Is accupuncture OK?

[brockmac]

I have a back pain that won’t go away. I get treated by a chiropracter and it just comes back. A friend suggested an accupuncturist, but I’m not sure if this would be considered new age and therefore something to stay away from. I know that there is a great deal of clinical evidence supporting accupuncture but I am also a bit nervous about dabbling in eastern mysticism if that is part of it.

 

[Joannm]

I have a back pain that won’t go away. I get treated by a chiropracter and it just comes back. A friend suggested an accupuncturist, but I’m not sure if this would be considered new age and therefore something to stay away from. I know that there is a great deal of clinical evidence supporting accupuncture but I am also a bit nervous about dabbling in eastern mysticism if that is part of it.

My daughter is an accupuncturist and treats it just as any other medical disipline. It is very ancient and is accepted by many medical insurace companies as valid treatment. She treated me for arthritis in my hand and I have not had pain since. Some accupuncturits are into Zen spirituality or other oriental religious practices, but that is not necessarily a part of the art of accupuncture. She also is looking into specializing in women’s issues, especially treating PMS and menopause symptoms and fertility issues. Accupuncture is very holistic and looks to natural treatments for ailments but she would not hesitate to direct a patient to traditional doctors if she felt they needed it. Most accupuncturists that she knows who are married practice some form of natural family planning.

 

[Liberanosamalo]

There is so much about the human body we don’t know. Nerve pathways that go through the mesothelial layers of the skin, for one… maybe the Chinese had it figured out centuries ago. Blocking the pathways blocks the pain.

I can’t imagine it’s any worse than Tylenol, which also works by blocking the feeling of pain along neural pathways.

 

[noclevername]

Have you been to a medical doctor about your back pain? I would start there and then visit the chiro and accupunturist. I love my chiro but he is the first to admit that a medical doctor needs to make sure there aren’t underlying illnesses. So you need to make sure it’s not something too serious. My grandmother had serious neck and arm pain for months and kept going to the chiro. They would adjust her and the pain would come back. My mother finally made her to go the medical doctor and it turns out that my grandmother had an enormous aneurysm running down her aorta that was generating this pain in her neck and arm. They rushed her to surgery and she died on the OR table. If she had gone to her medical doctor for a check up when she had the pain this might have been caught earlier.

 

[Jea9]

I’m in physical therapy and I’ve learned about chiro and accupuncture; there are reasons and times when each discipline is good. If something is not helping, seek something else…but FIRST speak with your doctor if you haven’t already. I agree with the other poster, some people are going to perform accumpuncture in a way that is Zen-like and new-agey but the actual technique isn’t. Besides, one of my instructors in PTA school told us during massage to lower lights and become ‘one’ with the patient…and to think of their aura…so there are just some weird people out there.

 

[Joannm]

I’m in physical therapy and I’ve learned about chiro and accupuncture; there are reasons and times when each discipline is good. If something is not helping, seek something else…but FIRST speak with your doctor if you haven’t already. I agree with the other poster, some people are going to perform accumpuncture in a way that is Zen-like and new-agey but the actual technique isn’t. Besides, one of my instructors in PTA school told us during massage to lower lights and become ‘one’ with the patient…and to think of their aura…so there are just some weird people out there.

Lowering the lights isn’t a bad thing. When my daughter treats a patient she lowers the lights and sometimes lights a sented candle (if it doesn’t bother the patient) and may play some soft music to relax the patient. They have to stay with the needles in for at least 15 minutes maybe longer and this helps them to relax. She says some patients even fall asleep during their treatments. This is a lot better than a cold sterile examination room that you get at the doctor’s office. The rooms are very comfy looking. There is some oriental art on the walls to keep with the theme of Oriental Medicine, but there is nothing religious or new age about it.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Be aware that it doesn’t work for everyone. It backfired on me, big time, and made my pain even worse.

Good luck.

 

[Zooey]

Joannm:

My daughter is an accupuncturist and treats it just as any other medical disipline. It is very ancient and is accepted by many medical insurace companies as valid treatment. She treated me for arthritis in my hand and I have not had pain since. Some accupuncturits are into Zen spirituality or other oriental religious practices, but that is not necessarily a part of the art of accupuncture.

My mother’s uncle got relief from pain from acupuncture when nothing else would help him. (Severe arthritis pain).
He talked to his regular doctor, a chiropractor, and his insurance company & found the name of a practitioner who, as Joannm said here, treated it a a mediacl discipline, with none of what I call “woo-woo”.
The main thing, IMO, is to do your homework before you go, and to talk with the person before beginning the treatment to expliain what you want. This is what I did when I went to a chiropractor some years ago. I found a gentleman (since retired) who was a doctor, not a Zen mystic…You know?
I think this is the proper way to deal with any “alternative” medicine practitioners.

Please note that this is not medical advice! Talk with your doctor!!

 

[SomeCatholicGuy]

I have a back pain that won’t go away. I get treated by a chiropracter and it just comes back. A friend suggested an accupuncturist, but I’m not sure if this would be considered new age and therefore something to stay away from. I know that there is a great deal of clinical evidence supporting accupuncture but I am also a bit nervous about dabbling in eastern mysticism if that is part of it.

Personally, I think it’s OK, as long as you see it as just another form of medical treatment and not attach any religious significance to it.

 

[CB_Catholic]

Medical acupuncture is legitimate and there is no “woo-woo” about it. There are anesthesiologists, MD’s with a specialty in anesthesia, who use acupuncture for pain relief. My father-in-law had acupuncture from an anethesiologist and it helped him greatly, allowing him to enjoy his favorite activity, golf, during his retirement years.

As one poster suggested, though, be sure to be checked by your regular MD to be sure there aren’t any other serious problems causing your pain, although an anesthesiologist, being an MD, would probably insist on this first, and would want a complete medical history.

My FIL’s acupuncture treatments were covered by his Medicare.