Treating chronic pain with acupuncture

By: Dr. Marcelle MacCallum

Chronic pain can range from mild to severe. It can present as unremitting or chaotic-occurring at irregular intervals and irregular intensities.

Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts for a long time, typically present for a minimum of 3 months, but more commonly present from 6-12 months (whereas acute pain is pain that is resolved within 30 days to 3 months).

Chronic pain can last for weeks, months, or even years after an injury. The pain sensation can feel like a dull ache, throbbing, burning, shooting, squeezing, stinging or stiffness.

Pain intensity, control, and resiliency to pain are influenced by the treatment and support a person with chronic pain receives.

Chronic Pain is Not Just Physical

When trying to manage your chronic pain, it drains your physical body. But your other mental and emotional systems become depleted as well.

Emotionally it can make you feel angry, anxious, depressed, fearful, and frustrated.

Mentally, chronic pain takes a toll on your self-esteem, questioning your ability to get better.

Acupuncture Treatments for Chronic Pain

According to the United State’s National Institute of Health (NHI), acupuncture works particularly well on chronic pain.

Acupuncture is a 3,000-year-old healing technique of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

It improves the body’s functions and promotes the body’s natural self-healing process by stimulating specific anatomical sites commonly referred to as acupuncture points.

Acupuncture points are places where nerves, muscle, and connective tissue can be stimulated. The stimulation increases blood flow (microcirculation) while at the same time triggering the activity of the body’s natural pain killers.

This may relieve pain by releasing endorphins, the body’s natural pain-killing hormone and by affecting the part of the brain that governs serotonin - a “feel good” brain hormone involved with mood. In Western terms acupuncture is thought to ease pain by affecting neurotransmitters, hormone levels, and the immune system.

The complications and potential adverse effects of acupuncture are low compared to medication.

New Approaches to Therapy-Resistant Patients

A common problem for therapists in their daily practice are patients that seem to be resistant to treatment despite all diagnostic and therapeutic efforts. If you have developed chronic pain, a recurring painful joint, or unrelenting muscle knots, these could be due to hidden scar focus.

In many cases, when a patient is diagnosed and treated with ear acupuncture (called German Auriculomedicine) there is an improvement in chronic ailments that previously resisted conventional treatment.

Ear acupuncture is used to treat the root blockage and allows the body to regain optimal functionality. It helps the brain reprogram pain and trauma patterns.

This treatment is practiced with gold and silver needles and the bio frequencies of a Low-Level Laser therapy.