Pain relief is by far the #1 reason people in America use acupuncture.
Painkillers may help numb it, but over time you’ll need to take more and more of them, at the expense of the liver and kidneys.
They can also causes changes in the brain itself that leads to depression, withdrawal, social isolation, and other personality changes. That’s not the real you.
Surgery can help in the right situations. Or it can make things worse. Or have no effect.
And then you have to heal and rehab the area for weeks or months anyway.
What I love about acupuncture and herbs for pain relief:
- Pain often decreases immediately
- Actual soft tissue function improves (preventing further pain)
- Side effects are minimal (maybe a small bruise?)
- Neurological connections are strengthened (making your body smarter and more integrated)
There are two main categories of pain:
Acute Pain is due to a recent injury. When your back goes out, you pull your hamstring, you have a crick in your neck. Most sports injuries are acute.
Typically we only injure areas that are susceptible. This means there has been hidden damage/instability for a long time.
The straw that breaks the camel sort of thing.
Best to do a cluster of treatments within 2 weeks to get the pain down. Then periodic maintenance to stabilize and strengthen the susceptible area.
Chronic Pain can be the result of an old acute pain that was never treated properly. “My bad knee.” Or it can come on gradually with no precise cause.
Chronic pain can be due to any combination of:
- Structural Issue
- Repetitive Use
- Physical Injury
- Stress
- Emotional Trauma
- Digestive Imbalance
- Autoimmune Issue
- Hormonal Imbalance
- Pharmaceutical Side Effects
- etc.
Many of these factors overlap.
Chronic pain is processed by your brain in a strange way. On a subconscious level you are trying to choke and kill the area.
Most people I meet that deal with chronic pain are frustrated, overwhelmed, and/or depressed. Those are common responses.
Living with pain always takes a toll on mental health.
Chronic pain has become a specialty of mine. It is incredibly satisfying to be a part of someone getting their life back.
Here are a few of my favorite problems to treat:
Migraines
Herniated Discs
Arthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Frozen Shoulder
Sciatica