acupuncture Archives - Page 2 of 9 - Acupuncture in the Park

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.

Acupuncture, Heartburn, and PPIs

There’s nothing that can put a damper on a delicious meal faster than knowing that an hour or two later you’ll be suffering from heartburn. If you’ve ever experienced heartburn, or GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease), you know that diving into a favorite dish often means suffering the fiery aftereffects.

Heartburn occurs when your esophageal sphincter, the valve at the top of your stomach, becomes relaxed. This allows stomach acid to move upward into your esophagus, causing a burning sensation at the base of your throat or the top of your chest. Over time, chronic heartburn can deteriorate the base of your esophagus, causing a precancerous condition called Barrett’s Esophagus.

An estimated 60 percent of people in the United States will suffer from heartburn over the course a year, and 20 to 30 percent of Americans suffer symptoms on any given day. Those kinds of statistics put heartburn in the realm of epidemic proportions.

In Western medicine, the first line of defense for heartburn in the past has been antacids—medications like Tums or Tagamet that neutralize the acid causing your symptoms. However, it has become common practice to turn to a class of medications called Proton Pump Inhibitors, or PPIs. Commonly prescribed PPIs include Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, and Protonix.

PPIs work by blocking the enzyme in the lining of your stomach that produces acid, and may be prescribed to treat not only heartburn, but also stomach ulcers and infections from h. pylori. And while PPIs can be effective in treating these conditions, they come with a long list of side effects—some of them pretty scary. Common side effects of these drugs include headaches, nausea, stomachaches, bowel changes, and drowsiness. Over time, however, researchers have also linked PPI use to an increased risk for clotting strokes, and possibly even heart attacks.

Furthermore, while reducing the amount of acid your stomach may sound like a good idea, doing so also interferes with your ability to digest the foods you have eaten. As a result, the malabsorption of several key nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, Vitamin B12, iron, and zinc, may become a problem. Osteopenia and osteoporosis from poor calcium absorption has been linked to PPI use. Other adverse reactions that have been associated with PPIs include infections, kidney damage, dementia and Alzheimer’s, and blood disorders.

So can Chinese medicine and acupuncture help if you’re struggling with heartburn? The answer is maybe. In Chinese medicine, heartburn is diagnosed, based on a system of patterns. If you were to come to an acupuncturist to treat your symptoms, you would likely be diagnosed as having either a Liver/Stomach disharmony, or Stomach Heat. A Liver and Stomach disharmony is best described as strong emotions upsetting your digestion, and is common in people who are very stressed and overwhelmed. Stomach heat is a sensation of heat (hence the name heart burn) in the area of your stomach. And like all heat, it moves upward—in this case into your esophagus. It is commonly accompanied by feeling hungry all the time, thirst, and a dry mouth.

Depending on your specific diagnosis, a practitioner of Chinese medicine would treat your heartburn with acupuncture, Chinese herbs, dietary therapy, and possibly some lifestyle tweaks. With a Liver and Stomach disharmony, they would also incorporate stress relief/emotional health into your treatment plan. If your diagnosis was Stomach heat, your treatment would focus on clearing heat and repairing your digestion. Your practitioner may also work with you if you were in the process of discontinuing PPIs.

While it may seem like an obvious solution to simply quit taking your PPI to reduce associated side effects, most people will find that it’s not that easy. That’s because Proton Pump Inhibitors are notorious for having a strong rebound effect when you stop taking them. For many, the rebound heartburn that flares up when they stop taking a PPI makes it incredibly difficult to get off of these drugs. That said, it can be done, and I have worked with a number of patients who have successfully done so.

If you have been taking a PPI for an extended period of time and would like to stop, here are a few tips that might help:

-Get off very gradually. Work with your prescribing doctor to stair step down in dosage. A good rule of thumb is the higher the dosage you are on, the longer the time it will take to taper off. Decrease your dosage by small increments and give your digestion time to stabilize at each level.

-Use antacids as needed. Zantac may be a good first choice. While Tums and Maalox will also do the trick, these calcium-based antacids if taken in large doses can flood your system with calcium, throwing blood levels out of balance.

-Before meals, experiment with agents, such as Prelief, which is aimed at decreasing the acidic effects of food. You may also want to try deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) prior to meals.

-Avoid mints, mint flavored chewing gum, and mint tea. While mint is a beneficial herb in some cases, it is not helpful if you have heartburn. Mint has the effect of relaxing your esophageal sphincter, making your heartburn worse.

-Try some Throat Coat tea (made by Traditional Medicinals). It contains licorice, marshmallow, slippery elm, and chamomile—all herbs that can help calm inflammation in your throat and esophagus.

-Take a good probiotic to help repair your digestion and repopulate your gut with good bacteria.

-Remove foods from your diet that trigger your heartburn. Common offenders include alcohol, onions, citrus fruits, tomatoes, strawberries, and chocolate. Instead, eat lots of the foods that you know are “safe”.

-Don’t get discouraged. Remember that it’s common to have rebound symptoms after discontinuing a PPI. It can take a few months to get off this medication completely, and it may take another couple of months for acid production to calm down. The good news is that many people have successfully been able to wean off PPIs and live their life heartburn-free.

Back in the Swing: Treating Golfer’s Elbow with Acupuncture

Over the years in my acupuncture practice, I occasionally will have a patient who wants to know if acupuncture can help their golf game. One came to me for a bad case of the yips. Apparently every time he swung the club, he would tense up or twitch, throwing his game out the window. Another patient who was seeing me for an unrelated health condition found that she was playing the best golf of her life. But really, I don’t pretend to believe that your golf game can be improved by acupuncture, except in the case of golfer’s elbow.

Like tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow presents as pain in the elbow, but with one difference: tennis elbow pain occurs on the outside of the elbow, and golfer’s elbow pain is felt on the inside of the elbow. In reality, tennis players, golfers, or anyone who grasps repeatedly with their hands or fingers can develop golfer’s elbow.

Also known as medial epicondylitis, golfer’s elbow is almost always caused either by overuse of your hand and wrist, or improper form when lifting, throwing, or hitting. In most cases, your wrist should be in a neutral position (not bent in either direction) on impact, and repeated bad form only aggravates the tendons and ramps up the pain.

Golfers develop this kind of elbow pain from either gripping or swinging their clubs improperly or gripping too hard. I have also seen a number of patients who have developed golfer’s elbow from lifting weights—usually biceps curls with too heavy of a weight or lifting with their wrists curled inward. For tennis players, a bent wrist at the point of impact with the ball, or too much topspin can cause elbow pain. Household projects, such as painting, hammering, raking, and repeatedly turning a screwdriver can also be a source of golfer’s elbow.

Because golfer’s elbow is a kind of tendonitis, it can take a long time to resolve. The good news is that acupuncture can be helpful in speeding up the healing process. A few well-placed needles, some far infrared heat, electric stimulation, and Tui Na (a kind of bodywork) can help alleviate the pain associated with golfer’s elbow and get you back on the links, tennis court, or weight room.

Acupuncture is effective for this kind of injury for a couple of reasons. First, the circulation of inflammation-fighting white blood cells is increased locally where the acupuncture needles are placed. Second, acupuncture increases circulation in general, which helps speed up healing. And third, acupuncture helps block pain signals getting to your brain and ramps up your body’s own pain killing chemicals. So while tendonitis can be slow to heal, acupuncture can be a major player in how quickly it resolves.

In the meantime, here are a few things that you can do for yourself if you’re suffering from golfer’s elbow:

-Rest. While this may seem obvious, I have worked with a number of patients who couldn’t or wouldn’t give it a rest, only to make their golfer’s elbow worse.

-Try some support. I have found that a wrist support is helpful in cases of golfer’s and tennis elbow. By supporting your wrist in a neutral position, it allows you to give the cranky and overworked tendons that move your wrist but attach at the elbow a wrist.

-Ice…or heat. If your elbow is inflamed from being used, then by all means put some ice on it. However, if your elbow pain is chronic, my advice is to warm it up to increase the circulation in the area. In addition, if you are planning to exercise, warm it up before use to loosen the muscles and tendons up, then ice it afterward to calm the area down.

-Stretch your forearm muscles, but gently. A physical therapist or athletic trainer can set you up with some stretches, and when you’re ready, some gentle strengthening exercises to help rehab the area.

-Take it slow. It is human nature to want to test a newly healed area, but doing so often results in further damaging the injury. Let your elbow heal completely before you get back to a full menu of exercises and activities.

-An ounce of prevention…There are a number of things you can do to prevent golfer’s elbow in the first place. Among them:

Since poor form is one of the main causes of golfer’s elbow, work with a coach or instructor to make sure your form is spot on.
Make sure you have the right equipment for your sport. Make sure your equipment fits you and isn’t contributing to the problem. For example, a heavy tennis racquet or golf clubs can be updated for newer, lighter ones.
Work to keep your forearm muscles strong. Squeezing a tennis ball or lifting light weights to strengthen the muscles on both the front and back of your forearms can help prevent overuse or stress-related injuries.
Keep your wrist in a neutral position at the moment of impact. Whether you’re swinging a golf club, hitting a tennis ball, or doing biceps curls, keeping your wrist straight will help avoid elbow injuries.

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.

How to Calm Restless Leg Syndrome

You’ve had a long day, and you’re tired. You get ready for bed, crawl in, and wait for sweet sleep to arrive. Only instead of drifting off to dreamland, your legs come alive. You may want to sleep, but your legs want to dance, and twitch, and jump. This is the reality of Restless Leg Syndrome, which affects somewhere between 5 and 15 percent of the population.

While the cause is unknown, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is considered to be a neurological disorder. It’s characterized by an uncontrollable urge to move your legs, jumping, twitching, or a deep crawly or bubbly sensation in your legs. Symptoms are almost always worse at night when your legs are at rest. In most cases, both legs are involved, and the symptoms usually involve the lower legs and calves.

In Chinese medicine, restless legs are usually diagnosed as a Qi depletion or internal wind. Let me explain:

Qi Depletion. Your body runs on energy, which we practitioners call Qi. That Qi is responsible for keeping you alive by warming your body, protecting it from outside invaders (immunity), fueling movement, transforming food into nutrients, and holding things in place. With Restless Leg Syndrome, the holding function of your Qi is not up to par. Think about it–your blood is held in the vessels, your organs are held in place, and your bodily wastes are held until you’re ready to release them. As a practitioner, patients who bruise easily, have incontinence, frequent miscarriages, or prolapsed organs would be diagnosed as having a malfunction of the holding function of Qi. With restless legs, depending on accompanying signs and symptoms, you might be diagnosed as having a Qi depletion–or not enough Qi to hold your legs still.

Internal Wind. In Chinese medicine, wind is considered to be movement where there shouldn’t be any. In most cases, it comes from a depletion of Yin or Blood–both nourishing and moistening substances in your body. The moistening nature of both Yin and Blood balances the warmth, activity, and dryness of Yang and keeps it in check. When Yin or Blood become depleted, Yang obecomes overpowering and can create movement. Think of this imbalance as a dry farmer’s field. With any little movement or heat, the soil is whipped up into dust clouds and dirt devils. When either Yin or Blood become depleted, you might experience signs of dryness, such as dry skin, brittle nails, or dry hair. You are also likely to have signs of unwanted movement, such as dizziness, vertigo, twitches, tremors–and restless legs that want to move at night.

In treating Restless Leg Syndrome with Chinese medicine, your practitioner would first need to make an accurate diagnosis. With both Qi depletion and internal wind, the underlying imbalance comes from some kind of depletion, so the strategy would be to build your body back up. This is likely to include acupuncture, the use of an herbal formula, and food therapy, as rebuilding usually takes a many-faceted approach.

It would also be helpful to your practitioner if you kept track of what factors made your symptoms better or worse. Some things to try include:

-Try warming or cooling. For some people warming their legs with a heating pad seems to help their symptoms. For others, soaking their feet and legs in cool (not cold!) water before bed calms them down.

-Rule out a vitamin or mineral deficiency by taking a good multivitamin/mineral supplement. Suspected deficiencies include iron and folate.

-Don’t eat a large meal late in the day or right before going to bed. If you have a Qi depletion, all your energy will go toward digestion instead of calming and holding things still.

-Experiment with cutting out alcohol and caffeine. Alcohol can interrupt your sleep, and caffeine is an energetically warm and active food.

-Pay attention to the stress in your life, and if you’re ringing the stress bell, do something about it. The bottom line is that stress makes everything worse.

-Make sure you’re getting plenty of rest. Many people with restless legs say their symptoms are worse when they’re fatigued.

-To balance the rest/work cycle, make sure you’re getting some gentle exercise daily. Activities such as walking, biking, swimming, or Yoga help to get your body moving without depleting it further.

-Before bedtime, experiment with a short walk, stretching, or gentle self-massage. Some people get relief from one or all of these.

-Finally, while you’re in bed try changing sleeping positions when your legs are acting up. There are some people who only have restless leg symptoms in certain positions.

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.

Hearing, Tinnitus, and Chinese Medicine

About a week ago, I caught a head cold. It was the kind of cold where my nose ran continually, to the point that I felt like I was losing brain matter. Then for a couple of days my right ear plugged up, making everything sound like my head was trapped in a tin. I could handle the runny nose and gravelly voice without too much drama, but the ear thing made me a little crazy and very irritable.

It’s human nature not to think too much about things until something goes wrong, and ears are no exception. Lately, we’ve seen a number of patients in the clinic with issues either directly or indirectly related to their ears. While all things ear-related may seem pretty straightforward, there’s a lot to know about ears from the realm of Chinese medicine, including the following:

-As acupuncturists, we think of ear-related symptoms as having to do with your Chinese Kidney system. Your Kidney is the organ that’s responsible for your overall body constitution and the home to vital substances such as Yin and Yang. Each organ system has a sensory component, and for the Kidney that component is hearing and your ears. The Kidney is associated with growth, development, fertility, and even how well we age. When your Kidney is depleted, one common sign that often shows up is a loss of hearing or ringing in your ears (tinnitus). Conversely, if you were to come into the clinic with tinnitus or hearing loss, we would always want to talk about the health of your Kidney system.

-As you age, tinnitus and hearing loss may become a fact of life. It’s a sign that the steady decline of your Kidney Essence, or body constitution, has affected your ears. Tinnitus may be alleviated through Chinese medicine, but it can take a long time—mostly because our job is undoing years of burning the candle at both ends and working under unrelenting stress—both of which deplete your Kidney system.

-From a Western perspective, tinnitus is your brain’s way of compensating for hearing loss; it’s working overtime to help you hear. Think of it as turning on your stereo system and turning the volume onto high, but without any music. You can hear a buzz, because your speakers are ramped up, but no sound is coming out.

-It’s natural to experience some hearing loss as you age. However, that loss can be accelerated from exposure to loud noises. Loud traffic, living near the airport, and sitting in the front row at too many rock concerts can all damage your hearing.

-Taking too much aspirin can also make your ears ring. That’s because the salicylates in aspirin are excreted through the Kidneys, and stress to your Kidneys can make your ears ring. The good news in this case, is when you stop taking aspirin and it’s been completely excreted from your body, the tinnitus should stop.

-Ear problems can also arise from other causes. Clenching your jaws at night and temporal mandibular joint problems (also known as TMJ, which is the joint right in front of your ears) can affect your hearing and cause ear pain.

-Blocked Eustachian tubes can plug up your ears and affect your hearing. This kind of blockage should resolve within a couple of days if it’s caused by a cold or flu, but if you’re suffering from chronic ear or sinus problems, it’s likely that digestive issues are causing your body to build up phlegm and dampness.

-Also part of the sensory system of the ear is your inner ear, which is responsible for maintaining your balance and proprioception (your sense of where you are in space). Dizziness and vertigo are inner ear problems that tend to be diagnosed as internal wind in Chinese medicine. Essentially, wind is considered to be movement where there should be none, and beyond dizziness and vertigo, may include lightheadedness, tremors, twitches, and even numbness and tingling. In most cases, internal wind is caused by a Kidney Yin depletion, which is a little like being down a quart of moistening Yin, which causes active Yang to rise upward triggering your symptoms.

Fortunately, my ear symptoms were short-lived. I got over my cold, clogged ears, and irritability within a couple of days. While you don’t think much about your ears and hearing until something is up, avoid really loud noises and keep your Chinese Kidney system as healthy as possible is good prevention. Get enough rest, avoid long-term stress, and eat many darkly colored foods that you prepare yourself are good ways to start. Your Kidneys will thank you!

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.

Sleep Apnea, Menopause, and Acupuncture

When I think about sleep apnea, I picture in my mind’s eye some big dude sawing wood, snoring up a storm, and thrashing around all night long. What I don’t picture is a woman going through menopause and struggling to get a good night’s sleep.

While it’s true that more men than women have sleep apnea, women do in fact suffer from this sleep disorder. Sleep apnea is an airway obstruction that occurs while you’re sleeping, forcing you to wake up and catch your breath. People with severe sleep apnea may wake up dozens of times during the night, making it impossible for them to get the deep restful sleep needed for good health. Congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, and daytime exhaustion are some of the health problems associated with sleep apnea.

For women who have sleep apnea, many of them develop it during or after menopause. A decrease in the hormones estrogen and progesterone are thought to be the culprit, as they help regulate and promote sleep.

In the clinic, I see women with sleep issues related to menopause who describe a pattern in which they can fall asleep easily. However, they wake in the wee hours and “surf” restlessly between sleep and wakefulness the rest of the night. This pattern is also similar to that of apnea, which is at its worst during the deepest REM sleep, when the work of breathing becomes a little more difficult. Ironically, since most REM sleep occurs during the last third of the night, apnea sufferers also find it the most difficult time to get sufficient deep sleep. The bottom line is that once REM sleep kicks in during the latter half of the night, apnea begins, causing frequent waking.

In Chinese medicine, menopause is most closely tied to your Chinese Kidney, which is responsible for your body constitution, growth, maturation, fertility, and how you will age.

Your Kidney system also houses the vital substances of Essence, Yin, and Yang, which frequently become depleted during menopause. This depletion is the underlying cause behind hot flashes, night sweats, and disturbed sleep.

There is good news in that sleep apnea that develops during menopause may be a temporary thing that resolves itself after the transition of menopause is over. In addition, if you are struggling to get a good night’s sleep, there are some things that you can do. Among them:

-Get a sleep study. Contact your health care provider to find a sleep clinic near you. They will measure the quality of your sleep and your breathing to determine if you are suffering from apnea. If you are, they can suggest solutions that will help you sleep better, which might include a CPAP machine to keep your breathing steady while you sleep.

-Sleep cool. Keep the room where you sleep cool, wear light moisture-wicking pajamas, and open a window if possible.

-Enlist some help from Chinese medicine. Many people use acupuncture to help them sleep better. In addition, Chinese herbs can help nourish your Chinese Kidney and offset some of the side effects of menopause. Interestingly, in some cases herbs can be more effective than acupuncture, as they are better at the job of nourishing your vital substances and regulating hormonal changes.

-Chinese food therapy may also help. Your practitioner can suggest foods that nourish your Kidney, as well as cool some of the heat of hot flashes or night sweats.

The bottom line is that while you may think that women don’t snore or have apnea, the reality is that they do, and it kicks in for many women during menopause. The quality of your sleep is important, because it affects your health in a number of ways. If you believe that you have obstructive sleep apnea, get some help.

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !

Share and Enjoy !