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.

How can Acupuncture help?

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.