One of the more common back pain related aliments is sciatica. Thankfully acupuncture generally soothes sciatic pain fairly well. One of the major things we have to do in the treatment of sciatica is hip and pelvis alignment and balance. This is a theme that I’ve illustrated over and over and over again here on this blog.

Lets dive a bit deeper into the topic of acupuncture for back pain, sciatica. One of the major muscles to pay attention to when dealing with sciatica is the piriformis muscle. It runs from the lateral or outside border of your sacrum to the side of your hip bone. Often times a unilateral tight piriformis can pull the hip and pelvis out of alignment causing impingement on the dreaded SCIATIC nerve. In about a third of the population the sciatic nerve runs directly through the piriformis.

So what! How can I help ease the pain of lower back pain and sciatica? One of the ways to ease the pain is of course by acupuncture – but if you are looking for things you can do on your own at home before trying acupuncture therapy there are several important stretches and activities to try.

First you can try a foam roller. It is important when you foam roll that you not adhere by the, “no pain, no gain philosophy.” Many times I’ve seen patients make their pain worse by trying to roll out their piriformis muscle and their IT-band. So try foam rolling on the piriformis muscle and the IT-band (which runs down the side of your legs from your upper hip bone to your knee). Picture the IT-band like the seam on a pair of jeans.

Another exercise to try is a #4 stretch. Either sitting or lying on your back cross one leg over the other and while flexing the foot (this is important to protect the knee) stretch the leg down and move your chest forward and down – if you are sitting on a chair. Try to avoid a hunched back and lead with the center of your chest – NOT your head.

Lastly you can also roll the inner thigh. In Chinese medicine the magic rule is always balance. You can soften the inner thigh and create space and relaxation in the piriformis and IT-band by taking a rolling pin and rolling the inner thigh a few times a day. It’s important to roll from the knee upwards towards the groin.

With all of these stretches and activities of course do it at your own pace and if you experience any discomfort contact a professional – either your doctor, trainer ect.

Lastly try acupuncture! I wrote this article, Acupuncture for Back Pain: Sciatica, because this is an extremely common alignment in my practice and although not all cases are the same, most cases of sciatica do react well to acupuncture.

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Lately I have been enjoying sharing some acupuncture treatment success stories. One of the most common conditions I treat is fertility.

In the past I’ve written some about Chinese Medicine and given some case examples. In this blog post, Acupuncture and Fertility Success, I would like to address three core principles that you can follow that may increase your chances of increasing fertility and becoming pregnant.

First create something in your life that you can do EVERY day that allows your body to relax. Relaxation is a skill that many people in our modern society have forgotten how to do. Realize that if you haven’t gotten pregnant and you’re been trying for less than one year it’s actually considered by many opinions to be “normal.” The worst thing you can do is start to think more about the situation. Acupuncture and fertility success can go hand in hand, it’s a phenomenal tool in this instance because it affects the sympathetic nervous system dramatically and allows the body to become calm, quiet and peaceful. In addition to acupuncture, meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, body scans, or some breathing techniques are all ways that you can alter your mind and bring more relaxation into your life which can all increase fertility.

Third, consider your diet and perhaps take some Chinese Herbs to increase fertility. Many people don’t realize that changing your diet can impact all areas of your life. It can nourish your body deeply so that your uterus and menstrual cycles normalize. Foods like red meat (according to Chinese Medicine) can be helpful in cases where a Chinese medical diagnosis is blood deficiency. Another common Chinese Medicinal diagnosis is blood stagnation either due to emotional problems or sometimes heat. Decreasing the amount of spicy foods as well alcohol or tobacco can also calm your mind, help move your blood, and cool your body.

If you follow these three steps it will also help you gain some control of the helpless feeling of wanting to get pregnant and becoming unsuccessful month after month. Above all else try to maintain hope and believe in yourself and your body’s natural fertility.

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Approximately 38 million Americans suffer with chronic anxiety or depression. One out of eight adults are currently taking antidepressant medications. Wow! While these medications can offer support and benefit on certain occasions, there are indeed many people that do not respond well to this form of treatment. However, for others seeking more than medication acupuncture can offer help. In this article, Depression and Acupuncture, I want to present a case example of how acupuncture can help you lift depression out of your life.

After about 6 months of feeling like this a friend suggested acupuncture. Emma immediately reacted quite well to our treatments. She began to feel more energized, resumed playing disk on the weekends and took up scuba diving and paragliding! She joined a gym, lost weight, and gradually started to reduce her medications along with supervision from her physician. Now all of this certainly wasn’t due to acupuncture, but Emma credits acupuncture as being the catalyst that allowed her to regain control over her life.

If you feel like you are suffering from depression and are interested in eliminating your medications (always with the supervision of your physician) it is possible and acupuncture can help. If you are being treated for depression and acupuncture is used you may, like Emma, find relief from your symptoms.

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Today I am writing the article – Acupuncture: Arthritis Shoulder – to tell you about an amazing success story I had recently. A 65 year old active women who is an avid golf and tennis player came into my office with a diagnosis of arthritic shoulder pain. We will call this women Sara although she asked that I did not use her real name in this blog post.

After a brief exploratory trial of 4 acupuncture treatments Sara’s point was generally absent for 3-4 days after our session unless she played 18 holes of golf and played tennis in the same day. We agreed to continue treatment for anther 4 sessions concentrating on her lymphatic flow, immune system health, circulation and adrenal systems. After 8 sessions Sara was able to play golf 4 times per week without any pain – although Alieve did help on the back 9.

Sara now comes in for regular maintenance type acupuncture treatments once per month. In her words, “I’m just better on acupuncture then I am off of it. I can really feel when I miss a treatment.”

So the key take home point of this blog post – Acupuncture: Arthritis Shoulder – keep your hope high – you can change your pain.

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I am asked this question frequently. And the answer most of the time is a resounding yes. In a blog post about a month ago I wrote about fertility success stories. This month I will more accurately discuss how acupuncture functions to help people with fertility difficulties.

So lets explore the question, does acupuncture work for fertility? It’s a funny thing acupuncture. You mean to tell me that what I can do as a practitioner is take small, very small in fact sterile, stainless steel needles and place them in the body at various places and it will manifest in my having a baby? Again, well yes.

It’s interesting really that this system exists. You push here and it causes a movement there. Sometimes this movement has interesting results. One of the consistent themes that I find with fertility patients is a stagnation in a certain part of their lives.

When patients come to me for unexplained infertility I try and access their entire lives. I care about how they eat, how the sleep, how they think.

For instance, I recently had a 32 year old female with a healthy menstrual cycle, normal mood, good hormonal function (she’d had all of these tests done with her) – everything was fine. One of things we worked on in our sessions was simple mindfulness. She couldn’t shut her brain off and was always either working or thinking about working or worrying about something. She had to learn to take life as it comes in small steps. She had to learn to appreciate herself as a strong business focused women and she needed to learn to separate her work life from her home life while maintain this strength.

Once she learned to slow down her mind and to sometimes trust in the universe – BOOM – she was pregnant. I certainly can’t tell anyone how acupuncture works really. I can describe the clinical system of acupuncture and can give explanations within that system, but I cannot explain how in fact it works. What I can answer is the question does acupuncture work for fertility?, the answer to that is a clear yes.

All I can say is that we are all small ripples of water moving in a swift current down a massive river. Sometimes we are caught in small eddies and hung up for awhile. Other times there is a damn and we set in a larger pool or pond. Wherever you are take a real look at your life and see if there is someplace you want to go. Realize that it IS possible. Sometimes it just takes a push. Acupuncture can be such a tool. Drift into what is possible.

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This time of year I see a constant trickle of patients coming in with complaints of asthma and allergies. There are many things you can do besides taking western medication to help your breathing, decrease the sneezing attacks of allergies and increase your lung capacity if you’re suffering from asthma.

One of them is to receive acupuncture treatments. When using acupuncture for asthma and allergies, Chinese medicine uses specific acupuncture points to specifically diagnose various pathologies. In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) allergies are thought to be cause by an “invasion” of a pathogenic factor – often times wind or cold. Acupuncture is able to effectively reverse this invasion and disperse the “allergies” pathogen. The result is that your body is able to breathe deeper and easier, and your sinuses open.

Interestingly enough there is often a structural component to asthma and allergies. Some important areas to focus on are the upper back, the acupuncture points Lung 1 and Lung 2, which are located on the ventral upper chest region, and the diaphragm area. Quite regularly actually very tight muscles restrict the movement of our breath and diaphragm. Did you know that you have up to 14 muscles that assist inhalation and exhalation? Ribs can also constrict breathe.

Try this simple exercise now: start by placing your hands on your upper chest. Take a three part breath – breathing in for a count of 3 or 4 seconds, holding at your breath at the top of the inhalation for one second – and exhaling for 3-4 seconds, then pause again at the bottom of the breath in-between the inhalation and exhalation. Take 2-3 normal breaths and repeat again with your hands on the back of your ribs near your kidneys, your side of your ribs near your liver and spleen and finally the lower abdomen. Often times this simple breathing exercise is enough to significantly open the lungs – IF performed regularly.

In addition to acupuncture for asthma and allergies, there are a wealth of homeopathic medicines, Chinese herbs, supplements and other qi gong or pranayama exercises that I can teach you about that will also help with your asthma and allergies. The best thing to do is come in for a treatment and we will create specific goals and prescribe certain exercises that are best for you.

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Did you know that skeletal muscle accounts for 50% of your body weight? Or that one of the most popular search phrases for acupuncture is for neck and shoulder pain? This is exactly the reason why I’m writing this article and why I’m hoping to spread some insight into how I breakdown and diagnose patients with neck and shoulder pain.

First let me start by saying that in most cases, acupuncture for neck and shoulder pain is very effective. The question I receive very frequently is how many treatments do I need and how often should I seek treatment. Very interesting questions!

Unfortunately frequency and number of treatments are often driven by whether insurance coverage is available for acupuncture. Chiropractic and PT often see patients twice per week or even three times per week. A course of acupuncture is generally once per week for 8-12 treatments. I access patients during their first treatment and set goals to see them once or sometimes twice per week for 4-5 weeks, even if I think it might take more treatments to resolve the issue. Either way, after 4-5 treatments it should be clear whether acupuncture is helping to change the situation.

Okay great, but what does an assessment of neck and shoulder pain look like? In the palpatory style of acupuncture that I practice much of the diagnosis is based on – you guessed it – palpation. Specifically pressure pain on various muscles in the neck and shoulder region as well as the hips, knees, and even ankles as well as the abdomen. Many times treatment centers around reduction of pain in this areas. We also test range of motion and overall pain scale.

One of the treasures of acupuncture and Chinese medicine is being able to accurately diagnose areas of the body that might seem unrelated to your main complaint, but are actually preventing you from healing. Using acupuncture for neck and shoulder pain takes advantage of this treasure. One example of this is trigger points. I would say that 85% or even more of the patients I see with neck and shoulder have active trigger points in at least the levator scapulae or trapezius. This is extremely common but often overlooked.

Another common presentation of neck and shoulder pain patients is a hip imbalance. Many times people don’t even realize how fascia connections in the hip can negatively affect the neck and shoulder. Try this exercise. Sit up straight and pull on the shirt directly around your navel in a direction away from your shoulders. You should see some folds or creases running up to your neck and feel tightness in the shoulders. Now imagine that your shirt represents connective tissue that unless released will prevent your neck and shoulder pain from going away! This demonstrates clearly how hip or lower back tightness can affect upper body alignment, pain or tension. And this is just the tip of the needle – pun intended – sorry I’m filled with bad acupuncture jokes.

Check back next week for more information on how acupuncture can help you on your path to total health!

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Approximately 38 million Americans suffer chronic anxiety or depression – are you one of them?

While these medications can offer support and benefit on certain occasions, there are indeed many people that do not respond well to this form of treatment. This can be due to a number of factors including:

• Various side effects that outweigh the benefits of the medication
• A developed tolerance to the medication that causes the benefits to diminish
• Excessive sensitivity to the concentrated nature of these medications
• A belief system that suggests that the anxiety is not due to a biochemical imbalance, or that this imbalance is the result of a deeper spiritual issue

In my clinical practice, I have worked with a number of patients who were convinced that they had run out of options after finding medications and/or talk therapy to be ineffective for their needs.

The good news is that there are many options for those with anxiety. Acupuncture, yoga, meditation, tai chi, craniosacral are just a few of the many CAM therapies (Complimentary and Alternative Medicine) that are effective in treating anxiety. When I believe that acupuncture can help, I suggest they consider acupuncture for anxiety.

Lets talk about acupuncture for anxiety. Many people try acupuncture as a last resort, but based on the experience I have had in working with numerous anxiety ridden patients, I now firmly believe that acupuncture can offer tremendously helpful support in healing the root causes of this epidemic. This approach is much more comprehensive and much less invasive to the brain that using SSRI medications. Often times with the help of your physician you can stop using drugs altogether.

Acupuncture is helpful because it accounts for not only biochemical factors, but also energetic, nutritional, and spiritual influences as well.

I am very passionate about helping those with anxiety because acupuncture actually helped me eliminate my anxiety completely. As a competitive sports athlete I was raised with the idea that if you aren’t worrying about a game then it must mean that you don’t care enough or you’re not trying hard enough. Up through my college years I was plagued by nervousness and tension. As a young adult I started studying martial arts, Buddhism, meditation, yoga, and eventually acupuncture. I remember when I first started receiving regular treatments – it was if someone had lifted a giant stone off of my chest. I left acupuncture treatments looking and feeling like I was an elf from Lord of the Rings. I could run on air. My head was in the clouds and my feet in the earth. I felt balanced, centered and deeply relaxed. My world was focused, my intention sharpened, my purpose clear. It’s been one of my main goals to help people with anxiety and anxiety is one of my favorite conditions to treat.

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Do you have neck pain that your doctor has told you is cause by arthritis? Perhaps you’ve been prescribed an anti-inflammatory or feel stiff particularly in the morning, and have difficulty moving your neck to its full range of motion. Do you feel like you live with Tylenol or Ibuprofen by your beside? Chances are you might have heard about acupuncture, but did you know that it can help arthritic neck pain?

In this post, Acupuncture: Arthritis Neck, I would like to tell you about how Acupuncture is able to specifically combat two factors that are very common in arthritic individuals with neck pain: structural problems and the immune system.

First the immune system. Have you ever wondered how western medicine is able to access the immune system? Sure you can run a complete blood test that measures white blood cells and other markers, but what if everything seems normal according to these tests or what if it’s just below normal? What if there was a way to access the immune system’s function in a sub clinical way? Acupuncture has this ability. Okay it might not be proven with a double blind randomized controlled study, but it has existed for thousands of years. By diagnosis of pressure pain on various acupuncture points and through careful analysis of the radial pulse acupuncturists are able to access the “Lung” meridian and the immune system. In my practice I’ve seen patients with active immune system problems according to Chinese Medicine and they had no idea.

The second cause of arthritic neck pain that is most commonly combated with acupuncture is structural or postural problems. In our society we spend lots of time looking down! Everything is down – our phones, our computers, our televisions (lots of time). We need to place things on the ceiling! Okay maybe not, but every single patient I’ve ever treated for arthritic neck pain has had tight neck muscles. Tight muscles generally benefit from a total body relaxation treatment of acupuncture. Sometimes the hip and / or pelvis are misaligned and sometimes trigger points exist in the neck muscles. Either way both benefit from acupuncture treatments.

Okay so in summary if you are sitting out there on your computer wondering what types of things can help your arthritis if anything at all – please act now! As I’ve shown you here in Acupuncture: Arthritis Neck, Acupuncture can help.

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If you ask any acupuncturist in the United States what are some conditions that are among the most common complaints that they treat with acupuncture chances are they will mention pain. Pain of all types certainly but perhaps most commonly upper back pain, neck pain and lower back pain. Extremely common! The good news is that acupuncture can help.

Also you may not be addressing the problem directly. One of the things I do with every single patient is to access their structure. I start each treatment accessing the ankles, knees, hips, lower back, and neck. Many times we don’t realize it but there may be problems in our bodies – physically – that are preventing our bodies from healing pain. Once we correct these areas often times the body can self-correct on its own.

In this post, Acupuncture: Upper Back Pain, let me share an example with you, “Steve”. “Steve” was a 55-year-old fireman who had been out of work for 4 weeks before coming for acupuncture treatment. He complained of upper back pain that radiated into the right side of his neck, and down into his biceps. After accessing his structure it was found that Steve had a misaligned pelvis. During each treatment we worked on aligning the pelvis, which in turned helped to alleviate his upper back pain. Another key trigger that Chinese Medicine pointed to was Steve’s addition to sugar. Many people don’t know that sugar can cause inflammation and increase pain!

Needless to say acupuncture can effectively treat upper back pain, which is what prompted me to write up Acupuncture: Upper Back Pain.

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