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An ancient Chinese remedy has helped solve what appeared to be a modern sports problem for Branden Troock and the Seattle Thunderbirds.

By Daniel L. Rasmussen EAMP, Dipl. OM

You’re working at your desk, trying to ignore the tingling or numbness you’ve had for months in your hand and wrist. Suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain shoots through the wrist and up your arm. Just a passing cramp? More likely you have carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful progressive condition caused by compression of a key nerve in the wrist.

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

According to National Institutes of Health (NIH) “carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve, which runs from the forearm into the hand, becomes pressed or squeezed at the wrist. The median nerve controls sensations to the palm side of the thumb and fingers (although not the little finger), as well as impulses to some small muscles in the hand that allow the fingers and thumb to move.

The carpal tunnel – a narrow, rigid passageway of ligament and bones at the base of the hand - houses the median nerve and tendons. Sometimes, thickening from irritated tendons or other swelling narrows the tunnel and causes the median nerve to be compressed. The result may be pain, weakness, or numbness in the hand and wrist, radiating up the arm. Although painful sensations may indicate other conditions, carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common and widely known of the entrapment neuropathies in which the body’s peripheral nerves are compressed or traumatized.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) with Acupuncture
Acupuncture has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.  It is a drug free therapy that eliminates the need for surgery or the use of anti-inflammatory drugs or corticosteroids.  In fact, recent studies even indicate that acupuncture may be more effective than corticosteroids in the treatment of CTS.

From an Oriental medicine perspective, CTS is seen as 1) a disruption in proper flow of tissue bio-electricity (aka: Qi).  2) the impediment of blood circulation (vascular eschemia).  Acupuncture helps to remove these obstructions that are the cause of the physiological dysfunction, which initiates repair and regeneration processes to the extent that is possible.  This is precisely why it is better to treat at the beginning stages of the condition, rather than waiting until irreversible damage is done.  In addition to reducing the swelling, inflammation and pain in the wrist, acupuncture may address any associated symptoms such as headaches, neck pain, shoulder stiffness and sleeping problems, which often accompany this condition.

A correct diagnosis is essential before correct treatment can be recommended. It is important to be examined by a knowledgeable physician, preferably an orthopedic surgeon or a neurologist, to make sure you do have carpal tunnel syndrome and not one of the many other conditions that can have symptoms that are similar to those of carpal tunnel syndrome but are treated differently.

Pinnacle Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine specializes in the treatment of CTS.  If you or someone you know is suffering from work related wrist and hand pain, numbness and/or tingling, don’t wait until the condition is past the treatable stage.  Call or email Pinnacle Acupuncture now for details on how you can receive a free consultation to determine if you’re a candidate for acupuncture treatment of CTS.

Watch this video:

sources:

NIH, http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/carpal_tunnel/detail_carpal_tunnel.htm,

The Clinical Journal of Pain. , May 2009.
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Acupuncture has long baffled medical experts and no wonder: It holds that an invisible life force called qi (pronounced chee) travels up and down the body in 14 meridians. Illness and pain are due to blockages and imbalances in qi. Inserting thin needles into the body at precise points can unblock the meridians, practitioners believe, and treat everything from arthritis and asthma to anxiety, acne and infertility.

As fanciful as that seems, acupuncture does have real effects on the human body, which scientists are documenting using high-tech tools. Neuroimaging studies show that it seems to calm areas of the brain that register pain and activate those involved in rest and recuperation. Doppler ultrasound shows that acupuncture increases blood flow in treated areas. Thermal imaging shows that it can make inflammation subside.

Scientists are also finding parallels between the ancient concepts and modern anatomy. Many of the 365 acupuncture points correspond to nerve bundles or muscle trigger points. Several meridians track major arteries and nerves. “If people have a heart attack, the pain will radiate up across the chest and down the left arm. That’s where the heart meridian goes,” says Peter Dorsher, a specialist in pain management and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. “Gallbladder pain will radiate to the right upper shoulder, just where the gallbladder meridian goes.”

Many medical experts remain deeply skeptical about acupuncture, of course, and studies of its effectiveness have been mixed. “Something measurable is happening when you stick a needle into a patient—that doesn’t impress me at all,” says Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter in England and co-author of the book, “Trick or Treatment.” Acupuncture “clearly has a very strong placebo effect. Whether it does anything else, the jury is still out.”

Even so, the use of acupuncture continues to spread—often alongside conventional medicine. U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army doctors are using acupuncture to treat musculoskeletal problems, pain and stress in stateside hospitals and combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Delegations from Acupuncturists Without Borders are holding communal ear-needling sessions to reduce stress among earthquake victims in Haiti. Major medical centers—from M.D. Anderson in Houston to Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York—use acupuncture to counteract the side effects of chemotherapy.

In a 2007 survey, 3.2 million Americans had undergone acupuncture in the past year—up from 2.1 million in 2001, according to the government’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

The most common uses are for chronic pain conditions like arthritis, lower back pain and headaches, as well as fatigue, anxiety and digestive problems, often when conventional medicine fails. At about $50 per session, it’s relatively inexpensive and covered by some insurers.

It is also generally safe. About 10% of patients experience some bleeding at the needle sites, although in very rare cases, fatalities have occurred due to infections or injury to vital organs, mostly due to inexperienced practitioners.

Most states require that acupuncturists be licensed, and the Food and Drug Administration requires that needles be new and sterile.

Diagnoses are complicated. An acupuncturist will examine a patient’s tongue and take three different pulses on each wrist, as well as asking questions about digestion, sleep and other habits, before determining which meridians may be blocked and where to place the needles. The 14 meridians are thought to be based on the rivers of China, and the 365 points may represent the days of the year. “Invaders” such as wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness factor into illness, so can five phases known as fire, earth, metal, water and wood.

“It’s not like there’s a Merck Manual for acupuncture,” says Joseph M. Helms, who has trained some 4,000 physicians in acupuncture at his institute in Berkeley, Calif. “Every case is evaluated on an individual basis, based on the presentation of the patient and the knowledge of the acupuncturist.”

Dr. Helms notes that Western doctors also examine a patient’s tongue for signs of illness. As for qi, he says, while the word doesn’t exist in Western medicine, there are similar concepts. “We’ll say, ‘A 27-year-old female appears moribund; she doesn’t respond to stimuli. Or an 85-year old woman is exhibiting a vacant stare.’ We’re talking about the same energy and vitality, we’re just not making it a unique category that we quantify.”

Studies in the early 1980s found that acupuncture works in part by stimulating the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals, much like vigorous exercise does. Now, a growing body of research suggests that it may have several mechanisms of action. Those include stimulating blood flow and tissue repair at the needle sites and sending nerve signals to the brain that regulate the perception of pain and reboot the autonomic nervous system, which governs unconscious functions such as heart beat, respiration and digestion, according to Alejandro Elorriaga, director of the medical acupuncture program at McMaster University in Ontario, which teaches a contemporary version to physicians.

“You can think Western, you can think Eastern. As long as your needle goes to the nerve, you will get some effect,” Dr. Elorriaga says.

What’s more, an odd phenomenon occurs when acupuncture needles are inserted into the body and rotated: Connective tissue wraps around them like spaghetti around a fork, according to ultrasound studies at the University of Vermont. Helene Langevin, research associate professor of neurology, says this action stretches cells in the connective tissue much like massage and yoga do, and may act like acupuncture meridians to send signals throughout the body. “That’s what we’re hoping to study next,” she says.

Meanwhile, neuroimaging studies at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have shown that acupuncture affects a network of systems in the brain, including decreasing activity in the limbic system, the emotional part of the brain, and activating it in the parts of the brain that typically light up when the brain is at rest.

Other studies at the Martinos Center have shown that patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful compression of nerves in the wrist, have heightened activity in parts of the brain that regulate sensation and fear, but after acupuncture, their brain patterns more closely resemble those of healthy subjects. Brain scans of patients with fibromyalgia show that both acupuncture and sham acupuncture (using real needles on random points in the body) cause the release of endorphins. But real acupuncture also increased the number of receptors for pain-reducing neurotransmitters, bringing patients even more relief.

The fact that many patients get some relief and register some brain changes from fake acupuncture has caused controversy in designing clinical trials. Some critics say that proves that what patients think of as benefit from acupuncture is mainly the placebo effect. Acupuncture proponents counter that placebos that too closely mimic the treatment experience may have a real benefit.

“I don’t see any disconnect between how acupuncture works and how a placebo works,” says radiologist Vitaly Napadow at the Martinos center. “The body knows how to heal itself. That’s what a placebo does, too.”

Write to Melinda Beck at

According to a paper published by the American College of Rheumatology, Fibromyalgia affects 3 to 6 million – or as many as one in 50 – Americans.  For unknown reasons, women make up between 80-90 percent of those diagnosed with fibromyalgia, however men and children can also be affected.

Fibromyalgia is a complicated condition.  Many physicians who are not familiar with this disorder feel that there are no clear cut answers.  It is my intention to elucidate the latest and most innovative solutions to this problem.

Here is how the word “fibromyalgia” is broken down,

FIBRO: from fiber or fibrous – tissues;  MY: from myo – meaning muscle;  ALGOS: from algia meaning pain;  IA: meaning state of, or condition.

Put these pieces together and fibromyalgia simply means a condition which is characterized by pain in the muscles and soft tissue fibers of the body.  Other symptoms may include chronic fatigue; tiring easily;  morning stiffness;  urinary urgency; sleep disturbances; difficult menstruation; headaches and anxiety or stress.  These symptoms can be aggrivated by temperature extremes and changes in humidity.

If you have 15 or more tender points at various locations of the body with more than one of the above symptoms you have a situation you should be concerned about.  It’s never normal to have a symptom!  Just as the “check engine” light on your car tells you something is not right and needs to be checked; a “symptom” is also your body’s way of notifying you that something is not right and needs to be checked before it gets worse.

You now have two choices regarding your health.  You can do the same things your doing and get the same results,  or you can try something new and do something different and get a different result.  The choice is yours.

If someone showed you how to get rid of your problems by doing something natural and affordable, would you do it?  There are two possible approaches to treating fibromyalgia.  Option 1) Is a drug-free approach, which includes natural therapies that look to find and correct the causes of this problem.  OR  option 2) Drugs such as Elavil®; Endep®; Flexeril®; Prozac®; Paxil®; Zoloft®; Motrin®; Alieve®; etc. which have side effects and lack true statistical results in terms of treating fibromylagia.

Causes of fibromyalgia may include:

• Stress and related hormonal imbalances
• Past traumas
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Heavy metal toxicity from environment

Natural Solutions may include:

• Excercise – 80% of those diagnosed with fibromyalgia are not physically fit and although fatigue and pain are major complaints against exercise, those who adopt regular exercise such as swimming have experienced a greatly improved prognosis.
• Stress Reduction – Many fibromyalgia patients remember a specific triggering event associated with an abrupt onset of the symptoms of fibromyalgia.  Cortisol is an adrenal hormone secreted during stress and over time can weaken the immune system leading to symptoms of fibromyalgia.  A simple blood pressure test called Raglan’s Test can detect adrenal gland weakness.
• Detoxify and chelate heavy metals from the body – Research shows that aluminum and other heavy metal toxicity may play a role in fibromyalgia patients deficient in magnesium, which mitigates aluminum toxicity.  Research suggests that malic acid with magnesium is an excellent aluminum detoxifier.

You might ask, “where does aluminum toxicity come from?”

• Antacids and baking soda
• Underarm deodorants and antiperspirants
• Aluminum cookware
• Aluminum soda cans
• Table salt

A person with too many toxic chemicals stored in their brain would experience certain mental problems thought to be psychological.  A natural approach to treatment includes cleansing the body of toxic chemicals and heavy metals.

A natural approach would also include Acupuncture therapy.  Acupuncture is a 3.500 year old science of healing and is based on the concept that proper blood flow to organs and tissues is essential in order to be well.  There are over 2000 specific locations in the human body where blockages to blood flow can occur, and an acupuncturist is trained to precisely locate these.  Upon locating these areas of stagnation an acupuncturist inserts tiny, delicate pins into these points thereby removing blockages and allowing healing and pain relief to occur.

Many people are unaware that an Acupuncturist is required to complete a four year post graduate degree.  An Acupuncturist’s education is devoted to scientific subjects such as anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, public health diagnosis, clinical disciplines, and health sciences in addition to Acupuncture and herbalism.

A multifaceted treatment plan including mild exercise therapy, removing toxic chemicals from the body, restoring proper adrenal gland function, and  Acupuncture therapy to restore proper blood and energy flow to tissues and organs has shown the most promise for fibromyalgia sufferers.

I now present to you, dear reader, a GIFT.  This gift is an opportunity to receive, free of charge, a comprehensive wellness consultation and screening.  The consultation will help me figure out what you have done to injure your body.  Bodies break down because of injury or abuse and If I can find out from your history why your health has been lost, I can plan a way to recover it.

This will be the most thorough consultation you have ever received.  It will be followed by a screening to determine if I can actually help you.  Let me tell you why I am making it a gift:  simply because I don’t want anything to get in the way of finding out if we can help you.  My purpose is to help as many people as possible and I don’t want you to have any barrier.  There are four reasons to accept this gift:

1. Health problems get worse over time if not treated.
2. You’ll feel great if we improve your health and eliminate your problems; and you’re supposed to feel great!
3. I’m not going to waste your time or money.  If I can’t help you I’ll let you know and refer you to someone who can.
4. You’ll have nothing to lose because I’m going to do the consultation and screening for you at absolutely no charge.

Once you’ve decided to accept this gift, your next step is to click on the   , then click “Fibromyalgia Consultation” and finally create your appointment online.  Simple and efficient!

I look forward to meeting you and helping you and anyone you know suffering from fibromyalgia to feel better and enjoy life pain free!

American College of Rheumatology.

http://www.rheumatology.org/practice/clinical/patients/diseases_and_conditions/fibromyalgia.asp

Heavy Metal Toxicity

http://www.ei-resource.org/illness-information/related-conditions/heavy-metal-toxicity/

Fibromyalgia Network
www.fmnetnews.com

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
http://www.niams.nih.gov/hi/topics/fibromyalgia/fibrofs.htm

National Fibromyalgia Association
www.fmaware.org

National Fibromyalgia Partnership, Inc.
www.fmpartnership.org

The American Fibromyalgia Syndrome Association, Inc.
www.afsafund.org

Written by Daniel L. Rasmussen  Dipl. OM, LAc.

This patient fact sheet is provided for general education only. Individuals should consult a qualified health care provider for professional medical advice, diagnoses and treatment of a medical or health condition.

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