Pain Archives - Acupuncture in the Park

Acupuncture for Post-Operative Pain

Whenever a patient asks about the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating post-operative pain, I think about Richard Nixon, the New York Times, and China. While it may seem random, we actually have Richard Nixon to thank for the widespread use of acupuncture in the United States, and it all began with an emergency surgery.

During his presidency, Nixon reached out to China, a country with whom the United States had frosty relations. He was planning to visit China, and his advance team went there to work out the details for the visit. A member of the press corps, James Reston, who wrote for the New York Times, went to China to cover the excitement surrounding the upcoming meeting. However, Reston came down with a case of appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery in Beijing. While he was recovering, Reston was given acupuncture for post-surgical pain, and later wrote about his experience in the New York Times. Reston’s article came to President Nixon’s attention, and as a result, the US began to sponsor doctors to visit China and learn about acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

Nixon’s initiative after his visit to China in 1971 is considered the event that opened the gates to the use of acupuncture in the United States. Doctors began to study acupuncture treatments, and Western scientists initiated studies on its effectiveness. Today, almost 50 years later, we’re confronted with a crisis caused by over prescribing and overuse of opioid medications, which claims over a hundred lives in the United States every day. In slowing the tide of this emergency, the role of acupuncture may be more important than ever.

A common starting point for opioid addiction is surgery. Ninety percent of patients receive opioids after surgery, and ten percent of those patients will use these drugs long term. However, as a way to reduce opioid use post-operatively, health care providers are looking for drug-free ways to control pain. In addition, the majority of patients want alternatives to opioids. One of those alternative options is the use of acupuncture.

In 2016, researchers conducted a review of studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating post-operative pain. They concluded that patients who were treated with acupuncture post-operatively had significantly less pain and used less opioid analgesics on the first day after surgery than those who didn’t have acupuncture.

Scientists have determined that acupuncture is effective for treating pain in a number of ways. It increases the circulation of opioid-like neurotransmitters in your brain. Acupuncture decreases inflammation locally, where the needles have been placed. Additionally, it’s theorized that the slight traumas that the needles create close nerve gates which prevent pain sensations from traveling to the brain.

In the clinic, we see a number of patients who are recovering from surgery. In addition to dealing with pain, they are often seeking treatment to regain their energy, decrease inflammation, restore their range of motion, and speed the healing process in general. Through the use of acupuncture combined with electric stimulation, Chinese herbs, heat therapy, and dietary recommendation, we are able to develop a treatment plan that can effectively help them speed up the recovery process.

Recovering from Whiplash with Acupuncture

Whiplash can change your life in an instant. I know, because it did for me. Years ago I was rear-ended by a van going about 40 miles per hour. In a split second my car was totaled and my body was injured, and I struggled with months of low-grade disability.

Whiplash is most commonly associated with car accidents, but can also happen from falls and other accidents. It’s a musculoskeletal injury that’s caused by sudden impact, a quick jerking of your head forward or to the side, and the resulting trauma to your spine. The most common symptom of whiplash is pain—neck, shoulder, arm, low back, or pain between your shoulder blades. However, there are other symptoms associated with a whiplash injury, which can include headaches, sleeplessness, dizziness, anxiety, vision problems, fatigue, and poor concentration.

Many people don’t feel any pain right after a car accident, and some assume because the impact happened at a slow speed, that they’re fine. However, crash tests have determined that soft tissue injuries can occur at speeds as slow as five miles per hour. For that reason, many people walk away from an accident thinking they’re fine, only to begin experiencing symptoms days and even weeks after the fact.

Whiplash causes inflammation to the soft tissue of your neck and back. It can also cause damage not only to the soft tissue, but also to the ligaments, tendons, nerves, and bones of your spine and surrounding areas. It can cause muscle tears, cervical sprains, ligament ruptures, herniated discs, and even fractures of the spine.

The Role of Acupuncture

A whiplash injury that’s not treated can easily become a chronic problem, and this is where acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help. A great deal of research has concluded that acupuncture is an effective treatment for neck and back pain. Acupuncture works for this kind of injury for a number of reasons:

-It reduces inflammation. Studies have documented significant increases in the circulation of inflammation-clearing white blood cells in the areas where acupuncture needles have been placed locally.

-Acupuncture increases circulation, which flushes out inflammatory toxins and brings new blood and nutrients into the area being treated, which helps to speed the healing process.

-Your brain chemistry is altered by acupuncture—in a good way. Acupuncture ramps up your body’s own opioid-like pain relief system. In addition, it increases the circulation of endorphins in your brain, which are responsible for mood enhancement and feelings of well-being.

-The decrease in pain and increase in circulation help to improve your range of motion in the injured area.

In addition to acupuncture, your practitioner may incorporate other healing methods into your treatment. This may include massage-like Tui Na, heat therapy, and cupping. If you’re experiencing systemic symptoms, they may also include an herbal formula or some lifestyle changes into your plan for healing as quickly as possible.

Sadly, my whiplash experience happened long enough ago that acupuncture wasn’t a readily available option for healing. I suffered from pain between my shoulder blades that lasted many months; it limited my activities and left me feeling unwell overall. The good news is that now acupuncture is an option, and if you’ve experienced a whiplash injury, it can be an effective path to healing.

Natural Relief for Rib Pain

Why Do Broken, Cracked, or Bruised Ribs Hurt So Much?

Last week I did something really stupid. In our acupuncture clinic we have a water cooler/heater that takes five gallon water bottles. Loading full bottles into the cooler means lifting over 40 lbs. of bulky awkwardness, turning it over, and inserting it into the cooler—a job that usually takes two of us. However, last week I decided that I could hoist the container myself, which I did, but in the process dinged my second rib, just under my collarbone. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but as the day went on the pain increased and spread throughout my chest like a developing Polaroid photograph.

By the time I got home that night, not only did the spot I hit hurt, but the trajectory of the rib—my collarbone, shoulder, and upper back—was sharply painful. To make it worse, every breath I took intensified that pain. I don’t believe that I broke or even cracked the rib; the hit wasn’t hard enough, but clearly it was bruised and not very happy.

I’ve known a lot of people who have broken or cracked ribs, and they describe the pain as excruciating. They talk about pain that seems to last forever, and then after about six weeks, it starts to calm down.

So why does a rib injury hurt so much? First, because so many things are attached to your ribs—muscles, tendons, cartilage, ligaments, and fascia. And second, all of those body parts that are attached to your ribs move when you breathe, laugh, sneeze, or blow your nose. Like a bellows or an accordion, your rib cage expands and contracts every time you breathe, and when your ribs are injured every breath is painful.

What Can You Do for Rib Pain?

First of all, if you suspect a broken rib, get an X-Ray. This is mostly to look for complications from a rib fracture, not necessarily for the fracture itself. If you feel breathless after a rib injury (not to be confused with pain on inhaling), seek out emergency treatment as soon as possible, as the rib may have damaged one of your lungs.

The bad news is that there’s not much your doctor can do for a broken, cracked or bruised rib, except to let it heal. In the past, it was recommended that people with rib injuries tape the area to limit movement, thus reducing pain. However, taping it is no longer recommended, because the lack of movement increases the risk of developing pneumonia. Your doctor may prescribe a pain medication while your rib injury heals. In addition, he or she is likely to tell you to limit your activities to avoid further injury to your ribs.

Can Acupuncture Help with a Rib Injury?

While acupuncture can’t undo a broken or cracked rib or fix structural damage to your rib cage, research studies have documented that it can help in the healing process. Here are a few ways in which acupuncture can be an effective treatment for rib injuries:

Acupuncture can be effective for pain relief
It can relax muscles that are in spasm from the injury
Acupuncture can reduce inflammation locally
A series of acupuncture sessions increases circulation in the area to speed up the healing process

With a rib injury, your instinct is to limit yourself to shallow breathing because of the pain. However, it’s important for the health of your lungs to take some deep breaths several times throughout the day. The best (read: least painful) way to do this is stop what you’re doing and slowly inhale to fill your lungs as completely as possible. Slow, deliberate, deep breathing tends to be less painful and get the job done.

As for my rib incident, I spent a number of days struggling to breathe without pain. Lying down hurt, and getting up hurt more. I tried to run on about day three, and was immediately shut down by the pain. I did a little acupuncture plus rest, and am slowly feeling better each day. When you’re in the middle of a rib injury, it’s important to remember that it will heal; it just takes a long time. In the meantime, just breathe.

Can Acupuncture Treat Facial Pain?

Acupuncture and a Toothache

I love nuts and eat a lot of them. However, about a year and a half ago I crunched down on an almond and felt a starburst of pain in one of my teeth. My dentist found no crack or decay in the tooth, but it never quite healed and was cranky for months. After simmering on low for about a year, the tooth finally blew up, and I had to have a root canal. I won’t go into details other than to say it was a necessary evil that ultimately took care of the problem. However, there were a couple of days of post-root canal pain that were really uncomfortable. During that time, it seemed like acupuncture was the only thing that really gave me much relief.

Acupuncture for my tooth pain involved a couple of needles in my cheek, near the site of the pain, as well as a few points in my hands. I understand that some people will be a little squeamish about receiving acupuncture in the face, but the reality is that it’s not painful and can be incredibly effective. Beyond treating toothaches, here are a number of facial conditions for which acupuncture can bring relief.

Treating Trigeminal Neuralgia with Acupuncture

Anyone who has ever suffered from Trigeminal Neuralgia will tell you that the pain is exquisitely excruciating. It’s intense, with nervy electric zaps that can last anywhere from days to months. The pain is caused by a blood vessel that is impinging on the Trigeminal nerve, causing the nerve to painfully misfire. There are a number of triggers that can activate a painful episode, such as wind, cold, applying makeup, talking, shaving, or tooth brushing—essentially any contact with the face.

The pain from Trigeminal Neuralgia is almost always one-sided, and can affect one or all three branches of the nerve. Depending on how the nerve is impinged, the pain can be near your eye, cheekbone, in front of your ear, near the side of your mouth, or just above your jawline—or all of those.

Western treatments for this condition include medications to block the pain, such as anticonvulsants or gabapentin, as well as surgery to treat the impingement in extreme cases. Acupuncture can also be helpful in calming the pain associated with Trigeminal Neuralgia. There are several patterns in Chinese medicine that may cause trigeminal pain, so careful diagnosis is key. An acupuncture treatment would include local points around the site of the pain, as well as additional body points that are chosen based on your particular pattern and symptoms.

Help for Bell’s Palsy

Another condition that occurs only in your face is that of Bell’s palsy. Caused by inflammation of the nerve that controls the muscles in your face, Bell’s palsy is best known for causing drooping of one side of the face. There are, however, a number of other symptoms associated with this condition, including excessive tearing from the affected eye, drooling, loss of taste, pain in or behind your ear, and facial numbness.

The cause of Bell’s palsy is not caused by a stroke, but thought to be the result of a flare of the herpes simplex virus. Interestingly, symptoms occur on the right side in almost two-thirds of cases, and symptoms can last from a few months to a year. In some cases, symptoms may become chronic, without much improvement over time. Western treatments for Bell’s palsy may include the use of corticosteroid or antiviral medications.

In Chinese medicine, Bell’s palsy is considered to be something called Zhong Feng, or an attack of wind. Similar to a cold or the flu, Bell’s palsy is the result of external wind due to depletion. This simply means that it comes from outside of your body (a virus) and flares up because you’re run down. Over the course of months or even years, behaviors like not eating well, working too hard, not resting or sleeping well, and stress wear you down to the point that pathogens move in, take hold, and make you sick.

There are several research studies that point to the effectiveness of acupuncture and Chinese medicine in treating Bell’s palsy. Your practitioner would likely combine acupuncture treatments to reduce your facial symptoms with strategies to help replenish your body constitution.

Acupuncture for Sinus Pain and Sinusitis

Sinus infections can cause a great number of symptoms, and sometimes those symptoms don’t clearly point to your sinuses. I have seen a number of patients over the years who know they have sinus problems only because they feel completely run down. More common symptoms, however, include facial pain, headache, a runny or stuffy nose, loss of the sense of smell, fever, bad breath, and pressure behind your forehead or cheeks.

Acute inflammation and infection of your sinuses tend to last from two to four weeks, and symptoms can be severe. An acute sinus problem is often caused by congestion from allergies or the common cold. Lasting for months or longer, chronic sinusitis frequently is the result of structural issues, such as nasal polyps, a deviated septum, blocked nasal drainage, and even a chronically stuffy nose.

Western treatments for sinus issues usually involve medications (antihistamines, antibiotics, corticosteroids, etc.) or surgery to repair and/or open your sinuses. In Chinese medicine, treatment is focused on opening and draining up your sinuses, as well as dealing with phlegm, which is usually the underlying cause of the problem. Often accumulations of phlegm come from seemingly unrelated sources, such as poor digestion, decreased immunity, or the inability to metabolize fluids well. Sinus problems are a condition that Chinese medicine can treat exceedingly well with a combination of acupuncture, herbs, heat therapy, diet, and lifestyle modifications.

Tooth Clenching as a Source of Facial Pain

Also called bruxism, tooth clenching or grinding can be the source of facial, ear, head, tooth, and neck pain. Clenching is caused by the tightening of the masseter muscle, which is found at the corner of your jawline. It’s also the most common cause of TMJ (Temporal Mandibular Joint) issues. Pound for pound, the masseter muscle is the strongest muscle in your body, and when it becomes tight and irritable, it can cause a whole host of problems.

Because most tooth grinding and clenching occurs at night, many people are unaware that they’re doing so until they have seemingly random facial and neck symptoms. Acupuncture is effective not only to release the masseter muscle, but also to reduce inflammation in the TM Joint, relieve head and neck pain, and alleviate stress, which is likely the root cause of clenching in the first place.

Think of Acupuncture

You may not always consider acupuncture when you’re experiencing facial pain, but you should. I admit when it came to my toothache, I didn’t think of getting treatments until late in the game, but when I did, the results were impressive. Beyond Bell’s palsy, Trigeminal Neuralgia, sinus problems, and clenching, acupuncture can also be used for eye problems, migraine headaches, and even cosmetic anti-aging treatments.

Cloudy With a Chance of Aches and Pains

I love the early days of autumn! It’s still hot during the daytime, but the nights are beginning to cool off. The oppressive humidity of July and early August is gone, and in its place are dry, sharp days with a deep blue sky and nights with a cool edge that is perfect for sleeping. While the end of summer dishes up perfect weather, there is one downside, and it’s that you can feel a hint of winter coming. The cooler nights and darker mornings are enough to trigger mild depression and low energy in some weather-sensitive people.

While seasonal transitions are stressful on your body, the transition from summer to fall can be one of the most difficult. While an increase in light and warmth is a welcome change in the spring, moving into the dark days of fall and winter can be a tough transition. And while you might not think that what’s going on outdoors as stressful, the reality is that we are all affected by the weather and seasonal changes to some degree.

In my practice, I see many patients who are deeply affected by the weather. They may be suffering from arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, sinus issues, headaches, or allergies. Changes in barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, or precipitation all have the ability to aggravate their symptoms.

In Chinese medicine, if you have any kind of symptoms that fluctuate with the weather, it is considered to be an external issue—meaning that what’s bothering you is coming from the outside or is affecting your body at a superficial level. Colds, flu, and allergies are categorized as external conditions, but so is your arthritic knee or sinus headache that’s triggered by a change in barometric pressure. In contrast, internal conditions are those symptoms and illnesses that are triggered by imbalances deep within your body. Autoimmune illnesses, hormonal issues, and digestive problems almost always come under the heading of internal disease.

The nature of your symptoms are a little bit like bad weather affecting your body and give us practitioners key information about how best to help you. For example, if your arthritic knees blow up during the hot and humid weather, it’s likely that your diagnosis is related to heat and dampness. However, if you’re more achy when the weather gets cold, your symptoms would be classified as cold (and most likely damp, too). Pathogens that may affect your symptoms include:

-Heat. You may feel hot overall, your symptoms are worse in the heat, and your joints or headache may also feel hot. Often migraines, arthritis, and inflammation fall into this category.

-Cold. If you’re symptoms are worse in the cold weather, chances are good that there is an element of cold to your diagnosis. Cold contracts and feels stiff and achy.

-Dampness. This is your body’s inability to metabolize water well. It may manifest as swelling, heaviness, or edema. Almost all joint pain has some dampness associated with it, and symptoms are worse when the weather is humid or damp. You can have damp plus cold, in which the cold rainy weather aggravates your symptoms, or damp plus heat, in which the hot and humid weather lights things up.

-Wind. In almost every case, the wind is not your friend. When you have an external wind pathogen, your symptoms may come and go, move around, and even be itchy. Wind is also the pathogen behind most colds and flu.

In Chinese medicine, dealing with external conditions takes a dual approach. Your practitioner will work to strengthen your exterior. This is a little like bumping up immunity, but in Chinese medicine, immunity is more like a protective bubble that keeps external pathogens like heat, cold, or damp from making you sick. The second order of business is to deal directly with what pathogens are involved in your symptoms—clearing heat, drying dampness, warming cold, or extinguishing wind. This is done through a combination of acupuncture, herbs, diet, and even lifestyle tweaks.

If you struggle with external pathogens, there are couple of things you can do for yourself to help minimize symptoms including:

-Eat to reduce inflammation. Keep your sugar consumption to a minimum, avoid packaged foods, and choose lots of vegetables and fruits as well as healthy plant-based fats (nuts, seeds, olives and olive oil, and avocadoes).

-Also, eat to ease your particular pathogen. You’ll need a little help from your practitioner here, but in general, look for warm foods (like ginger, garlic, horseradish, and cinnamon) to help with cold pathogens, choose cooling foods (mint, bananas, cucumbers, and melons) for hot conditions, and drying foods (barley, celery, mushrooms, and onions) to drain dampness.

-Pay attention to not only the weather, but your physical reaction to it. If you’re feeling achy on a cold rainy day, use a heating pad to warm your body up. If the heat and humidity is aggravating a health condition, turn on the air conditioning—it will cool things off and dry out the air.

Knock Out Knee Pain with Acupuncture

As a practitioner of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, there are some conditions that are a challenge to treat and some that are fairly easy. I like to see patients with knee pain, because acupuncture is an effective treatment, and those patients usually leave happy and feeling much better.

There are a number of causes of knee pain, some of which can be controlled and some which can’t. Here are a few common factors that can cause your knees to rebel.

-Sex. No, not that kind of sex, but whether you are a woman or a man. That’s because women tend to have wider hips, which create an inverted triangle shape between their hips and knees. This wider angle can put a strain on women’s knees, especially if they are very athletic. In contrast, because men’s hips are narrower, they don’t have the same kind of strain on their knees.

-Age. As you get older, the natural cushioning between the bones in your knees, called cartilage, wears away. This causes the bones to rub against each other, creating inflammation, pain, bone spurs, and ultimately osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the number one reason people undergo knee replacement surgery.

-Overuse. Doing the same motion repetitively over many years can injure or wear down your knees. Overuse injuries can run the gamut from osteoarthritis to runner’s knee. Most commonly, we see people with these kinds of injuries who are distance runners or who play racquet sports.

-Funky mechanics. Every once in a while, I will drive by someone riding a bike and want to yell at them to raise their bike seat. Bad mechanics, like an improperly positioned bike seat, irregular gait, and poor form lifting weights can be a recipe for serious knee pain. If you suspect that poor mechanics is the cause of your knee pain, consult an expert: get your bike fitted at a reputable bike shop, work with a trainer, or get your gait analyzed by a physical therapist or running coach.

-Weight. Your knees are the workhorses of your legs, and when you gain weight, your knees are taking the brunt of it. Think about it–if you were to walk everywhere, go up and down stairs, and get in and out of your car carrying a twenty pound barbell, your knees would start to complain. It’s the same thing when you gain twenty pounds. Your knees won’t be happy.

-Bad shoes. While your shoes are meant to support your feet, bad or worn out ones affect everything upstream as well–your knees, hips, and even your back. It’s important to buy good, supportive shoes and replace them when they become worn. In addition, if you love your feet and knees, you won’t wear cheap flip flops with no arch. And don’t even get me started on high heels.

-The nature of your physical activity. If you are a runner, your knees are subjected to a repetitive forward motion. In contrast, if you play racquet sports, your knees are stressed by quick side-to-side movements. Each has it own risks for different kinds of knee pain and injuries. This is also true of biking, hiking, swimming, dancing, and any other sport in which you’re on your feet. My best advice? Mix up your activities.

-Trauma. Unfortunately, this is one factor you can’t control. Whether it’s a fall, accident, or bad twist, trauma to your knees is a common cause of lingering knee pain.

At Acupuncture in the Park, we see many patients who have knee pain. Clearly, the nature of the pain and the underlying cause plays a huge role in the outcome of our treatments. While acupuncture can’t undo structural problems involving your knee, it can help manage the pain quite well, prolong the need for replacement surgery, and speed the healing process. After a detailed intake and health history, a typical treatment would involve acupuncture, the use of far-infrared heat, and electric stimulation to accomplish our goals.

While many people may not think about acupuncture for their knee pain, those who do are pleasantly surprised. A few sessions on the acupuncture table may be all it takes to get you on your feet again.

Help for Plantar Fasciitis

It’s easy not to think about your health until something goes wrong. That’s especially true when you think about the health of your feet. They are workhorses that walk, dance, run, skip, and jump–until something happens. And when your feet hurt, your entire life is changed. You begin to think about comfort rather than fashion when choosing shoes. You begin to consider the distance between the parking lot and the door. In many cases you stop your regular exercise routine. Foot pain has the potential to radically change the quality of your life!

One common cause of foot pain that we see a lot at Acupuncture in the Park is something called Plantar Fasciitis. The Plantar Fascia ligament is a flat band that supports the arch in your foot, and runs from your heel bone to the base of your toes. Plantar Fasciitis develops when that tendon becomes inflamed, swollen, or strained, and most frequently appears as pain below your heel when you stand or walk. That said, the pain from Plantar Fasciitis may not always occur on the bottom of your heel, and instead be felt on the side of your heel or under the arch of your foot.

Plantar Fasciitis is frequently caused by the drop of the front-to-back arch in your foot. This happens for a number of reasons, including:

Aging
High impact activities
Weight gain
Improper support from footwear
Tight Achilles tendon or calf muscles
Running, walking, or standing on hard surfaces for long periods of time
Pronation (your feet rolling inward when you walk or run)
Worn out shoes

Many people who suffer from Plantar Fasciitis get discouraged, because it can take a long time to resolve. The good news is that there are many things you can do to help speed up the healing process:

-Resting your foot is one of the most important things you can do for this condition. While it may feel like a tall order, remember that every step you take is flexing the arch of your foot, aggravating an already inflamed ligament.

-Ditch the flip flops and high heels, and invest in a good pair of shoes that offers plenty of arch support. Even if you think your current shoes have good support, if they’re more than a year old, they’re probably worn to the point that you need to replace them.

-Stretch your calves daily. While you technically can’t stretch a tendon, by stretching your calves, you are also gently pulling on your Achilles tendon, too. This is a good thing, because tight calves and Achilles tendons only aggravate (and may cause) Plantar Fasciitis.

-Get some support for your arches. You can find arch supports at good shoe stores. Other ways to add some support is through taping (we can help you with this) and a product called Strutz, which is a padded arch support that you can find at Walgreen’s.

-Acupuncture may help Plantar Fasciitis heal a faster. That’s because acupuncture has been shown to increase the anti inflammatory response, especially locally where the needles are placed.

It’s hard to do the things you want to do when your feet hurt. Many people who suffer from Plantar Fasciitis feel like they have very little control, especially because they have to keep walking on an injured foot. It’s good to know that while it may take awhile for your foot to heal, there are several things that you can do to help it heal faster.

The Truth About Sciatica

Sciatica is literally a pain in the butt. And in the leg. And sometimes in the foot. If you’ve ever suffered from sciatic pain, you are no stranger to the deep nagging pain that radiates sometimes from your lower back, through your butt, and down the back or side of your leg. It makes your foot numb and sometimes it can take your leg right out from under you. No matter how you slice it, sciatica is a drag!

What most people don’t know about sciatica, is that it’s not a diagnosis, but a symptom–a way of describing pain that runs along the trajectory of your sciatic nerve. There are three major causes of sciatic pain:

-A disc injury of some kind. Your discs are fibrocartilaginous joints between each vertebra in your spine. They act as a shock absorber, hold your spine together, and allow for a little bit of movement. Discs can get injured, bulge, rupture, and just degenerate over time. The resulting displacement and inflammation, especially to disc in your lower back, can press on your sciatic nerve, causing pain not only in your back, but along the entire pathway of the nerve.

-Spinal stenosis. This is the narrowing of the channels through which your spinal cord or spinal nerves travel. This narrowing causes compression on one or more nerves, including your sciatic nerve, causing pain, numbness, and weakness. The most common cause of stenosis is degeneration due to the aging process.

-Piriformis syndrome. Your piriformis muscle runs deep in your butt from your sacrum (at the base of your spine) to the greater trochanter of your femur (your hip, at the side and top of your leg). When your piriformis muscle goes into spasm, gets tight, or is just cranky in general, it can press your sciatic nerve against the pelvic bone causing classic sciatic pain. Because your piriformis muscle is a core stabilizer, the more you walk, the worse your symptoms get.

In Chinese medicine, sciatic pain is considered a blockage in your Gallbladder meridian, an energetic pathway that runs along the side of your entire body, including your leg and into your foot. A typical treatment plan would include acupuncture, heat, and bodywork to relieve pain and increase circulation along the trajectory of the pathway.

That said, not all sciatic pain is created equal, in that some cases are much easier to treat than others. I have found acupuncture for piriformis syndrome to be effective, as it involves getting the muscle to calm down to relieve the pressure on the sciatic nerve. If your sciatic pain is caused by a disc problem, reducing the inflammation in the area of the disc is the goal of acupuncture, which can also be effective. Spinal stenosis can be a little trickier to treat, because the source of your pain in structural in nature. In cases of spinal stenosis, the goal of treatment is pain relief.

I personally have suffered from sciatic pain, but luckily only once. It was after a kayaking trip which left me unable to walk and in a great deal of pain. Apparently my piriformis muscle had seized up from sitting in a cold kayak for the better part of a week. And while that may not sound like good news, it actually was fairly easy to treat. With some acupuncture, heat, and a little bit of physical therapy, the muscle relaxed, and in a week or two I was back to walking like a champ.

What You Need to Know About Pain and Acupuncture

A couple of weeks ago, I hurt my neck doing absolutely nothing. Seriously, I turned my head in a weird way, and where there was nothing a moment before, I suddenly had a sharp, nagging pain that stayed with me for several days. It took some heat, a little acupuncture, and some rest, and I was pain-free in about four days. Looking back now, however, I’m left wondering what was that all about?

I realize that when I write about my cranky neck, I really have nothing to complain about. Many, many people have severe pain and struggle, sometimes for years, trying to manage that pain.

-There are many underlying causes of pain. Among them are inflammation, infection, and trauma. Ischemia, which is pain caused by a lack of oxygen to the tissue (as in the case of a heart attack) is also a cause of pain. Stretching of tissues of vessels is also a source of pain, such as the dilation of blood vessels associated with migraine headaches. Degeneration can also trigger pain. For example, the degeneration of nerves, most commonly in the feet, is the cause of neuropathy.

-Pain can show up someplace in your body away from its source. For example, a common symptom of a heart attack is pain in your left arm or jaw. This kind of traveling pain is called referred pain.

-In Chinese medicine, pain has two primary causes, stagnation or depletion. Pain caused by stagnation occurs because the natural flow of blood, nutrients, and energy (called Qi) has been interrupted. For example, a sprained ankle hurts like a beast. That’s because it bruises and blows up to about twice its normal size. It’s clear that the flow of just about everything in the area is inhibited which is causing you pain. Yes, the trauma and inflammation of rolling the ankle is the underlying cause, but in Chinese medicine, it’s the stagnation that must be treated for the ankle to heal. Depletion, on the other hand, is pain caused by some kind of lack—usually energy. For example, pain associated with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and low-grade chronic headaches tends to be of the depletion type.

-In Chinese medicine, understanding the source of your pain means understanding the personality of the pain itself. For example, is it sharp and stabbing, burning, achy, or electric? Is it chronic or acute? Do you have it all the time? Does it like you to touch it or not? What activities make it worse/better? Does it feel better when you ice it or heat it? A clear diagnosis involves knowing exactly what kind of pain you are dealing with.

-Acupuncture can be an effective treatment for some types of pain, but most people suffering from pain cross their fingers, give it a try and hope it works without really knowing why it might help. Based on research of physiological changes during acupuncture, here are a few explanations:

Acupuncture alters the chemistry of your brain. In terms of pain, it increases your body’s own pain-killing chemicals. In addition, acupuncture increases the circulation of feel-good endorphins in your brain—the chemicals associated with the high in runner’s high.
At the site where an acupuncture needle is placed locally in your body, there is an increase in the circulation of white blood cells by about 40 percent. Your white blood cells are the ones tasked with clearing inflammation—and in most cases where there is pain, there is inflammation.
Acupuncture also controls pain by chemically reducing the pain signals getting to your brain.
Remember that stagnation is a cause of pain in Chinese medicine? A common and intentional effect of acupuncture is to increase circulation both in the area of pain and throughout your body.
We know that stress affects just about everything in your body and absolutely aggravates pain. In fact, people who are suffering from pain become emotionally affected by that pain. Because it can affect your brain chemistry for the better, acupuncture is a very effective way to find calm and reduce stress, thereby helping to alleviate pain.

Can Acupuncture Help Rotator Cuff Injuries?

Your shoulder is an amazing thing. It can carry groceries, throw a fastball, high five a pal, comb your hair, and shrug when you don’t know the answer. It’s one of the most versatile joints in your body, able to move in almost any direction. That versatility comes with a price, however, which is that shoulders are prone to all kinds of injuries.

One of the most common kinds of shoulder injuries is damage to the muscles and tendons that make up your rotator cuff. Your shoulder is a ball and socket joint, like your hip. However, your shoulder has a very shallow socket, in order to allow for that flexibility of movement. This means that your shoulder depends on the surrounding muscles and tendons to hold it together. Many of those muscles and tendons make up the rotator cuff, or a kind of sleeve that holds your arm in place in the socket.

Many people talk about the rotator cuff as if it were a single entity, but in reality it is a group of four muscles and tendons that converge near the top of your shoulder. For anatomy geeks, those four muscles are supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis–easily remembered by the acronym SITS. Interestingly, the rotator cuff muscles live behind your shoulder, around your scapula (your chicken wing). However, the tendons to those muscles are anchored at the front of your shoulder, enabling a wide range of motion.

Shoulder injuries are common, and can be caused by repetitive movements of the arm, injuries, trauma, muscles tears, swelling of the tendons, and aging. Symptoms of rotator cuff injuries include pain, especially in the front of the shoulder and down your arm; weakness; problems moving your shoulder; the sensation of a “catch” when lifting your arm; noise with movement; and the inability to sleep on the affected shoulder.

If you are experiencing shoulder pain, the first order of business is to give it a rest. If your pain is from overuse, this means you need to quit doing the activities that have been stressing your shoulder out. I am also a big fan of physical therapy for shoulder injuries, as a good therapist will give you exercises and stretches to increase your range of motion and over time, strengthen the involved muscles.

Can acupuncture help rotator cuff injuries? In many instances, it can. I have found that the majority of shoulder problems originate at the supraspinatus muscle, which sits at the top of your scapula and runs under the AC joint (where your collar bone ends at your shoulder) to anchor at the front of your shoulder. Pain can be from a weak or partially torn muscle, tendinitis, or swelling as the muscle passes under the AC joint. A sign that the supraspinatus is involved is the sensation of a painful catch when you raise your arm upward from your side.

Acupuncture can relieve the pain in your shoulder, reduce inflammation, and speed up the healing process. An acupuncture treatment involves taking a history of the injury, mapping the pain, and determining the muscles and tendons that are involved. In many cases, the pain is coming from one of the rotator cuff muscles in your back. Patients are often surprised to find that a couple of well-placed needles in their back can actually provide a great deal of relief and healing in their shoulder. If you’re suffering from shoulder pain, set up a time for a free consultation to see if acupuncture can help you!

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The Role of Acupuncture

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