Acupuncture

[Little Apple]

1) have any of you guys used acupuncture for body repair on old injuries, and did it work?

2) Do you have to go find an old Asian guy for the acupuncture to be any good, or is someone who went to an American school for it ok?

[Ghost]

There was a documentary on the discovery channel that used blind trials and proved that it doesnt work, so i woudlnt use it.

[SheBear]

I'm a bit sceptical about it, but I've heard from people who say it does work and others who say it doesn't.

[GranFire]

There was a documentary on the discovery channel that used blind trials and proved that it doesnt work, so i woudlnt use it.

How do you do a blind trial on it? I mean, you notice being poked with a needle, no?

[Tom Yum]

I know people from completely different walks of life whom have used it and swear by it. I don't fully understand how it works - something to do with stimulating nerve endings that re-direct or block pain signals?

A few medical programs here in the States offer Physicians training in accupuncture - which says alot about its effectiveness.

They do not generally offer training in Chinese herbal medicine - which has fewer clinical studies?

[xuesheng]

You don't need some old guy but you do need someone that is trained properly and sadly that tends to mean trained in "traditional Chinese Medicine" "In China" "In a TCM University" These days. And to be honest those are few and far between in the US. There are a lot of Chinese people doing acupuncture in the US saying they were trained in China, and they were, just not in TCM. A lot of MDs and other medical people trained in China get into acupuncture here but they were never trained in TCM in China. ALWAYS ask anyone that claims they were trained in China where they actually trained and in what they trained

Not that American schools do not train good people it is that many of the books used to train TCM people in China are not translated in to simplified Chinese and certainly not translated into English. Therefore the material is not available for those who train in the US.

But if you like you can go to a bigger Chinatown in the US and probably find an old guy that was trained by following a Shifu that is very good but then again just because it is an old Chinese guy does not mean he knows what he is doing.

As to repairing old body injuries it depends on how old, the severity and what was done before to try and correct it. Also please please please understand it is not a miracle cure, it takes time. In China they sometimes go everyday for a very long time and it works fine. Sometime for certain injuries it takes less time. And always always always be very leery of any Chinese TCM person that gives a hoot about the Western diagnosis. They don’t mind hearing it and it may be used in their diagnosis but not likely. They will be much more concerned with their TCM diagnosis.

[GranFire]

I know people from completely different walks of life whom have used it and swear by it. I don't fully understand how it works - something to do with stimulating nerve endings that re-direct or block pain signals?

A few medical programs here in the States offer Physicians training in accupuncture - which says alot about its effectiveness.

They do not generally offer training in Chinese herbal medicine - which has fewer clinical studies?

It's like this, I am sure you have experienced it: You scratch one part of your body and you can feel a little sting somewhere completely different. if i am not mistaken those points are then used to insert needles in the hope to accomplish something.

And of course, mind over matter, if you believe a sugar pill is a miracle cure!

(as for the clinical studies...'modern' or mainstream medicine is extremely suspicious of herbal medicine of any origin! Fueled by the pharmaceutical companies, I am sure they usually reject anything that wasn't made in a lab before it is proven 10 times over, compared to the pills and stuff, even if anecdotal history suggests it to be as effective, if not more and with less side effects. However, if the chemistry is needed, by all means use it!)

[xuesheng]

They do not generally offer training in Chinese herbal medicine - which has fewer clinical studies?

Big part of TCM training in China and they have done a whole lot of studies on it there.

However in school they are asked to specialize in either Acupuncture or Herbal but I believe this is at a master’s level (Bachelor’s degree in TCM in China is 160 credits plus an internship), that I am not sure about and I will have to check. But the average TCM Doc in China has extensive training in both.

[treelizard]

You can find acupuncturists who are also trained in Chinese herbs and those that are not. Herbs are usually better for building up deficiencies, whereas acupuncture is good for reducing excesses. And yeah, acupuncture is awesome. I would look around for a good practitioner and use your intuition. I've had many good and a few bad experiences.

[Little Apple]

O-o-o-o-oK then. Glad we're all in agreement here. I'm dealing with some Extreme systemic muscle tension and related weirdness, and some things help, but nothing makes it go away.

It's like...you know that knot next to your spine kind of by the middle of the shoulder blade? (I know we all have that one) And how it's always there, and sometime so tight that it goes numb, and makes crunchy noises if you press it? I've got that crawling through the whole left side of my body. It's nuts!

[Ghost]

posture related most likely. you twist slightly to look at a computer screen that is slightly over to one side or do you sit slight lob sided in your chair often? perhaps your sofa at home if you watch tv you lean one way or the other?

[Little Apple]

I'm sure all those things don't help, but I've been in a couple car accidents; particularly one when I was 5, and it's kind of climbed down from my neck in the past 12 years. Then I hurt my shoulder, and that just didn't help anything.

[Ghost]

so do you have any diagnosed long term physical problems?

Id personally expect a muscle pain in that region to be a fairly simple situation but i guess its possible its something else. its usually from being stuck in an awkward posture.

i usually find the simplest, most obvious answer is the correct answer rather than trying to see something went wrong when you were 5. but its your body so you will be the best judge.

id look for the root cause rather than something like acupuncture which is a long shot at best that wont fix the problem in the long term. up to you anyway.

[treelizard]

It's like...you know that knot next to your spine kind of by the middle of the shoulder blade? (I know we all have that one) And how it's always there, and sometime so tight that it goes numb, and makes crunchy noises if you press it? I've got that crawling through the whole left side of my body. It's nuts!

Acupuncture is good but so is foam rolling, mobility work (there's a great DVD called Magnificent Mobility), massage and Active Release Technique, shiatsu...

[Little Apple]

It's not "muscle pain" in "an area," it's almost all the muscles on the left side of my body (tendon insertions at the base of the scull, down the neck, across all the muscle groups of my back, into my shoulder, down my arm, all through that hip, down the outside of the leg to that knee, and connecting at the arch of my foot), they are all locked up and numb. Not to mention that the hip tweaks out and hurts whenever it thinks that would be fun. It's Extreme, Systemic Muscle tension, and it has only gotten worse over that last 12 years. Doesn't even let up when I sleep.