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How Acupuncture Treats Migraines

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Many readers have been asking me for more information about how acupuncture treats migraines.  I thought it might be helpful to show some recent case studies of real patients who have the most common types of migraines. Each patient is evaluated and an individualized treatment plan is created that may include Acupuncture, Dietary Therapy, Manual Therapy (such as Cupping, Moxabustion or Gua Sha) and Chinese herbal medicine.  Are you tired of cookie cutter medicine?  Well, read on and you will see that we always tailor the treatment to the individual patient.

Migraine Caused By Poor Digestion

‘Mary’ is a patient with a so many stressful health issues for a young woman in her twenties.  She has been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and subsequently developed ocular migraines.  She originally sought acupuncture and dietary therapy for help with her digestive issues.  She had extreme diarrhea which made it difficult to work and lead a normal life.  After doinig a complete health history, feeling her pulses and examining her tongue, I diagnosed Mary with Spleen yang deficiency and yin deficiency.  We created an individualized dietary plan with her input–because the only effective diet is the one you can stick with.  Together with weekly acupuncture treatments, the severity of her digestive issues became less and less.  Over time, I made recommendations for a couple targeted nutritional supplements, which Mary found to be helpful.  She was eventually able to go off one medication and reduce the dosage of another.  As her digestion improved, she was amazed that her migraines went completely away. Occasionally she had a short episode of blurred vision, but had no pain.  Mary is thrilled at what acupuncture and dietary therapy has done for her quality of life!

The Chicken or the Egg?  Migraines and Allergies

I first saw my patient ‘Natalie’ for chronic pain conditions that had troubled her for many years.  After acupuncture eliminated the chronic pain, Natalie asked me if there was anything that could be done about her serious allergies.  As we went deeper into her health history she revealed that she also had chronic migraines which worsened during times of stress and during allergy season.  Natalie’s allergies were very severe and of 40 years duration.  She was on multiple medications, but like many allergy patients the meds just didn’t seem to work anymore.  Natalie was not interested in dietary therapy as she felt her diet was good enough, but she was open to taking Chinese herbs.  Based on her diagnosis according to Chinese Medicine I was able to recommend a patent herbal formula in tablet form that contained 15 different herbs.  Though a single herb can have a strong action that creates side effects, Chinese Medicine uses complex formulas have been developed over thousands of years using multiple herbs to produce a synergistic effect,  and eliminate side effects.  We continued with weekly acupuncture for allergies, changing the focus of our previous sessions which had been centered on relieving her back pain.  Within days Natalie noticed a massive improvement of her allergy symptoms.  Eventually she was able to discontinue all her allergy medications.  While she still had some mild allergy symptoms during the worst of the allergy season, her migraines disappeared completely.

Teen Migraines:  Pain Relief Without Medication

My 17 year old patient, ‘Shana’, was going through a rough time.  She had recently gone off off her birth control medication as she felt worse on it.  She had chronic back pain; irregular and painful menses; and daily headaches and migraines.  Her diet was extremely poor (as is the case of many teens) and her mood swings were creating chaos at home.  Her doctors were urging her to go back on the pill and to go on anti-depressants, but she knew these were not right for her and her mother did not like the idea of her being on so many pharmaceutical drugs.  Shana’s migraines clearly worsened around her menstrual cycle and had a hormonal component.  She had other symptoms that pointed to hormonal imbalance like her irregular, painful periods; mood swings; and acne.  While Shana enjoyed cooking she didn’t really have much cooking skills or experience, and both her parents, busy with working full-time, did not make time to cook from scratch.  Too many of their meals were fast food, process food or junk food.

I really love to give my teen patients my favorite cookbook and encourage them to cook at home.  Oftentimes, as in this case, the parents realize that the whole family will benefit from more regular meals and get into the spirit of it.  I encouraged Shana and her parents to set aside at least one or two times a week to cook together using recipes from the cookbook I gifted them.  We spend a lot of time reviewing the principles of a good diet and as always, a diet plan is created together.

While Shana’s improved diet was the foundation for good health in the future, it was not enough of an intervention to balance her hormones–she needed stronger medicine.  Weekly acupuncture eliminated her back pain and migraines and helped make her periods more regular and less painful.  After a couple months she still had some lingering irregularity, pain and menstrual headaches, so I recommended a patent herbal formula which she took for six weeks.  At that point, all remaining symptoms were cleared up.  Shana continues with monthly treatment to keep her on track.

If you think we can help you with migraines or headaches, make an appointment now!

 

Acupuncture Beats Drugs For Urinary Incontinence

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hannamonika / 123RF Stock Photo

Urinary incontinence plagues people of all ages, frequently affecting women after childbirth, men after prostate surgery, and the elderly.  Stress urinary incontinence is very common among women especially, with laughter, sneezing, coughing and lifting all very common causes of urinary leakage.

Several studies have shown that acupuncture is more effective for urinary incontinency than conventional therapy, including drugs.  Herbal medicine can also be helpful.

Researchers compared the effects of electroacupuncture treatment with drug treatment. A randomized clinical trial of 100 female participants with mild to average level SUI were separated into two groups: electroacupuncture treatment and drug treatment. The treatments were administered over three 10 day sessions. The drug treatment group was given 2.5 mg of midorine hydrochloride tablets, 3 times per day. The eletroacupuncture group was treated with mid-intensity electrostimulation.

The results demonstrate that the short-term complete recovery rate for the electroacupuncture group was 20%. An additional 54% of participants showed signs of significant improvements. The short-term complete recovery rate for the drug group was 10%. An additional 24% demonstrated significant improvements.

If you think we can be of help to you, schedule an appointment now!

New Treatment for Stroke

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Acupuncture Research on Stroke Therapy

To Americans acupuncture may seem to be a new treatment for stroke, but in Asia it is quite well established.

There are hundreds of stroke studies from China and Japan, some involving large groups of patients, which show acupuncture’s efficacy in treating stroke. In fact, this is such a well-established procedure in Asia, that control groups are no longer used in acupuncture research studies on stroke patients as it is thought to be unethical to withhold acupuncture treatment from any stroke patient.

In the U.S., new stroke treatment research has demonstrated mixed results, with better designed and larger-scale studies needed.

A study carried out at the Lund University Hospital, Sweden (1) involved 78 patients with severe hemiparesis (paralysis of one side of the body) within 10 days of stroke onset. 40 patients received daily physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and 38 patients received acupuncture treatment twice a week for 10 weeks. Patients treated with acupuncture recovered faster and to a larger extent than the controls with significant differences in measures of balance, mobility, quality of life index, and fewer days spent at hospitals/nursing homes.

Another study published in 2004 in the official journal of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation, suggest that acupuncture provides “statistically significant” benefits in physical functioning and recovery when used as an new treatment for stroke in addition to conventional stroke rehabilitation measures. The study was conducted at the Daniel Freeman Rehabilitation Center’s inpatient stroke rehabilitation unit in Los Angeles. In the trial, 29 patients who had suffered a stroke within the previous 60 days that resulted in hemiparesis were randomized to either a control group or an acupuncture group. To ensure consistency, a standardized treatment protocol was used among all patients in the acupuncture group.

Researchers assessed aspects of physical performance in a person’s upper and lower extremities, along with a functional independence scale that evaluated a person’s ability to complete certain activities of daily living without assistance. While the average score of patients in the control group increased 8.5 points between baseline and discharge, the average score of acupuncture patients increased 11.2 points. In all, seven activities of daily living were measured on the scale, the average score of patients receiving acupuncture was between .1 and .8 points higher than control patients.

The authors noted that patients who received acupuncture as a new treatment for stroke in addition to standard rehabilitation demonstrated significantly greater improvement in tub/shower transfer mobility and a trend for greater improvement in toilet transfer mobility (2).

Research at the Shanghai Medical University in China revealed that early treatment (i.e. in the first three weeks) of acupuncture produces over 90% improvement whereas treatment commenced after three weeks gives 71% improvement rate. It is, therefore, important to seek early treatment whenever possible (3).

A Videofluoroscopic Swallowing Study (VFSS) was conducted to determine whether acupuncture, in conjunction with standard therapy, is a useful modality in post-stroke dysphagia. The researchers concluded that dysphagia symptoms as demonstrated on VFSS improved in patients treated with acupuncture as well as in controls. However, acupuncture patients achieved significantly greater swallowing function at the end of the study (4).

These studies, and many others, plus our clinical experience in working with stroke patients has convinced us that the best new treatment for stroke is acupuncture.

References:

1. Johansson K; Lindgren I; Widner H; Wiklund I; Johansson BB. Can sensory stimulation improve the functional outcome in stroke patients? Neurology. 1993, Nov; 43 (11) p2189-92.

2. Clinical Rehabil. 1997 Aug;11(3):192-200.

3. Chen YM; Fang YA. 108 cases of hemiplegia caused by stroke: the relationship between CT scan results, clinical findings and the effect of acupuncture treatment. Acupunct. Electrother. Res 1990, 15 (1) p9-17.

4. Nowicki, N.C., Averill, A. Acupuncture For Dysphagia Following Stroke, Retrieved 04/13/07 fromhttp:// Medicalacupuncture.org , Vol.14 #3.

Now that you’ve read about this new treatment for stroke, please return to the Stroke Therapy page.

Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine

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In this Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), I will describe the four branches of this extremely comprehensive system of healthcare. With a history going back as much as 5000 years, Traditional Chinese Medicine is the longest continually practiced medical system in the world.

It is also the medical system that is used by the most people in the world, being much more prevalent than our modern western medical practice. A majority of people throughout Asia use it as their primary medical system. This includes people in China, Taiwan, North and South Korea, and Vietnam, and even the Philippines, where one-third of the populace use it as their primary medicine.

This introduction will cover the history of Chinese Medicine which will amaze you as you discover that the ancient Chinese made important discoveries about anatomy and physiology, and even genetics, thousands of years before the West.

The four main branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine are: Acupuncture, Chinese Healing Herbs/Diet, Chinese Medical Massage (also known as Tuina or Shiatsu), and health benefiting exercise, also known as Qi Gong (you may be more familiar with the term Tai Chi).

These branches of Chinese Medicine were developed by the geniuses of ancient China, who were mostly employed in the medical arts, just as our talented people today are focused on the amazing advances in computers and engineering.

The most brilliant of these doctors were employed in the grandeur of the Emperor’s Court.

No introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine would be complete with a mention of the ancient emperors, in fact the most famous book in the Chinese medical arts is called the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine.

The Emperor directed these ancient physicians to focus on several things. First of all he had many wives and wanted to have many sons, so he ordered the doctors to focus on enhancing virility and fertility.

The Emperor also desired to stay in power as long as possible. He asked the doctors to discover how to live the full span of human life, which the Chinese came to believe is 100 years.

And lastly, the Emperors wanted to discover how to be healthy well into old age, and ordered the court doctors to make him a healthy centenarian.

Out of these directives, were born the four branches of TCM, the most comprehensive and effective system for enhancing vitality, wellness and longevity.

Continue on to Part II of Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Acupuncture and History

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Acupuncture and History

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Introduction to
Traditional Chinese Medicine, Part II

When we study acupuncture and history, we find that a lot of misinformation about it has been conveyed by both academia and the media, giving this form of medicine mystical or magical qualities. This is due to the difficulties of translation from an ancient form of Chinese no longer in modern usage, and a misunderstanding of Chinese medical terminology.

The history of acupuncture has simply been distorted.  Fundamentally, this form of medicine is based on the idea of returning the body to a state of harmony or ideal functioning, akin to the medical definition of homeostasis.

How Did the Ancient Chinese Know So Much About Anatomy?

Two thousand years before it was known in the West the Chinese understood blood circulation and had a fundamental understanding of the immune system. Historical texts describe the internal organs, and the entire vascular and muscular systems in detail.

The ancient Chinese had a basic understanding of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, and the vascular and neural connections to the heart, eyes and optic nerves. They understood that one could propagate sensations along pathways associated with vascular and muscular anatomical features, possibly involving the nervous system.

In researching acupuncture and history, we find that early Westerners in medieval Japan found that acupuncture doctors there had constructed complex mechanical models of the human vascular system in an effort to describe how blood circulates in the body.

The Physiological Basis of Acupuncture Points and Meridians

The Chinese, through the practice of anatomical dissection, were able to identify many of the structures of the vascular and nervous systems. Through this research and through empirical practice, they were able to identify neuro-vascular nodes, which we call acupuncture points, that are concentrations or junctures of fine vascular structures and related nerves.

By stimulating these areas through the use of a variety of techniques including acupuncture needles; cupping; Gua Sha scraping technique; heating with moxabustion therapy; or massage, ancient doctors were able to observe the profound effects on the body.

The continual practice of this therapy over millennia led to a very sophisticated system of diagnosis and treatment techniques that can seem magical or mysterious to untrained Westerners.

Now that you have read about Acupuncture and History, continue on to Introduction to Chinese Medicine, Part III Chinese Medicinal Herbs

Return to Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine, Part I

Tongue Diagnosis

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What is tongue diagnosis? So, you’re about to get your acupuncture treatment and you wonder why is she making me stick out my tongue? How does my acupuncturist come to a diagnosis and figure out where to put the needles? Well, believe it or not, the this can be an important guide.

The tongue is divided up into regions that correspond to the major internal organs.

The acupuncturist is looking at the shape of the tongue, any marks, cracks, or swollen areas. She is also looking at the color, at how thick the coating is and what color it is. She’s noting how wet or dry the tongue is and if there are any veins under the tongue.

All these clues together with the pulse picture and other information she has gathered allow the acupuncturist to put together a constitutional picture of the patient, and also to identify any acute conditions.

Western medical researchers are currently studying tongue diagnosis in identifying cancer and other diseases at an early stage. Preliminary findings are that noticeable changes in the tongue take place in cancer patients before the cancer can be identified via current testing.

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