Conditions Treated – Pain

Pain

Anyone living with chronic physical pain knows that it amounts to much more than physical discomfort. Fatigue, anxiety, low mood, restlessness, and lack of drive often accompany long-term pain indicating that it is both a mind and body disorder, with huge impact on quality of life.

Acupuncture has long been an effective treatment for chronic pain with its efficacy proven by research. For example, the Jama Internal Medicine report, published in 2012, demonstrated that it is an effective treatment for chronic back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, shoulder pain and headaches based on data from nearly 18,000 patients over 29 high quality trials.

It triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkilling chemicals, and affects the part of the brain that governs serotonin, a brain transmitter involved with mood, resulting in pain relief.

What are Chronic Pain Disorders?

By definition chronic pain is any pain lasting more than 12 weeks. It can persist for a considerable period of time and is often the result of injury or trauma, or illness. In many cases the cause is unknown.

Chronic pain conditions include

Lower back
Shoulder
Neck
Sciatica
Tennis Elbow
Rotator Cuff
Frozen Shoulder
Plantar Fasciitis
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Fibromyalgia
Headache and Migraine

Diagnosis and Treatment

Chinese Medicine, of which Acupuncture is one treatment discipline, views pain as a localised blockage or stagnation within the energy channels of the body. The symptoms of pain are caused by energy trying to move through the blockage, being blocked and as a result generating friction.

Blockages can be caused in many ways, injuries which compromise the channel, environmental conditions which bring in dampness that stops movement, diet and lifestyle which creates heat and dissolves body fluids, to give just a few examples.

As an experienced therapist I will work with you to identify the root cause of your condition and devise a personalised treatment plan which includes acupuncture and adjustments to diet and lifestyle factors which may be contributing to the problem. Your plan may also include supplements to help your body or address a vitamin or mineral deficiency.