Acupuncture for Chronic Pain

How can acupuncture help chronic pain?

Patients suffering from chronic pain often wonder how acupuncture can address the severe, persistent symptoms that have eluded relief from numerous other treatments and medications.

Acupuncture for chronic pain retrains muscles to execute movements properly, and restores balance to the body.

Lower back pain, neck pain, tension headaches, and other chronic pain symptoms don’t always indicate a primary problem in the area where pain is felt. The chronic pain may be “referred” from a different nerve or muscle. Upper neck pain is frequently rooted in a pectoralis or abdominal muscle pulling on other stretched muscles.

In the case of back pain, the pelvis may be twisted or unbalanced. The pain stems from muscles contracted into the wrong position, that believe they’re doing their job “protecting” another part of the body. These stretched muscles — more likely to become injured — will send pain signals to the brain. But solely needling the area where pain is felt won’t bring about overall chronic pain relief or solve the ongoing problem.

Like modeling clay dried and locked in position, after five, 10 (or more) years of slouching, a body will believe that is the correct form and will return to that shape after a few days of relief from many chronic pain treatments, such as medication, massage, or even trigger point release.

Acupuncture for chronic pain changes a patient’s ligaments, muscles and fascia to create a new shape.

When patients present with chronic pain, a thorough examination and history can reveal where the pain truly stems from. Identifying the body’s “holding pattern” (how muscles have been strained in response to imbalance or poor form elsewhere) informs a comprehensive treatment plan to release the imbalance and retrain muscles to hold the body in the correct way. Some patients may be referred to another provider prior to acupuncture treatment if needed, for example to have a chiropractor perform an adjustment to address nerve blockage prior to receiving acupuncture.

Acupuncture releases tension in the body and resets the central nervous system, leading to excellent success with treating chronic pain related to stress and tension. Migraines and tension headaches, shoulder pain, and even TMJ can stem from tension in the chest and neck. The muscles of the upper body and neck connect to the face and head, and chronic pain in those areas often has both a physical (positioning) and emotional (stress/clenching) component. At Maynard Clinic we have a very high success rate using acupuncture for headaches and other stress-related conditions.

Treatment for chronic pain may include trigger point acupuncture (dry needling) and distal needling.

When needed, trigger point acupuncture can provide rapid relief of muscle knots, increasing mobility and functioning at the pain site. If it would be too painful to begin directly in the area of imbalance, the indirect approach of distal needling helps soften up the treatment area slowly. For chest or pectoral pain, for example, the lower arm may be the starting point for treatment to open up the region.

One very positive “side effect” of acupuncture for chronic pain is that the treatment often improves other symptoms that the patient may or may not have realized ailed them. A patient receiving acupuncture for back pain may find they experience fewer headaches, improved digestion, and more energy. Think of blockages from imbalance like a hose: water may be moving through but at a trickle, so all systems on the far side of the blockage are going to be a little starved. Removing the blockage restores the flow to all systems down the line, and a patient may feel better in surprising ways.

This is part of how acupuncture treats the whole patient, restoring overall health, rather than just addressing presenting symptoms.