Chronic Pain Conditions
Pain can be the initial or sometimes simply the most motivating issue of a pathology – it will often present as part of a picture, which your Chinese Medical Practitioner can diagnose and treat. Chinese Medicine can assist in facilitating that change to enable your body to heal and recover more quickly.
The International Association for the Study of Pain has defined pain “as an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience resulting from actual or potential tissue damage…”. Chronic pain may be defined as pain that lasts beyond the usual course of the acute disease or expected time of healing, and it may continue for an indefinite period of time.
The most recent meta-analysis states ‘Acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal, headache, and osteoarthritis pain. Treatment effects of acupuncture persist over time and cannot be explained solely in terms of placebo effects. Referral for a course of acupuncture treatment is a reasonable option for a patient with chronic pain.’
Typical chronic pain conditions include: osteoarthritis; rheumatoid arthritis; low back, shoulder and neck pain; headache and migraine; cancer pain; fibromyalgia; neuropathic pain (e.g. sciatica, trigeminal neuralgia, post herpetic neuralgia); chronic overuse conditions (e.g. tendonitis, carpal tunnel); and chronic visceral pain (e.g. irritable bowel syndrome, endometriosis).
Acupuncture can assist in minimising, resolving and managing your symptoms and help you regain the parts of your life sacrificed to chronic pain. The Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medicine, and Chronic Pain Australia association also recommends Acupuncture as the preferred, most effective treatment of chronic pain conditions.
In regard to Chronic Pain treatment, clinical trials consistently show a performance of real acupuncture considerably over sham acupuncture, (although both performed over medication) and over ‘usual methods of care’ such as exercise, manipulation, and cognitive behavioural therapy as well as continuing long term affects after treatment.
Acupuncture may help relieve chronic pain by:
- stimulating nerves located in muscles and other tissues, which leads to release of endorphins and other neurohumoral factors (e.g. neuropeptide Y, serotonin), and changes the processing of pain in the brain and spinal cord
- increasing the release of adenosine, which has antinociceptive properties
- modulating the limbic-paralimbic-neocortical network
- reducing inflammation, by promoting release of vascular and immunomodulatory factors
- improving muscle stiffness and joint mobility by increasing local microcirculation which aids dispersal of swelling.
Chronic pain conditions have been extensively researched with Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. These are now thought to be related to systemic inflammation of the body and nervous system, something Acupuncture excels in realigning and assisting, and good improvements are often observed with a course of regular treatment.
Chinese Herbal Medicine provides additional, long term benefits to Acupuncture treatment, as a natural alternative to anti-inflammatories and pain-killers, with considerably less side effects.
* There is now a frequent attempt by other professions, not registered as Chinese Medicine practitioners or Acupuncturists, to claim these results with ‘Dry needling/ western acupuncture’, which is a weekend course of training performing UNDER remedial massage in clinical studies, with minimal evidence of efficiency and numerous safety concerns due to minimal training – less than 8 hours hand’s on!
I’ve written detail here for your clarity: for the most effective treatment and Real Acupuncture, always be sure to look for the title of “Acupuncturist” – and the training that goes with it.
References
- Acupuncture therapy for fibromyalgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials January 2019
- Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Update of an Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis May 2018
- Acupuncture for Chronic Pain, Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis May 2015
- Acupuncture for Chronic Pain 2014