Conditions Treated

and more…

Low back pain is one of the most common conditions treated with acupuncture. Its efficacy is so well documented that Medicare, like most commercial insurance plans, has started covering the cost of acupuncture treatment specifically for chronic low back pain.  To understand what to expect during and after treatment, you can read more about the two most likely causes of low back pain. 

1. People experience fatigue, tightness, and dull/ achy pain in the lower half of their torso. This happens when we sit or bend over for too long, such as at a desk or in the car. 

   • Patients rarely seek treatment for this discomfort until a muscle spasm occurs, aka they “throw out” their back. While muscle relaxers and steroid injections can be helpful short term, I have found that many people still experience intense pain for months before they seek out an acupuncturist.

2. Secondly, an impingement of the nervous process due to a ruptured or bulging disc can cause a lot of intense pain near the lumbar spine. This sharp pain can be mixed with sensations of numbness and tingling, burning, shooting electric pain, or a combination of those and other symptoms. While this is called Sciatica, there can also be another, easier-to-treat cause for Sciatica.

   Acupuncturists will mobilize soft tissue surrounding the painful area to reduce inflammation, improve muscle function, and blood circulation. This in turn allows tissue to be repaired if any damage has occurred. 
   

Neck pain is slowly becoming the most common complaint patients walk in with. We are really talking about the area between the cervical spine and shoulder joint.  

Our lives at the desk and hinged over our phones are placing a strain on sensitive muscles. Cupping can help to alleviate tension in the biggest muscle, the trapezius. However, the underlying cause for many patients is the levator scapulae muscle. A locked-in levator causes neck pain and headaches which can reach from the occiput and arch across to the temple. Acupuncture with electrical stimulation is a very effective tool to release a locked trapezius and other muscles.  

The shoulder is the most complicated joint to treat. Its wide range of motion makes it prone to soft tissue injuries, many of which can be treated without the need for surgery. If you have recently been given a steroid injection, then you might notice the effect wearing off sooner than expected. When assessing the shoulder joint, we take note of the plane, direction, and angle at which the pain or restriction occurs. This is a good way of isolating an individual or groups of muscles to treat.

Hip pain can be directly related to low back pain. The larger muscles in the buttock area assist extensively with the upright position of our torso, keeping you from falling forward while you’re busy typing away at the keyboard. These extensors, or gluts, are hard workers that eventually need some TLC. Even with chronic hip problems treating the glutes can offer a lot of relief.

Acupuncture for headaches and migraines 

Successful treatment of headaches requires differentiation. 

Where in the head are the headaches taking place? At the temple, behind the eyes, at the front, back or top of the head? Is the neck involved? 

What does the pain feel like? Is the pain any one or a combination of the following: sharp, stabbing, throbbing, dull, aching, empty?  

Does the pain get better or worse with pressure, rest, activity, stress, food, light, sound, other factors? 

Most patients that seek acupuncture treatment for headaches have previously been given a diagnosis but have not always been asked to describe the unique struggle they cope with day to day. It is also common for patients to experience an entanglement of multiple types of headaches simultaneously. Headaches that start as neck tension can creep up to the temple and trigger a migraine or cluster headache.  

Acupuncture offers a unique treatment strategy on account of its long-term safety and ability to treat these headaches at their root. This helps to reduce frequency and intensity, while effectively improving patients’ quality of life.