Acupuncture is often used for pain management or stress reduction, but you probably didn't know that it is a powerful tool for stroke rehabilitation. After a neurological event like a stroke, nerves are often damaged. It can be tough to coordinate muscles. Many people find it difficult to walk, talk, eat and generally get through the day.
700,000 Americans a year suffer strokes and treatment options tend to be limited. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, the goals for post-stroke rehabilitation are to help patients find the best possible long-term outcome. Reversing the effects of the stroke isn't usually attainable, they say. And yet, I have aided patients with tremors or drooping eyelids. I have helped people with difficulty walking, speaking, and talking. In many cases, these ailments were completely resolved for my patients. They walk, talk, eat and drive now without the limitations that previously held them back. Acupuncture works by shunting energy to the spot in the body that is suffering. Traditional Chinese Medicine calls that qi – pronounced chee. Essentially it creates the environment in which the body can heal itself by clearing away blockages. If you or a loved one might benefit from a consultation about acupuncture for stroke rehabilitation, please call me or email me. I can help. Perhaps the last thing you want to do when your back is flaring up is go have needles poked into it. When movement is a trial and sneezing makes you want to cry, it's an understandable impulse to lay down and never get up again.
Yet, acupuncture is an excellent treatment for pain. It works by stimulating blood flow to the problem spot. The stimulation brings energy into the knotted mess and helps it unclench. Many patients have been able to use less pain medication, or completely stop taking it after they came to me. If back pain troubles you, consider acupuncture. It really does work. See more conditions we treat at Fort Collins Acupuncture here. If you haven't ever tried acupuncture before, you may wonder if it really works. If you ask around you'll get mixed reactions from people. For some, it's the a panacea. It's the reason they can wean off of pain medications or it fixed a chronic health problem. For others? Meh. Not so much.
This milquetoast reaction from my early patients is the reason I delved into better pain management techniques for acupuncture. In my early years of practice, I found that the precepts taught in acupuncture grad school only work some of the time. So much of Chinese medicine is a “treat the ankle for a headache approach.” That use of ancillary points will work for some people sometimes. But in my experience so far, it's almost always better to treat the problem where it actually is. When I treat a patient with shoulder pain, I want to know exactly what tissue is hurting. Rotator cuff muscle? Ligament? I want to know what exactly is hurting you, then I treat that tissue directly. This physical medicine approach gets results. It is incredibly effective for back pain, neck pain, and migraines. Acupuncture for pain management really does work at Fort Collins Acupuncture. If you have pain, come see me. I can help. Find more information at my website: www.fortcollinsacupuncture.com Or schedule an appointment. I am the Pain Guy. (Not to be confused with being an actual pain in the neck. I'm really not – ask my wife.)
I treat pain more than anything else. Migraines, neck pain, back pain, sports injuries, pain due to aging and arthritis... As my practice has evolved, I have helped thousands of patients with pain. I started providing acupuncture to Fort Collins in 1999. Over the years, I have begun to see that acupuncture works best when the concepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are combined with Western medicine. When you train as an acupuncturist, they tell you to figure out which channel the pain is on and use specific points for pain on that channel. That's a marginally effective approach, at best. It really doesn't work that well. After exploring and realizing it wasn't that helpful to my early patients, I started to integrate a physical medicine approach. I look at the specific tissues that are involved. For example, is it ligament in the shoulder or is a rotator cuff muscle that hurts? If it's a muscle, then you treat the muscle. If it's a ligament, then you treat the ligament. Those are very different points and different treatments. This blend of eastern and western is what makes me the Pain Guy. If you have pain, come see me. I can help. More information at my website: www.fortcollinsacupuncture.com Or schedule an appointment here. |
Scott Blunk, LAc.
An NCCAOM-certified and licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, Scott is passionate about acupuncture and herbal care. Categories
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