Back pain, knee pain, wrist pain, shoulder pain, headaches. Dull, sharp, shooting, static, constant, or episodic pain. Whether from injury or a chronic issue, pain stops us from doing what we want to do, and sometimes makes us fearful of even trying to exercise. Sometimes, we love doing certain things so much that we push through the pain and cause more pain. Then we chase it with ibuprofen or something stronger. Then rinse, repeat.
Postural adjustments and corrective exercise can help eliminate this pain before it starts but what are we supposed to do until that happens? Suffer? Bite down on a wooden spoon? Nope. We don’t have to do that. Am I suggesting cortisone shots? No. Am I suggesting ingesting opioids or NSAIDS? No. I am telling you that acupuncture will help you with your pain.
Acupuncture is a proven pain relieving modality.
Study after study has shown acupuncture to relieve pain in clinical trials. How? One recent study demonstrated that acupuncture eases pain by triggering a natural painkilling chemical called adenosine, which increases dramatically in concentration after any stress or injury. Adenosine works by docking at a protein called the adenosine A1 receptor which is found on neurons that transmit pain signals. This stops the signal from being sent to the brain. That’s right, acupuncture is capable of boosting the human body’s ability to mitigate its’ own pain response.
Some of you are reading this and thinking, “If it stops the pain response, isn’t that bad? Won’t that contribute to further injury?” I understand this thought which is one of the many reasons why I don’t recommend cortisone shots. The difference is, this isn’t the only effect that acupuncture has on the system. There are many more mechanisms by which acupuncture helps activate the human body’s self-healing properties. Acupuncture can repattern muscle tissue by contacting the proprioceptors of muscle fibers. Acupuncture stimulates the immune system to produce natural anti-inflammatories, and the release of endorphins. Acupuncture increases circulation and microcirculation. (More on these mechanisms in upcoming blog posts). All of these mechanisms contribute to the body’s ability to heal itself. Cortisone, opiods, and NSAIDs are not capable of doing any of these. Acupuncture does them all.