Many of us struggle with chronic pain conditions. Often, medications are either not sufficient to manage the pain or have adverse side effects. This blog post discusses the mechanism behind chronic pain relief with acupuncture, how it works and what makes it so effective.
Chronic Versus Acute Pain
We’ve all had pain triggered by trauma – lifting a couch the wrong way, playing a football game, overdoing it at the bowling alley, or taking a fall on the sidewalk or living room. These pains most often resolve themselves within a few days or a week. The problem is when pains don’t resolve on their own. Some pains develop and settle in, causing chronic pain.
Acupuncture excels at treating both acute and chronic pain. Today’s blog post focuses on chronic pain relief with acupuncture. Some examples of chronic pain we treat in the clinic include chronic back pain, hip pain, neck pain, and fibromyalgia (pain all over the body). Other examples include:
Restless leg syndrome.
Peripheral neuropathy.
Migraine headaches.
Anxiety and depression (emotional pain).
IBS.
Acid reflux.
Carpal tunnel.
Plantar fasciitis.
These conditions distinguish themselves by the fact that they linger week after week, month after month. Unlike acute injuries, chronic pain conditions do not resolve themselves. The Western medicine solution is to prescribe pain medications. Millions of Americans rely on pain pills to get through their day. Chronic pain relief with acupuncture seeks to resolve pain at the root level, breaking the discomfort cycle.
Chronic Pain Relief With Acupuncture
Let’s take a look at some specific examples. Chronic low back pain comes from herniated discs, arthritis, facet joint problems, tight erector muscles, and a host of other possible dysfunctions in the vicinity of the lumbar vertebrae. The specific presentation of pain determines acupuncture treatment for low back pain. It involves inserting sterile, single-use, hair-thin needles into acupuncture points in and around the affected area.
This needle insertion triggers the body into action, like a general in battle, directing bodily resources to the area of pain. It guides blood to the site, where the blood immediately starts nourishing damaged muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Even more importantly, Qi (pronounced Chee) is activated. Qi is the life force in our bodies that moves the blood, opens blocked channels, and regulates our overall health. Qi is the general’s first lieutenant on the battlefield, directing troop movement and carrying out the battle plans.
After just a single treatment, the body starts healing itself from the inside out. This healing generates pain relief. Unlike pain medication, chronic pain relief with acupuncture provides long-lasting results from healing at the root level.
Fibromyalgia The Ultimate Chronic Pain
Another example to help explain how acupuncture addresses chronic pain is treating fibromyalgia and other chronic pain syndromes that affect multiple parts of the body. Unlike knee or elbow pain, conditions like fibromyalgia cause pain in over a dozen places on the body at once. Treating each area does not make sense. Instead, we treat at the organ level, allowing the body to tackle all of these pain areas at once.
When a fibro patient comes to our clinic, we put on our Sherlock Holmes hat and conduct a thorough intake exam to review all of their symptoms. This evaluation includes not only where they feel pain but also their digestive and bowel function, sleep, mood, breathing, allergies, past illnesses, and surgeries. Also, we examine the tongue and feel the pulse. From this information, we identify the underlying pattern imbalances present in the patient and create a treatment plan to correct these imbalances.
In nine out of ten instances, when the underlying organ pattern imbalances are corrected, the patient’s fibro pain is dramatically reduced. Flares become less frequent, and for less duration, energy and mood improve, and quality of life is enhanced. And best of all, these benefits are sustained because the patient’s internal condition has healed. Western pain medicine is the ultimate “band-aid” approach to healing, whereas chronic pain relief with acupuncture offers the maximum “curative” effect for deep healing.
Resolve Chronic Pain With Acupuncture
Acupuncture can resolve or relieve hundreds of chronic pain conditions. You owe it to yourself to try acupuncture before resigning to long-term pain medication or surgeries.
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What our Clients are Saying
I’m a golfer and started having trouble with my left shoulder over a year ago. My doctor wanted to do surgery, but I wanted to try other alternatives first. So I tried acupuncture. The folks at Raleigh Acupuncture were very professional, reasonably priced and did excellent work. They resolved my shoulder pain completely. I use them now for other pains in my post-50 body! Thank you Raleigh Acupuncture.
I’m a dentist and over the last 20 years the nature of my work and positions required by my work had resulted in chronic neck pain. It affected my sleep, limited my ability to exercise, and was just a real pain in the neck! A friend at church recommended Raleigh Acupuncture and I gave it a try. I have to say that I was a bit skeptical, but gave it a try because I had tried a number other therapies with no success. I’m glad I did. They resolved my neck pain completely!
All of my joints were hurting. I’ve got fibromyalgia and it effects me by making my joints hurt. The pain would move around from place to place, first the hip, the next day the shoulder, then the knee, etc. The practitioner at Raleigh Acupuncture explained that the best way to treat my kind of moving joint pain was to treat me holistically. Instead of treating the hip one day, the shoulder the next, they treated the root of the pain. They said this type of treatment would also improve my mood and my sleep. Right on all counts. I started feeling better after the second treatment. It’s like all of the joints just settled down and stopped giving me trouble. I had less flares and the intensity of the pain went way down. My sleep is better, not just because I have less pain. I’m more relaxed and less stressed. I’ve made this treatment a regular part of my life. I’m very grateful.
I suffered from low back pain for years and tried many different remedies. When I came to Raleigh Acupuncture, they really listened to understand my issues. I can honestly say that they cured my chronic back pain. I didn’t think it was possible, after all these years. I highly recommend this practice. The doctors take the time and do good work.