acupuncture Archives - Page 5 of 9 - Acupuncture in the Park

Acupuncture for Athletes

Many years ago, a patient came to me for acupuncture to see if I could help him with his case of the Yips. While this may sound like a funky skin condition, having the Yips is actually a golf term. It’s when the golfer jumps, jerks, or pulls up just prior to putting the ball, totally wrecking their shot.

I’m unsure whether or not I was able to help the Yip-infected golfer, as he was pretty desperate and was trying a variety of things. However, several years later, I saw a woman for a condition totally unrelated to golf—in fact I didn’t know she played golf. Until she came back for follow-up treatments, that is. Her chief complaint was only slightly better, but she informed me that since having acupuncture, she was playing the best golf of her life!

So can acupuncture help with your golf game, or with any sport? I say yes, and here’s why:

Acupuncture can help heal your sports injuries. Whether from trauma or from overuse, acupuncture can help reduce inflammation, increase circulation to the injured area, and speed up the healing process.
Acupuncture also works to reduce pain by producing natural pain killing chemicals in your brain and blocking the pain signals throughout your nervous system.
Acupuncture can enhance your physical performance. Chinese medicine is all about energy. One of the most common effects of acupuncture is better energy. If you’re an athlete, this is an obvious advantage, especially for boosting your endurance and recovery time.
Your mental performance can also benefit from acupuncture. Research has shown that acupuncture positively affects your brain chemistry in several ways. If you are looking to improve your focus, self-confidence, and relaxation prior to competition, acupuncture may be the answer.
Acupuncture increases the circulation to your muscles and tendons. This increase in blood flow can help repair and relax overworked and tight muscles and increase your range of motion.
Athletes who are constantly training and competing are under a lot of stress. Acupuncture can be an incredibly effective form of stress relief, as well as a toolfor relieving pre-performance anxiety.

I can’t say that acupuncture can get rid of your Yips. However, whether you’re a competitive athlete or a weekend warrior, acupuncture can be a great tool for anyone who is looking to decrease their recovery time, increase their energy, improve their focus and performance, and alleviate their stress. And it’s legal.

Wine-Making and Chinese Medicine

As an acupuncturist, I find myself explaining the concepts of Chinese medicine through the use of metaphors. I often compare the health of our bodies to that a farmer’s field. To be in the best health possible, we need nourishment in the form of good food, hydration, adequate sleep, and clean air to breathe. Similarly, in order to be healthy and productive, the field needs sunshine, the right amount of moisture, nutrients, and rest. It seems that French winemakers are also embracing the concept of a healthy and well-cared for field.

A small group of French winemakers are engaging in what they call biodynamic agriculture, which is more than just growing organically. In addition to not using pesticides, fungicides, and chemical fertilizers, they take into account geomancy—the movement of the moon and stars—in timing their harvests, and apply preventive treatments to the land, much in the tradition of Chinese medicine.

My goal as a practitioner is to work with patients to nourish and heal, as well as to develop preventive strategies to keep them healthy. My tools are acupuncture, Chinese herbs, dietary therapy, and rest, to name a few. Similarly, the goal of these biodynamic farmers is to nourish their soil. Through the use of insects, microorganisms, constructive use of weeds, and worms to aerate the soil, these biodynamic growers have cultivated the optimal soil for growing fine grapes and making excellent wines.

In Chinese medicine, each person has their own individual health makeup, which is the result of a combination of genetics, body constitution, and lifestyle. In wine making, there is a similar concept, which is that of “terroir”, in which the character of the soil, the climate, and the region all play a role in the flavor of a particular wine. Like we humans, no two wines are alike, including wine grown at the same vineyard in a different year.

While I may prescribe a Chinese herbal formula for a patient, French winemaker Bernard Duseigneur does the same for his fields. He gathers the weeds from around his vines, boils them up like a tea, and sprays the mixture back on his vineyard. Maybe prescribing an herbal formula for your vines isn’t so crazy after all!

IVF, Twins, and the Role of Acupuncture

At Acupuncture in the Park, we have worked with a number of women seeking acupuncture for infertility issues. We have found that most couples going through fertility treatments will do almost anything to increase their chances of conceiving and delivering a healthy baby. For many, that has meant IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), in which fertilized embryos are placed directly into the womb.

To increase a couple’s chances of success, many fertility doctors transfer more than one embryo at a time, resulting in a higher incidence of multiple births. Since the “Octomom” case in which a woman delivered eight babies through the IVF process, doctors have dialed back, decreasing the number of big multiple births. The number of births involving twins, however, has stayed the same.

While many couples are happy having two babies for their efforts, the reality is that having twins increases the risk of premature births and subsequent health and developmental problems. According to the Center for Disease Control, 46% of babies born as the result of IVF are multiples and 37% of those births are premature. In contrast, only 3% of babies born without fertility help are multiples, and of those only 12% are born prematurely.

As a result, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine are recommending fertility treatment using single embryo transfers. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean a decrease in a couple’s chances of success. Current techniques available include better screening of embryos, maturing embryos a few days longer to increase viability, and the ability to sample chromosomes of more mature embryos. These techniques coupled with better timing of transfer into the womb makes the odds of success between a single-embryo and a multiple-embryo transfer about the same.

How does acupuncture and Chinese medicine fit into this story? Anyone who has gone through IVF can tell you that it is a financial, physical, and emotional drain. Most couples will do whatever they can to increase their chances of a successful pregnancy in as few rounds of IVF as possible, and this is where acupuncture comes in. Several studies have been conducted on the role of acupuncture in IVF, and that research indicates that acupuncture can positively affect success rates. In one study, receiving acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer significantly increased pregnancy rates (39% acupuncture vs 26% without acupuncture). In another study, acupuncture was shown to be a factor in decreasing ectopic pregnancies among IVF recipients. From the research, it appears that acupuncture doesn’t affect the quality of the embryo, but rather it affects the health of the mother through hormone regulation. For a good summary of the research, go here.

While it may seem that in the numbers game of IVF that the odds have gone down with the recommendation of single-embryo transfers. But that isn’t necessarily the case. By combining more current techniques at the IVF clinic with Chinese medicine at the acupuncture clinic, your odds of success may be better than ever.

Acupuncture for Withdrawal from SSRI Antidepressants

Almost daily we see patients who are taking or are thinking about taking antidepressant medications. In most cases, these patients either want to lower their dose, get off these medications, or avoid taking them altogether. However, they also don’t want to feel depressed or anxious.

The most frequently prescribed antidepressants are in a class called SSRI’s, or Selective Serotonin Re uptake Inhibitors. Common SSRI’s include Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, Effexor, Cymbalta, and Lexapro, to name a few. Of the patients who are currently taking these medications, some have been taking them for a long time–years or even decades. Others have been on them for a few months, just enough to get them through a rough patch.

Unfortunately, these drugs have a powerful effect on your brain, and when you decide to stop taking them, it’s not like quitting aspirin or an antihistamine. There are some real withdrawal issues that can have serious effects both on your brain and your body.

-You can have withdrawal symptoms, which can be severe. These symptoms can include vertigo, dizziness, nausea, insomnia, sweating, restlessness, nightmares, tremors, headaches, achiness, and what patients describe as “brain zaps”, or a feeling of electrical shocks in the brain.

-You can also have what is called a rebound effect, which means that your original symptoms come back—only worse than before.

In Chinese medicine, depression is generally considered to be a pattern of constrained Liver energy. In lay terms, your Chinese Liver system is responsible for the smooth flow of everything in your body from your digestion to your emotions. Strong negative feelings and unfulfilled desires cause your emotional energy to seize up or stagnate in a way that can cause depression.

Antidepressant medications smooth Liver energy and keep it moving. That’s why some people feel “buzzy” or an internal restlessness called akathesia when they’re on them. However, when you stop taking them, your Liver stagnates again—and it can be less likely to move as smoothly as before, accounting for the rebound effect of worsening depression. In addition, your Liver energy can move erratically when these medications are stopped, causing something called Internal Wind—a sense of movement where there should be none. This internal movement is similar to akathesia, and is also considered to be a rebound reaction. This effect accounts for the symptoms of dizziness, vertigo, restlessness, tremors, and the brain zaps—all movement where there should be calm.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can support patients who are trying to stop their antidepressant medications or lower their dosages. It can be helpful in taming some of the withdrawal symptoms as well as minimizing any rebound effect that you may have. In terms of Chinese medicine, our role is to smooth and soothe your Chinese Liver, calm your emotions, and anchor Wind to stop erratic movements.

Needless to say, it’s important to plan any changes in your antidepressant medication with your prescribing doctor. It can be dangerous to just stop taking these medications on a whim. Ideally, you and your doctor will make a plan to wean off your antidepressants very slowly to minimize withdrawal or rebound symptoms. That said, acupuncture and Chinese medicine can be an effective part of your plan.

Acupuncture for Gastroparesis

Gastroparesis is a condition in which your stomach empties too slowly. The muscles responsible for moving food out of your stomach are either weakened or damaged, causing food to sit in your stomach. The symptoms of gastroparesis can include heartburn, nausea, vomiting, pain, bloating, decreased appetite, and anxiety. The possible causes of gastroparesis include damage to the nerve responsible for digestion (vagus nerve), diabetes, a viral infection, certain medications, and adhesions from scar tissue.

In Chinese medicine, gastroparesis would be diagnosed as something called Food Stagnation, which is essentially food not moving through your digestive tract. Because there is frequently an emotional/anxiety aspect to gastroparesis, it might also be diagnosed as a Liver and Spleen disharmony. Your Chinese Liver is responsible for the smooth flow of everything in your body, including your emotions and digestion. When that flow is impaired—or because that flow is impaired—your Chinese Spleen, which is responsible for digestion, is weakened.

While the symptoms of gastroparesis tend to ebb and flow, it is generally a chronic condition, with no known cure. In Western medicine, gastroparesis symptoms may be controlled with medications. In addition, there are a number of factors, mostly dietary, that can help bring the discomfort associated with this condition under control.

Can acupuncture help with gastroparesis? The answer is yes; while acupuncture isn’t a cure, it is all about enhancing flow and movement in your body. Many patients have found that acupuncture can help move food through the digestive tract and bring relief from the pain, bloating, nausea, and emotional symptoms associated with gastroparesis.

If you suffer from gastroparesis, there are a number of things you can do for yourself to alleviate symptoms. Your goal is to get adequate nutrition while avoiding flare-ups. Some tips that help accomplish this goal include:

-Eat several small meals during the day, and keep your meals light. The more you eat at one sitting, the slower your stomach will empty—so think small.

-Movement helps move your food along. Take a not-too-vigorous walk after eating to help the process.

-Eat more of your meals earlier in the day. Stop eating a few hours before you wind down for bedtime.

-Make friends with soups and smoothies. Liquid meals will be best tolerated, as they will empty from your stomach better than solid foods. In addition, be sure to drink liquids with any solid foods that you eat.

-Aim to get enough calories, which can be difficult with this condition. While fats in solid foods may be hard to digest, you may find that you can tolerate fats in a liquid or softened form such as full fat milk or nut butters.

-High fiber foods that are found in some fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains tend to slow down the emptying process. You will better tolerate high fiber foods if you eat them well-cooked in soup.

-Chew your food well.

-You may find that probiotics or digestive enzymes help this condition. Get some advice from a health care provider or from your natural foods store.

-When you’re having a flare-up, use some gentle heat on your stomach. In Chinese medicine, heat enhances flow and may help move things along.

-Do whatever it takes to manage your stress. Stress and emotional upsets play a huge role in this condition. Acupuncture can be a big help here, but you can also meditate, visualize, take a yoga class, or go fishing—whatever works to calm your frazzled nerves. Your stomach will thank you for it.

Acupuncture for Pain Relief

At Acupuncture in the Park, pain relief is one of the most common treatments we perform. Many people believe that pain is a very simple thing: you have pain, and you want it to go away. Or at least you want it to be better.

For some people, pain is anything but simple. It can be debilitating, and it can take over your life. Over the years that we have worked with people in varying forms of pain, we’ve learned that the consequences of that pain can be far-reaching. In this post, we’d like to share a few things that we know about pain and relief from pain from the standpoint of Chinese medicine:

-Pain can wipe you out. It can seriously and completely deplete your energy, and here’s why: In Chinese medicine, pain is considered a blockage. Whether your pain is caused by a tight muscle, loss of circulation, infection, inflammation, or trauma, if you have pain, it means that your circulation of blood and energy is impaired. Pain is like a dam that blocks the flow of water in a river, There is a lake upstream from the dam and a trickle of water on the downstream. Your energy on pain is that little trickle of water. When you hurt, you’re not firing on all cylinders.

-Your pain has a personality. It has a quality and can be sharp, stabbing, dull, achy, burning…you get the picture. Your pain may also respond better to heat or it may feel better when you ice it. Sometimes you have pain that likes pressure–like a trigger point in a muscle. However, there are types of pain where touching it will send you through the roof. As an acupuncturist, the quality and circumstances of your pain matter, and it tells me a lot about how best to treat it.

-Pain can show up far away from it’s source. For example, many people who come in with symptoms of sciatica have a piriformis muscle injury in their butt. The muscle is pressing on the sciatic nerve, causing pain to occur down the side or back of their leg, sometimes all the way into the foot. When this happens it’s called referred pain, and our job is to treat this referred pain at its source.

-The longer you’ve had the pain, the harder it is to treat. Your body likes habits, and it’s no different with pain. The pain symptoms you’ve had for years are treatable, but it’s a little more of a challenge because your body is “stuck” in a pattern of pain.

-The better your overall health, the better able you are to heal. Children seem to heal before your very eyes, mostly because they’re young and usually pretty healthy. Likewise, adults who are healthy in general respond better to acupuncture and tend to heal faster. As you get older or if you’ve had health problems, it can take a little longer to find relief from acupuncture.

-There are physiological reasons behind acupuncture’s effectiveness in treating pain. Researchers have found that acupuncture alters your brain chemistry–in a good way. It increases the circulation of your body’s natural pain-killing opioid and endorphins. Acupuncture also blocks the circulation of a chemical called adenisone which transmits pain signals to your brain. Locally, at the site where an acupuncture needle is inserted, the concentration of white blood cells is increased, which helps to clear out the inflammatory process in that area. That’s why if your elbow is hurting, your acupuncturist is likely to place a needle near the point of pain.

Chinese Medicine and Why You Don’t Sleep

Over the years at Acupuncture in the Park, we’ve found that it’s the rare person who sleeps really well; that person who drifts off easily, stays asleep all night long, and wakes refreshed in the morning ready to take on the day. Why is that?

As kids, sleep seemed pretty simple–you were tired at night, went to bed, and the next thing you knew it was morning. However, as you get older, getting an uninterrupted night of sleep isn’t always a given. Unfortunately, in Western medicine, insomnia tends to be treated in a similar way for every sufferer, which usually means a prescription sleep aid.

In Chinese medicine, however, sleeplessness is treated very individually, and can have a variety of causes. Among them:

-Too much internal heat. If you tend to run warm during the daytime, are thirsty for cool drinks, have lots of inflammation, and/or feel impatient and irritable, your internal engine may be running warm. At night, this heat can cause you to feel hot and sleep restlessly.

-Poor digestion. Eating too late in the evening, overeating, or eating spicy, rich, or greasy foods may keep your digestion running far into the night. In Chinese medicine, this is called food stagnation, and may present as heartburn or lots of stomach rumbling and gurgling at night, making it hard for you to sleep.

-Stress and strong emotions. It’s not a revelation to anyone that stress can interrupt your sleep. Generally, this kind of insomnia presents as an inability to get to sleep when you first go to bed and a racing mind.

-Hormones. Two of the most common complaints from women going through menopause are interrupted sleep and night sweats. In Chinese medicine, this kind of sleeplessness is caused by something called a depletion of Yin, a nourishing and cooling substance in your body. Estrogen is considered to be very Yin in nature, and when levels drop in menopause, it causes some women to wake repeatedly feeling hot and drenched in sweat.

-Depletion. It is possible to be just too wiped out to sleep. This happens most frequently to people who are chronically exhausted, have had a recent surgery or blood loss, or who suffer from adrenal fatigue or a chronic illness. When your insomnia is caused by a true depletion, you may be able to fall asleep, but wake in the early hours and either struggle to get back to sleep, or drift in and out for the rest of the night. This kind of insomnia can also affect people who are just plain tired out.

In Chinese medicine, the cause of your insomnia is an important factor in treating it effectively. There is no one blanket solution; only the right treatment for you. Treatment of insomnia with Chinese medicine is specific to your underlying cause, and would likely incorporate acupuncture treatments with Chinese herbs, some lifestyle tweaks, and dietary therapy.

The Role of Acupuncture in Joint Replacement

Dan* called Acupuncture in the Park out of the blue a couple of months ago. I had seen Dan for low back and hip pain a couple of years ago, but now his hip was really bothering him and he wanted to know if I could help. Apparently he had been limping along with really intense hip pain for the past 18 months. He had gone the conservative route; along with acupuncture, he had tried physical therapy, massage, and chiropractic. He finally landed in the orthopedist’s office, had seen the X-rays, and had resigned himself to having the hip replaced.

Dan’s issue was that he had a couple of major projects at work that he needed to complete, and could not schedule the surgery until about four months from now. His question? The pain was considerable and getting worse; could acupuncture keep him functional until his surgery? While there are no guarantees, I told Dan that acupuncture can be fairly effective for pain, and that it would be reasonable to give it a try.

I saw Dan every week or two until his surgery. I performed acupuncture combined with electrical stimulation, and added heat therapy to the mix. We kept him comfortable, functional, and on some days, even pain-free. Like many patients, Dan would say that there is a role for acupuncture in supporting people who are undergoing hip or knee joint replacement. Clearly acupuncture cannot reverse joint damage from arthritis or replace cartilage. However, there are a couple of ways that acupuncture can help someone who already has or will soon be undergoing this kind of surgery:

Pain relief. Like Dan, many people see the writing on the wall. They know that they will need their joint replaced; they’re just not ready yet. Acupuncture treatments can be an effective and drug-free way to reduce the pain until replacement surgery. In some cases, I have treated patients who were able to hold off on surgery for months, and even years. In addition, acupuncture can be a great way to reduce post-surgical pain.

Getting ready for surgery. Acupuncture can optimize your health prior to surgery. Joint replacement surgery is a huge physical stressor on your body. Working with a practitioner of Chinese medicine with the goal of being in the best health possible prior to the event can help minimize the impact of surgery on your body. I consider these pre-surgical patients to be in training for a major event.

Let the healing begin. Once surgery is complete, acupuncture is a great supportive therapy to assist in the healing process. It can speed healing, reduce pain, and help restore your body to its pre-surgical health. In fact many hospitals offer acupuncture to their patients in the day or two after their surgery. In addition, some patients who go through post-surgical physical therapy decide to schedule an acupuncture treatment after their PT session for pain relief and balance.

Long term support. While many patients are just fine months and years after their joint(s) have been replaced, some people experience aches and pains in the joint when the weather turns cold or damp. When this happens, the options are to tough it out, take a pain reliever, or…that’s right, get some acupuncture.

Many people don’t think about acupuncture when they’re facing joint replacement because acupuncture can’t change the basic structure of the joint. However, those patients who do choose acupuncture as a supportive therapy find that the benefits are surprisingly effective.

*Names and identifying details have been changed.

Acupuncture for Rotator Cuff Pain

Briana’s* case was a typical one for someone with shoulder pain. She came to us complaining of achy pain in the front and side of her shoulder. The pain began slowly, but kept getting worse. While Briana’s pain was dull and achy most of the time, as soon as she tried to raise her arm, she would feel a sharp stabbing pain in her shoulder and down her arm. During those times, the pain almost took her breath away.

One of the most frequent conditions that we see at Acupuncture in the Park is shoulder pain. Shoulder pain responds well to acupuncture in most cases, but it is a complicated joint to treat in general. One of the reasons for it’s difficulty is that while your shoulder is a ball and socket joint (like your hip), it’s a shallow one, and as such depends on the surrounding muscles, tendons, and ligaments to hold the joint in place.

A common source of shoulder pain is a group of muscles that make up something called your rotator cuff. The rotator cuff muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis) are actually found on the back side of your shoulder, but act to stabilize the shoulder through a wide range of movements.

Over the years, I have found that much of the grief caused by rotator cuff problems comes from the supraspinatus muscle. This muscle runs horizontally across the top of your scapula (chicken wing), passes under the acromium (the bone at the top of your shoulder), and attaches at the top of your humerus (arm bone). Your supraspinatus muscle helps you lift your arm to the side and is used in overhead motions such as combing your hair, throwing, and swimming. When this muscle is injured or inflamed, the pain may come and go, but frequently it will feel achy—until you lift your arm. Typically you’ll be able to raise your arm to the side only so far before you experience a “catch” that sends a lightening bolt of pain through your shoulder and into your upper arm.

The supraspinatus muscle can become injured from overuse, such as too much keyboarding, lifting, or other repetitive motions. It can also become injured from trauma, such as a fall on the shoulder, having your arm yanked, or a direct hit. It may act up from bad biomechanics, such as poor posture or sitting all day in a bad office chair. Whatever the cause, the pain arises from the muscle and surrounding tendons, which can become torn, inflamed, or impinged (pinched) where it travels under the acromium. Unfortunately, this kind of injury has the potential to become chronic which can greatly limit your range of motion and activity.

If you’re suffering from shoulder pain, there are a number of things you can do to be heal your shoulder and become fully functional again. First, I recommend checking with your acupuncturist for an assessment and treatment. Your practitioner is likely to incorporate acupuncture with something called electric stimulation and a kind of bodywork called Tui Na. You are also likely to be sent home with some instructions for care (such as heat, stretches, etc.) in between visits. If you’re trying acupuncture for this kind of injury, plan to give it four to six weeks minimum to see improvements, as shoulder injuries tend to heal slowly.

Other suggestions to help your shoulder heal include:

-Rest. Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times before, but quit raising your arm if it hurts to do so. Let the flight attendant lift your bag into the overhead bin and learn to comb your hair with the other hand.

-If your arm was injured due to some kind of trauma, use ice during the first couple of days after the injury to keep the inflammation to a minimum. After that time, I like heat because it loosens up the muscles and increases circulation to the area.

-Check your posture. Pull your heart area upward, your shoulders back slightly, and quit slouching. It’s not helping your shoulder.

-Ladies—get that handbag off your shoulder. It doesn’t matter which shoulder you wear it on, using a shoulder strap causes you to dramatically raise one shoulder higher than the other and pulls your back and shoulders out of alignment, which can aggravate and even cause rotator cuff pain.

-Beyond acupuncture, try working with a physical therapist for a couple of sessions. They can give you some exercises to strengthen your rotator cuff muscles and stabilize your shoulder.

*Names and identifying details have been changed.

Does Acupuncture Work?

Score one for acupuncture! In a newly published review of over two dozen studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture, researchers concluded that acupuncture worked better than usual pain treatments for chronic headaches, back pain, and arthritis.

This analysis of previous research involved almost 18,000 people who rated their pain on a scale of 1 to 100. Patients’ average pain value prior to treatment was 60. The average score after treatment for patients receiving acupuncture was 30, compared to 35 after fake acupuncture, and 43 after usual treatments which include medication and physical therapy.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine is being incorporated into a variety of traditional settings. The military is currently using acupuncture to treat patients’ pain conditions as well as post traumatic stress, and more and more hospitals across the country are offering acupuncture as a treatment option to their patients. While Western medical doctors are unsure as to exactly why acupuncture works, this study suggests that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for a variety of pain conditions.

Find the abstract here and an article about this study in the Minneapolis Star Tribune here.

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