A lot of people suffer from anxiety, especially during the holidays.  Sometimes you are missing someone you love.  Sometimes you are overwhelmed by the people you love.  ; )  But one thing that can help is acupuncture.  There are points to calm the mind, points to calm the spirit, points to strengthen the adrenals, points to open the heart, points to sooth grief, and points to calm down the sympathetic nervous system.  I know these work because I do them to myself at home in front of the television when I get anxious, and it really calms me down. Guess what I'll be doing tonight!

But also, Acupuncture Nirvana is a place where we take care of you.  We keep you warm and comfortable and safe.  Beautiful music is playing.  We want you to just relax and nirvana out a while.  Like I'm doing now...

So recently I've been treating a new disorder with good results that I learned about called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD).  It was first discovered in the civil war after a soldier with a gunshot wound had terrible burning pain beyond what was expected for the wound itself. 

According to RSDGuide.com, Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) is a medical condition that affects the patient’s sympathetic nervous system. RSD is characterized by severe chronic pain in an affected region, such as a patient’s arm or leg. After the onset, RSD will continue to worsen as time passes.  RSD is a debilitating and painful condition that has a significant impact on the patient’s daily life. While there is no cure, a number of treatments may be administered to relieve RSD symptoms. If treated early, patients typically have a better outcome.

According to Medicine.net, symptoms include pain (often "burning" type), tenderness, and swelling of an extremity associated with varying degrees of sweating, warmth and/or coolness, flushing, discoloration, and shiny skin.   The way a lot of people seem to describe it is that you're on fire.  It can be triggered by a variety of different events, for example, a gunshot wound as noted above.

When I first encountered this, the issue was on a distal area of the body and I wasn't allowed to needle there.  I looked up RSD and discovered it was basically the sympathetic nervous system gone wild.  I had been working with Zhu's scalp acupuncture quite a lot at that time, which are known to affect the way the brain sends signals to the nerves throughout the body.  It had worked amazingly well for a new case of post stroke rehabilitation.  The idea is that the brain sends both motor and sensory information to the body.  So I worked on both upper and lower motor points, as well as the sensory points.  Then I did some hand points, because the hand has nice points for the spine, low back, digestion, and calming the spirit.  Then ear points for calming the sympathetic nerve system, and working through the ear as a microsystem to treat the distal body points.

So far the results have been amazing. Despite lowering dosages of pain meds the patient is doing well.  I was actually reading about RSD on Dr. Zhu's scalp acupuncture website, and he has a great testimonial and case study on there - really interesting stuff: http://www.scalpacupuncture.org/phenomenal-results-for-reflex-sympathetic-dystrophy-rsd/

If you know anyone with RSD please refer them so I can help them as well!

The shoulder is a marvelous joint, and a pain in the butt. Fortunately for us, the complex structure of the shoulder joint allows for an incredible range of motion. We are able to move arms the way we do largely due to this flexibility. Unfortunately, the shoulder joint has relatively poor blood supply, so it is slow to heal when it is injured. Prevention is the best medicine for shoulder injuries.

Another checkmark in the “fortunately” column is that acupuncture is really good at improving circulation wherever it is applied. In Chinese medicine speak, we say acupuncture promotes the circulation of Qi and Blood. Qi and Blood are the healing regenerative forces of the body. Free-moving Qi and Blood also stops pain. Regardless of how you phrase it, acupuncture treats shoulder pain by invigorating the area, relaxing muscles and promoting healing.

Shoulder bursitis is inflammation of the bursa in the shoulder joint. Bursa are small sacs filled with fluid that cushion the joint and allow for smooth movement of the bone, tendons, and muscles. The causes of shoulder bursitis include injury, repetitive motion (athletics or manual labor), and impingement syndrome leading to inflammation. The symptoms of shoulder bursitis include pain with overhead activities, pain while sleeping at night, joint stiffness, swelling and redness. Pain from shoulder bursitis is often felt over the outside of the shoulder/upper arm.

The rotator cuff refers to all the muscles and tendons in and around the shoulder that work to stabilize the shoulder joint (glenohumeral joint). The four muscles of the rotator cuff are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis muscles keep the bone of the upper arm (humerus) in the shoulder socket (glenoid fossa). Rotator cuff tendinitis is the swelling and inflammation of the tendons of these muscles. Some of the causes of rotator cuff tendinitis include overuse, especially through athletic (throwing sports, tennis) or other physical (overhead lifting) activities. The symptoms of a rotator cuff injury are pain at rest or at night, especially upon lying on the affected shoulder, pain when raising and lowering your arm in specific ways, weakness when lifting and turning your arm, noises in the shoulder joint when moving in certain ways.

Shoulder impingement syndrome is the combination of shoulder bursitis and rotator cuff tendinitis. Typically, both causes of shoulder pain are present, but the degree of one versus the other may vary. Regardless, the swelling and inflammation of the tendons and bursa cause a narrowing of the space of the shoulder joint. This leads to pain and restricted movement. Supraspinatus tendinitis is another part of shoulder impingement syndrome.

Connective tissue forms a “capsule” around the bones, ligaments, and tendons of the shoulder. If this capsule thickens or tightens, frozen shoulder can occur. The inflammation associated with frozen shoulder causes severe pain and restricted range of motion. Most of the time, there isn’t a cause of frozen shoulder, but it has been noticed that people with cervical spine (neck) injuries, diabetes, those who have had shoulder or open heart surgery, and hyperthyroidism are at an increased risk for frozen shoulder. The symptoms of frozen shoulder are ranged by stage:

If the ligaments and tendons that hold the shoulder together become stretched out or weakened in any way, the shoulder may easily separate or dislocate. This is called shoulder instability, and the shoulder can be partially (subluxated) or fully dislocated forward or backward. The causes of shoulder instability include direct injury, post-traumatic instability, joint laxity (hypermobility, as seen in the very flexible and pregnant women), and overuse, especially through swimming or throwing. The symptoms of shoulder instability include frequent dislocations or separations without direct trauma.

One of the ways our body has to protect its joints is to cover the ends of bones in cartilage. This prevents the bones from directly rubbing together. When the protective cartilage breaks down with age, osteoarthritis results. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and swollen joints. Direct injury may also be a causative factor in the development of shoulder arthritis. The symptoms of arthritis include pain, tenderness, stiff and inflexible joints and possibly bone spurs.

The biceps muscle connects to the shoulder bones to the arm via tendons. When this tendon become inflamed, irritated, or torn, pain can result. The pain of biceps tendinitis is felt in the front of the shoulder. The causes of biceps tendinitis include overuse (especially due to overhead activities like swimming, tennis, and baseball) and an underlying rotator cuff injury. The symptoms of biceps tendinitis disorders include pain and swelling in the front of the arm.

The labrum of the shoulder lubricates and absorbs shock within the shoulder joint. If it detaches from the tendons and tears, pain will occur. This is also known as a glenoid labrum tear or informally as a shoulder joint tear. The causes of labral tears are overuse, especially in athletes using overhead motion (throwing, swimming), falling on an outstretched arm, direct trauma to the shoulder, and sudden pulling motions (a dog pulling on a leash or lifting a heavy object). The symptoms of labral tears include pain on overhead activities, catching or locking of the shoulder joint, popping or other sounds in the shoulder joint, shoulder instability, decreased range of motion and loss of strength.

Your doctor will diagnose your shoulder pain after evaluating your shoulder by:

Your doctor will likely prescribe some of the following treatments for shoulder pain:

On my About Chinese Medicine page, I talk about how the body is covered by a network of acupuncture meridians. When a patient is experiencing pain, my first step in evaluating that person is to determine which of the meridians is affected, that is which ones cross over the areas of pain. Pain from an acupuncture perspective, is a blockage in the meridian, so acupuncture is applied to remove those blockages. I can also use herbal medicine to help unblock the meridians from the inside out.

In addition to acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, I use Tuina medical massage, cupping, Guasha and other adjunct techniques.

I also take time to evaluate a patient’s overall health. By improving general health, so Chinese medicine theory says, problems like shoulder pain are less likely to arise. From another perspective, you can fix the shoulder, but if the shoulder pain is being caused by something else, the pain will come back when treatments are stopped. So, it’s important to treat the symptoms, but also treat the underlying root cause. This is why we always treat the whole person in Chinese medicine.

Source: http://dylansteinacupuncture.com/acupuncture-pain-management/shoulder-pain/

Playing sports is a wonderful way to stay in shape and have fun with friends. Whether you are a casual sports player, a weekend warrior or someone who trains hard everyday, acupuncture can be extremely valuable for you: it assists both acute and cumulative injury recovery, helps prevent future injuries and enhances athletic performance and endurance.

Many acupuncture techniques were born from the needs of the martial arts traditions in China. Acupuncture played an important role in keeping ancient fighters in peak condition and it continues to keep modern athletes healthy and active. Some recognizable sports names who use acupuncture regularly are Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Carl Lewis, Charles Barkley and Jim McMahon. Also, many professional sports teams employ acupuncturists to treat injuries and keep players in top condition.

Sports are competitive in nature. When we are competing, we push ourselves beyond our normal limitations, which can result in traumatic injury. No doubt, when this happens, you will want to get back out on the court, field, rink, course or trail as soon as possible and acupuncture can help.

When traumatic injury occurs, first check with an urgent care doctor to be sure that it isn’t serious; fractures, dislocations, ruptured tendons and serious internal injuries should be treated by a medical doctor or hospital. But, after you are released to rest and recuperate, acupuncture is the perfect therapy to augment recovery, reduce pain, and speed healing time.

Common traumatic injuries that acupuncture can treat are:

Some sports injuries are not sudden, but slowly build-up over time due to repeated over-use of a particular joint or muscle. Usually, these types of injuries start out as a nagging dull ache. This is the best time to start getting treatment for these injuries. If you ignore them, they will build-up to become chronic and debilitating problems. Once advanced, these injuries often require more recovery time than acute, traumatic ones.

How do you distinguish between the nagging ache of a cumulative over-use injury and the typical soreness that accompanies working out? Here are 3 general guidelines to help you determine what your ache may be telling you:

Common cumulative, over-use injuries that acupuncture can treat are:

From the Chinese medical point of view, the body is an energetic collection of functions, not just a mechanical collection of parts. That is to say, we contain Life Energy, also known as Qi (“chee”). One is said to be in perfect health when this energy is flowing unimpeded, and in an adequate amount throughout the entire body. Qi is the basis for the proper functioning of all body processes: it provides structural integrity and stability, physiological efficiency and the potential for healing.

When you sustain an injury, the flow of energy in and around the area becomes disrupted, causing stagnation and pain. This energy stagnation also inhibits the proper circulation of blood and lymph to the area, extending healing times, prolonging swelling and bruising and increasing the need for pain medications.

Acupuncture works directly to free the flow of Qi through these areas of stagnation. This serves 3 main functions to assist healing and speed recovery:

When Chinese herbal medicine is added to the acupuncture treatments, the healing and pain relieving effects are even greater. Herbs for injuries may be applied topically and/or taken internally, depending on the nature of the injury. Massage techniques may also be incorporated after the initial stages of recovery.

Acupuncture and Oriental medicine focuses on regulating the flow of energy (Qi) throughout the entire body, to create optimal circulation and function.

What could be possible when your heart, lungs, muscles, tendons and joints are all receiving fresh vital nutrients and being flushed of waste products quickly and efficiently? Better physical performance, enhanced endurance, quicker recovery times and fewer incidents of injury. When added to a proper physical training program, acupuncture is extremely valuable for improving your game. This is what many professionals already know, and why they use acupuncture for injuries, injury prevention and enhanced performance.

(article by Dawn Balusik, AP, DOM, published in Tampa Bay Wellness, Sept 2008)

For more info on booking an appointment to treat your sports injury:

http://www.genbook.com/bookings/slot/reservation/30245179?bookingSourceId=1000