golfer’s Elbow
Low Back and Neck Injuries
Surfers and Snow Boarders Bruise Injuries
Trigger Point Pain - Repetitive Use Injuries/Worker’s Comp Injuries
Carpal Tunnel
Tendonitis and Tenosyonovitis
Wrist Pain
Hand and Finger Pain and Numbness
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Brachial Plexus Syndrome
Nerve Impingement Syndromes
Neck and Low Back Pain - Car Accident
Whiplash
Neck Pain
Mid-back Pain
Lumbar Pain
Headache, Dizziness, Nausea following accident due to muscle pain
Chronic Pain
- Musculo-skeletal
Arthritis, Osteo and Rheumatoid
Chronic stiffness in back and joints
Chronic tennis elbow
Heel Pain
Chronic Low Back and Neck Pain
Fibromyalgia
Headache, Tension and Migraine
Tendonitis - Neurological and Visceral
stomach pain
trigeminal neuralgia
digestive pain
menstrual pain
premenstrual pain
post surgical pain
herpes simplex and zoster pain
urinary pain.
How Acupuncture Works for Pain:
Acupuncture is physical medicine, like Physical Therapy, Chiropractic and Massage. Acupuncture has been demonstrated to have very specific anti-inflammatory properties. The insertion of the fine, hairlike acupuncture needle into the body draws out inflammation from the local tissues around the needle by “de-polarizing” the inflamed tissue. That is, the needle has the opposite electrical charge as the inflamed tissue.
At the same time acupuncture stimulate the body’s secretion of cortisol from the adrenal glands into the blood stream. Cortisol is the body’s most powerful antiinflammatory, its own natural Cortisone. This reduces inflammation throughout the body. Acupuncture also causes the secretion of Endorphins, the body’s own opiate-like neurotransmitters. These help break the pain cycle, allowing muscles which have tightened up in response to pain to now relax.
A major component of many pain conditions are tight “hypertonic” muscles. This is the body’s natural, though counterproductive response to pain and inflammation. Placing needles in hypertonic muscles causes them to relax, allowing for increased blood circulation and pain relief.
Another component in pain conditions are the “trigger points,” specialized neuromuscular cells
that, when activated due to stress or mechanical factors like repetitive use or lifting a weight with a sudden jerky movement, refer pain through the body. Trigger points are the cause of about half of headache and body pains. Trigger points are effectively “deactivated” by the insertion of acupuncture needles.
Acupuncture treats far more than pain, however. In Chinese medicine, the energetic blueprint for disease is stagnation of Qi (a kind of bioelectricalmagnetic energy) that under ideal conditions flows unhindered through the 16 major channels or meridians in the body.
The beginning point for the creation of a diseased state is when the flow of Qi through its specific pathways (the channels) is obstructed. In the case of a uterine fibroid, for example, before there was a fibroid there was an obstruction of the qi-energy that should normally flow freely through the three channels that flow through the uterus. Due to unmitigated stress, chronic menstrual blood stagnation, attack of cold into the uterus, creation of excess heat in the uterus due to emotional factors, or due to a congenital abnormality, the free-flow of qi through the uterus was obstructed. This led to an obstruction of the blood (a denser form of qi) and then of fluids and other tissue until finally a fibroid was formed.
The treatment of disease with Acupuncture then, is based upon opening the flow of qi through the channels. This is like allowing more water to flow into an irrigation channel in order to remove a blockage created by mud, grass and debris. This is what the placement of acupuncture needles into the proper locations on the channels does. It stimulates and unblocks the flow of qi, so that over time the pathological, disease and pain causing stagnation of substance, whether blood, fluid, heat or cold, will follow.
This is the basic mechanism by which we use acupuncture to treat so many diseases. If the qi obstruction is allowed to fester over the long term, then the whole body becomes fundamentally imbalanced. The hands and feet, which should be warm, become cold, the head which should be cool becomes hot, the digestive tract becomes inflamed, the mind can’t stop working at night, etc, etc. Where things should be relatively dry, they become damp (yeast infections, respiratory infections, digestive disorders), where they should be moist, they become dry (insomnia, psoriasis, tendonitis, menopause).
Here is a brief list of some of the non-pain conditions I have personally had success treating with acupuncture:
Gastrointestinal: Abdominal pain, irritable bowel syndrome, nausea, indigestion, ulcers, esophageal reflux, and weight reduction, constipation, diarrhea
Internal: diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesteral, liver/gall bladder dysfunction, hepatitis, hemorrhoids,
Respiratory: Asthma, sinusitis, bronchitis, allergies, common cold and flu, smoking cessation.
Gynecological: Premenstrual syndrome, menopausal syndrome, menstraul pain and dysfunction, fibroids, cysts, endometriosis, menstrual migraine.
Genito-urinary and Reproductive: impotence, low libido, excess libido, prostatis, bladder infections, yeast infections.
Dermatological: Acne, psoriasis, eczema, herpes, shingles, dry skin
Immune System: Lupus, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, herpes, hiv related syndromes,
Stress Management: Hypertension, insomnia, inability to relax, memory loss, headaches.tension and migraine, addictions Psychological: Anxiety, panic attack, depression, mania, eating disorders; anorexia, bulimia, overeating, addictions and substance cessation.
