Treating Pain
Traditional Chinese Medicine can address both the branch (the symptom) as well as the root (the cause) of the pain.
While pain means suffering and misery to most, it is also a sign that your body is alerting you to pay attention! If your house smoke alarm starts beeping, do you turn it off without addressing the cause of the alarm–the fire? Of course not! Yet many people try to cover up pain by taking drugs or simply ignoring it. While this may temporarily dull the pain, your body will continue to remind you that something is still wrong, and the pain can become more intense and chronic.
It is important to treat pain as pain can slow recovery, interfere with sleep and eating, and worsen fear, anxiety, frustration, and depression. However, “quick fix” drugs have negative possibilities and they often do not treat chronic pain effectively over the long-term.
“Today, adverse drug reactions and drug interactions are directly responsible for thousands of deaths annually and for more than 20 per cent of all hospitalizations for adults over the age of 65.”
— Statistics Canada, 1998
Since drugs do not take care of the source of the problem and they can be associated with many side effects, what can you do?
Traditional Chinese Medicine can address both the branch (the symptom) as well as the root (the cause) of the pain. Acupuncture is a natural, time-tested, safe, and effective way to treat pain. It is acknowledged by the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Arthritis Society, and many pain management centres and institutes.
Chinese herbs, supplements, and food cures can be used alone or to support acupuncture treatments.
What kinds of pain can TCM treat?
Both acute and chronic pain can benefit from TCM treatments.
How does TCM treat pain?
TCM doctors have used acupuncture and herbs to treat warriors, martial artists, emperors and empresses, farmers, children, and more for over 5000 years.
Pain Management Techniques
Acupuncture
Medical research has shown acupuncture to be a safe and effective treatment method for pain. It stimulates the production of endorphins (chemicals that block pain), neutralizes trigger points, relaxes muscles, and blocks the transmission of pain signals to the brain by stimulating competing nerves. One major benefit to acupuncture as a complementary therapy, is that it can be used safely with other therapies, including pharmaceutical drugs.
Herbal Remedies
Many herbs have been shown to be anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving. As a TCM herbalist, I can choose herbs that relieve pain and also add herbs to treat the underlying health imbalances.
I can customize a concentrated powdered formula or I might select one or more tableted herb formulas.
Biopuncture–Not currently available
When your pain just won’t go away, ask me about adding biopuncture to your treatment. I typically do this injection therapy at the end of an acupuncture session.
I choose acupuncture points, trigger points, or specific muscles to deliver anti-inflammatory, pain relieving, and muscle relaxing remedies.
Food Cures
Without proper nutrition, our bodies do not heal well. In order to replace and repair damaged cells, specific nutrients need to be available. When they are not, recovery is impaired. In addition, as with the herbal remedies, some foods have medicinal properties, and food recommendations can be made to suit the individual.
Supplements
From the fundamentals like omega-3 fatty acids for their anti-inflammatory effects to the somewhat less common like serrapeptidase that helps break down scar tissue, I can review your supplements to help make sure you’re on track for your health goals, including pain relief.
Other Manual Therapies
Ear seeds can help calm your nervous system, as it often gets amped up and stressed with pain. Press needles are teeny, tiny needles on stickers to help extend your acupuncture effects or to treat areas otherwise too sensitive to needle. Cupping stretches tissue and increases local circulation. I may include any of these treatments as add-ons to your acupuncture treatment.