Acupuncture for pain relief is far and away the single greatest motivator for those seeking treatment in our clinic. Does acupuncture for pain work? Sure does! Does it always work and work for everybody? No, not quite, but if you’re in pain and you don’t like the prospect of an endless regimen of pain pills and narcotics, the odds are greatly in your favor that acupuncture for pain can help you and help you fast.
For many pain conditions, from back pain to headaches, sprains and strains, stomach aches to menstrual cramps, acupuncture effectively relieves pain within seconds of the needles insertion. Most patients notice a change after their first treatment, but as with all conditions treated by acupuncture, the best effects are noted with a course of treatment.
How many treatments are needed when using acupuncture for pain? It varies widely. For an acute condition, like a sprained ankle, two to four treatments in a row may be all that are needed to resolve the issue. For chronic conditions like arthritis or the low back pain that’s been tolerated since the late 1980’s, a longer course of treatment is necessary. For some this may look like acupuncture twice a week for two to six months. For others, indefinite weekly acupuncture may be required to keep the pain at bay enough for them to function well in life.
Acupuncture for pain is often enough to set the balance of the equation in our favor, but sometimes Chinese herbal formulae are recommended to strengthen and consolidate the treatments. Chinese herbal formulae for treating pain tend to focus on the herbs that rectify qi and/ or blood stagnation, with the addition of herbs that guide the actions of the chief herbs to different locations in the body. The benefit of using Chinese herbs along with acupuncture for pain is that often the underlying imbalances that are causing the pain can be treated and cured.
As acupuncturists, using acupuncture for pain is our bread and butter. We’d love to demonstrate to you first hand why that is so.
Online.
