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Pain can be a debilitating symptom that is felt differently by everyone. Your pain may be felt as a dull-ache or sharp and stabbing, it may be acute or chronic persistent pain.
In regards to pain, we understand the importance of lifestyle
Regardless of age, at some stage in our lives we all engage in the same habits, thought processes, ways of sitting, standing or exercising. These ways may create repetitive stresses in our daily lives contributing to holding patterns.
For example, you might go to the gym and do similar exercise routines every week over the course of many years with poor technique, misalignment, over compensation or simply because it’s a habituate way of life. In another instance, you might find you’re sitting at your office desk for several hours a day over the course of many months with a forward neck and slouched shoulders. In these cases our bodies are prone to develop certain holding patterns.
We take your lifestyle into consideration and treat accordingly.
This way we can ensure you understand any holding patterns and implement lifestyle adjustments when necessary to allow for long lasting changes and effective treatment outcomes. We also like to team up and with any other Gold Coast Osteopaths, Physiotherapists and other health professionals to help you understand why your body has potentially developed a holding pattern and learn how to best implement strategies to help your area of pain heal.
Can Acupuncture help your pain or injury?
Below are common pain conditions we see in our clinic:
What are the mechanisms of Acupuncture that help with pain management?
The mechanisms underlying acupuncture for pain management and analgesia have been extensively researched for over 60 years (1-4). In animal models and human studies acupuncture and/or electroacupuncture has been shown to be effective for the alleviation of inflammatory, neuropathic, cancer, and visceral pain (1, 5).
Neural pathways
Ascending neural pathways involving Ad, Ab and C sensory fibers have been mapped, the mesolimbic loop of analgesia in the brain and brain stem has been identified and descending pathways have also been mapped (2).
Endogenous opioid & non-opioid mediators
Numerous mediators have been identified including opioid and non-opioid neuropeptides, serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, cytokines, glutamate, nitric oxideand gamma-amino-butyric-acid (GABA) (1, 2). Acupuncture analgesia has been shown to involve several classes of opioid neuropeptides including enkephalins, endorphins, dynorphins, endomorphins and nociceptin (also known as Orphanin FQ) (2, 3, 4). Among the non-opioid neuropeptides, substance P (SP), vaso-active intestinal peptide (VIP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) have been investigated for their roles in both the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of acupuncture (1, 6). Adenosine has also been shown to play a role in acupuncture’s effects on pain (7).
Neuroplasticity Adverse neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity adverse neuroplasticity can present a challenge in pain management as neuroplastic changes can be associated with chronic severe pain that is resistant to treatment. There is evidence that acupuncture has the capacity to reverse adverse neuroplastic changes in the spinal dorsal horn as well as in the somatosensory cortex in chronic pain (8, 9, 10). This suggests that acupuncture may have an important role in treating chronic pain that involves adverse neuroplastic changes.
Although the above mechanisms are promising, science is still trying to understand the complete effects of acupuncture and how it works, in many topics of acupuncture and clinical trials studies are still inconclusive and ongoing. If you are considering trying acupuncture, we advise you contact your local practitioner and ask any questions that you may have, and together determine if your pain presentation can be helped.
How we might be able to help your pain
Our Acupuncturists understand that Balance in other aspects of your life is essential to assist in the management of pain and injuries. We believe that the mind, body and emotions are complexly intertwined and that treating imbalances in your body will lead to greater mental and emotional health. That’s why we do a thorough health screen to gain a deeper insight into your condition. For example, if you aren’t sleeping well, your body cannot repair that torn hip flexor or hamstring. We help assist a variety of other conditions that may be contributing to your pain including stress, sleep disturbances, digestive conditions, anxiety, depression or vice versa, by helping your underlying chronic pain condition, may help reduce the severity of depression in some individuals.
If you have any questions, please contact our clinic on (07)5515 0409
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