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Pain

Finding Relief: The Benefits of Acupuncture for Treating Chronic Pain

Finding Relief: The Benefits of Acupuncture for Treating Chronic Pain

According to a study published in 2023, approximately 51 million people in the United States suffer from chronic pain, with about 17 million of those suffering from high-impact chronic pain. Those who suffer from chronic pain find their lives altered in difficult ways. The search for relief is constant. Traditional medicine offers various prescription medications, but if you are looking for a more natural path to healing and wellness, acupuncture should be at the top of your list.  continue reading »

Unlocking the Ancient Wisdom of Gua Sha

Unlocking the Ancient Wisdom of Gua Sha

Gua sha is rooted in traditional Chinese medicine. Practitioners of this medicine believe that a person’s qi, or energy, must flow unhindered throughout the body so you can feel your best. When qi becomes stagnant, health problems occur. With Gua sha, your acupuncturist uses a smooth-edged tool to gently scrape areas of your body where inflammation or stagnant qi exist to help improve circulation and promote healing. When done correctly, Gua sha can help you unlock radiant skin and achieve holistic well-being. continue reading »

Acupuncture for Orthopedic Pain

Acupuncture for Orthopedic Pain

Orthopedic pain is a big deal for many Americans, and it comes in many different forms including knee, hip, shoulder, and other joint pain. Acupuncture has been proven an effective tool to deal with orthopedic pain…even Harvard Medical School thinks so.  continue reading »

Acupuncture & Athletes: A Winning Combination

Acupuncture & Athletes: A Winning Combination

Whether a weekend warrior or a seasoned semi-professional or professional competitor, athletes are always looking for that competitive edge, the thing that can keep them healthy and give them a bit more in the tank to defeat the competition. 

Sports acupuncture is a great tool athletes can use as part of their overall health care strategy. Sports acupuncture is a hybrid form of acupuncture and sports medicine that is specifically used to support sports-related activity. Athletes and runners especially can use sports medicine acupuncture to relieve pain, accelerate the healing of sports related injuries, improve performance, and increase muscle flexibility. Let’s unpack each of these benefits and see just how sports acupuncture can be used to treat athletes. continue reading »

Acupuncture as an Alternative to Opioids

Acupuncture as an Alternative to Opioids

According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, almost 50,000 people die every year from opioid overdoses, more than 10 million misuse opioids in a given year, and opioids are a factor in 72% of overdose deaths. You hear about the opioid crisis on the nightly news frequently but what can be done to help people deal with chronic pain (the reason they are likely taking the opioids in the first place). Can acupuncture really help?  continue reading »

Five Benefits of Consistent Acupuncture Treatments

Five Benefits of Consistent Acupuncture Treatments

In a nutshell, traditional acupuncture, also known as Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, works under the belief that the body is controlled by a flow of energy called qi traveling through pathways in the body that are called meridians. Acupuncturists believe that when these pathways become blocked and the energy can’t flow freely, various health problems begin to appear.  continue reading »

Acupuncture is Great for Treating Chronic Pain

Acupuncture is Great for Treating Chronic Pain

The National Institutes of Health estimates that approximately 25.3 million adults suffer from chronic pain (defined as experiencing pain every day for the preceding three months). They also estimate that nearly 40 million adults experience what is considered severe levels of pain.

Chronic pain can be debilitating for those suffering from it and directly impacts quality of life. People often treat chronic pain with anti-inflammatory medications (both prescription and over-the-counter), physical therapy, or with ice and heat, but those options don’t always provide long lasting relief. According to Harvard Medical School, “acupuncture is an option with a good track record that’s worth considering.”  continue reading »

Top 3 Reasons Acupuncture is Great for Seniors

Top 3 Reasons Acupuncture is Great for Seniors

As we get older, those aches and pains become a little more pronounced and life begins to create some new challenges. For many seniors, schedules become impacted with doctor’s appointments and trips to the pharmacy. If you haven’t tried acupuncture, here are three reasons you should give it a try as it can greatly help some of the greatest health challenges facing seniors today.  continue reading »

Acupuncture Wrapped: An overview of some of the most exciting discoveries in 2020

Acupuncture Wrapped: An overview of some of the most exciting discoveries in 2020

As we enter a new year, it is natural to want to look back on the last one. As humans, we have the gift and the hurdle of marking time, so it can feel helpful to recall memories we want to hold on to or look for lessons we can take with us.  

To that end, here are three categories in which research into the type, application and efficacy of acupuncture saw significant advancements in 2020, findings that will certainly help guide us as we move forward. In a year that saw so much focus on our health, these findings offer some good news in the fields of pain management without opioids, migraine headaches, and insight into why it is that acupuncture is effective as an anti-inflammatory.  continue reading »

Acupuncture and Pain Management

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine examined how acupuncture can be used to treat low back pain. The researchers looked at multiple trials to determine that acupuncture shows great promise in relieving chronic low back pain. The trials were inconclusive about acupuncture for acute low back pain. Since chronic low back pain is more common, it makes sense the majority of the trials scrutinized found more evidence to support acupuncture usage for this condition.

 

Pain affects everybody at some point in their lives. It may be either acute or chronic.  But regardless of the type of pain, it can be debilitating. According to the National C

enter for Health Statistics, nearly 100 million Americans have suffered from pain that lasts more than 24 hours and millions more suffer from acute pain. Chronic pain is the most common cause of long-term disability in the United States also, which ultimately affects not only the pain sufferer, but also those around him or her.

Many people go to see their regular doctor when they have pain. Many more go to the emergency room. But the treatments received don’t always provide relief. Everything from pain pills to surgery may be suggested to help pain sufferers. And because of over-prescription of pain medications, there is now an epidemic in the United States.  Opioids, one class of prescription painkillers, has turned into a legitimate killer, causing more and more people to overdose and die. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it is estimated that nearly 2.1 million people in the U.S. are suffering from substance

abuse disorders directly related to opioid pain relievers.

This is where acupuncture comes in. Acupuncture is part of a nearly 3,000 year old medical system known as Traditional Chinese Medicine. Acupuncture uses hair-thin needles to stimulate specific pressure points on the body. By invigorating these points, the brain is triggered to release endorphins, which are natural painkillers. The energy within the body is also moved and adjusted. According to TCM medical theory, when the energy is blocked or weak, then pain and illness can attack the body.

One of the advantages of utilizing acupuncture to treat pain is the acupuncturist doesn’t need to diagnose the cause of the pain before treating it. Since acupuncture has no real adverse side effects when performed by a qualified and professionally licensed practitioner, pain relief can begin the very first time a patient is treated.

The treatments are very customizable because this medicine is not a “one size fits all” type of solution. This means that as the pain shifts and changes, the patient will receive customized treatments that not only address the pain and inflammation, but they also work on resolving the root of the problem. Most patients who are dealing with pain also have added stress, insomnia and depression or anxiety. Acupuncture is great at treating all of these conditions. So the patient gets more than just pain relief.

Acupuncture is so effective at treating and relieving pain now showing up in hospitals and emergency rooms. In fact, Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota is now successfully using acupuncture in its emergency room to treat conditions ranging from car accident injuries to kidney stones. Their initial results show pain scores are just as low with acupuncture as they are with those given analgesic painkillers. Another positive action regarding the utilization of acupuncture came just recently. The Food and Drug Administration released proposed changes that plan to educate health care providers about treating pain. The new guidelines recommend doctors get information about acupuncture and suggest it to their patients before prescribing opioids.

With these kinds of recommendations and testimonials, it is hard to believe only about 10 percent of Americans have ever tried acupuncture. But that statistic is slowly changing as more and more people are seeking natural and alternative methods of dealing with pain and disease. Why not check it out for yourself? Contact me to find out more information.

 

 

SOURCE: http://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/718336/meta-analysis-acupuncture-low-back-pain

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