Knee Pain? Try This First ...

Knee pain is one of the most common complaints to send people to the doctor.

The most frequent response in our health system is to operate and/or medicate. Considering the costs involved, the percentage of unsuccessful surgeries and the way many people become hooked on pain killers, it's not necessarily the best way to go.

Think about effective alternatives first, such as physical therapy, proper exercise, changes in eating habits and the application of traditional Chinese Medicine techniques, such as acupuncture, herbs and massage.

The World Health Organization webiste lists knee pain on a long directory of conditions acupuncture has been shown to treat through clinical trials and experience [http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4926e/5.html]. Acupuncture, by stimulation of Qi and blood, improves circulation and reduces inflammation. This not only reduces joint pain but also puts the healing process in motion.

Healthy blood circulation is important for several reasons.

Bone is not static; like every other part of the body it requires a constant blood supply to grow, adapt and regenerate. Secondly, joints contain synovial fluid, a viscous substance that cushions these high-pressure areas and benefits from good blood flow.

Tuina is also effective at improving Qi and blood circulation. Developed over the centuries and inspired by martial artists who needed to repair their tired muscles and bones every day, tuina is a combination of bodywork techniques that have the ability to restore function to any part of the body.

Electro-acupuncture is another powerful tool. Herbal formulas can address underlying patterns that in many cases created the foundation for the knee problem. Licensed Acupuncturists certified in acupoint injections, as I am, can make effective use of anti-inflammatory homeopathics to reduce pain and increase function.

Either alone or in combination, acupuncture and other traditional modalities work on all kinds of knee issues, including:

sore bone

inflamed mensci and bursa

torn or stretched tendons and ligaments.

You also can help yourself by gearing exercise to your body's ability and eating a low-inflammatory diet. Try eating lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and water, while cutting down on processed foods and sugars.

If you've been overcompensating for years in response to structural issues, a good physical therapist can put your joints back into proper alignment.

Don't feel locked in to standard treatment for knee pain. Before going to the orthopedic surgeon or pain management doctor for your bad knee, give alternative medicine a try.

Open House

Thanks to everyone who made it to our open house last weekend.

We had a steady, happy bunch of people coming through the doors, taking advantage of the different practitioners we managed to bring together for the day. There was massage therapy, acupuncture, physical therapy and more. What people may have noticed for the first time is how versatile massage therapists are. Just ask the people who received foot scrubs and a restful nap on one of special guest Jim Gabriel's warm, crystal-laden mats. I'll vouch for it myself. Lying on that mat, perched upon a massage table, was the perfect end to a busy day.

Some stayed around longer than the usual open house. You could see them going from one treatment room to the next, including mine. Never underestimate the power of relaxation! We live overly stressful lives, often for no better reason than our go-go society doesn't allow our brains to rest. A busy head is a busy body. Stress throws off our hormones and neurotransmitters, as well our metabolism.

All in all, it's great to see so much interest in natural medicine. Modalities like massage and Chinese should not be considered "extras" but an integral part national health care system. The same holds for exercise systems, such as Qi Gong and Tai Qi. This is just scratching the surface. These techniques not only treat people when they're sick, but perhaps more importantly they are preventative. If we made a stronger committment to keeping people healthy we'd all be happier and have more money in our pockets.

Word of the Day

Normally I don't eat "raw". Just a lot of vegetables ... in cooked form most of the time.

Chinese Medicine doesn't do the raw food thing. Uncooked vegetables are considered cold in nature, which in turn cools the metabolism. In Chinese Medicine, you always need to guard your warmer Yang energy.

But for dinner tonight, I decided to give the raw menu a whirl. Polenta with a mushroom ragout seemed like a good option. Both are delicious.

When the plate arrived, there were a few extras - a salad, a slice of "pizza" and a couple of dark-brown felafel-sized pieces smothered in sauce over a bed of zucchini spaghetti (a creative bunch, those raw foodies).

My waiter came over to explain. The balls, she said with a smile, were "rawsage".

Yes, rawsage. Or is it spelled "rausage" for a truer metaphorical food experience? Not sure and she didn't volunteer. How does one define accuracy in a raw food world that tries to mimic many mainstream dishes using uncooked food.

For the record, they tasted fine. But I couldn't resist text messaging some friends about it. The comments came back sharp and quick:

"Oh dear ..."

"Wash it down with some raw sewage."

"Anything like snausages ... the dog version?"

"Mmmmm."

Sense the sarcasm from these dedicated meat eaters (of which I'm one)?

Raw foodies ... you've got an uphill battle. But don't fret; you're not alone.

It's tough being an acupuncturist, too.

Alzheimer's Research: Acupuncture Helps With Depression and Anxiety

Call me a miner.

I admit it: I’m always plumbing the Internet for scientific research that supports the effectiveness of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. I know how hard it is for many people to take acupuncture and Chinese Medicine seriously, so when there’s a “find” I have a “Eureka!” moment. Very satisfying.

In this case, the issue was acpuncture's role in treating the anxiety and depression that often accompany Alzheimer's Disease.

The background.

In one of his recent newsletters, which I read all the time, Dr. Joseph Mercola publicized the results of a long-term Alzheimer’s study showing how a low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables – basically a Mediterranean Diet – lowered the chances of coming down with this debilitating disease. Conversely, according to the collaborative German study with Italian and American researchers www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090909064910.htm, people who ate less healthy food were more likely to experience Alzheimer’s.

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s are an insidious mix of physical and mental decline. Early signs are confusion, loss of memory and inability to understand a joke. As it progresses, victims lose more memory, cognitive function, ability to relate and general bodily independence.

Rates in the United States, which has one of the worst national diets in the Western world, are on the upswing. Already, as many as 2.4- to 4.5-million people are living with Alzheimers, according to the National Institute on Aging.

But I’ll mention at least two ways in which acupuncture and Chinese Medicine enter the picture.

One, it’s now very clear from extensive research that the same lifestyle and dietary habits that contribute to heart disease also increase one’s chances of developing Alzheimer’s. Although China is adopting many of our unhealthy eating habits as it modernizes, the classic Chinese diet is very heart friendly – low in fatty animal protein and high in whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Chinese medicine practitioners recognized long ago the dangers of greasy, fatty meals.

Chinese Medicine's sensitivity to the whole person can help practitioners spot long-term threats to the heart and mind. Acupuncture, especially when combined with herbal formulas and Qi Gong exercises, can help keep both healthy.

Secondly, research supports the use of acupuncture for the anxiety and depression. My source this time was the first World Conference on Alzheimer’s in July 2000 in Washington, D.C., where attendees heard about research from a pair of studies, including one by the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=27681

The World Health Organization long ago deemed acupuncture an effective treatment for depression. The Wellesley study focused specifically on dementia. It took 11 elderly patients – average age 76 – with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s or Vascular Dementia. For three months, they received acupuncture two to three times a week. They also continued using their prescribed medication.

At the end of three months, researchers concluded that acupuncture reduced anxiety and depression. Not only that, the patients had less pain and more energy.

“Acupuncture appears to be very helpful in relieving anxiety, improving mood, increasing energy, improving some aspects of well-being and decreasing mood-related behaviors,” the study said.

The results underscored what Chinese Medicine practitioners already know: that acupuncture improves neurological function. In recent years, neurological mapping by Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor of Radiology Vitaly Napadow has begun to demonstrate just how acupuncture acts on the nervous system, the ultimate arbiter of mental and physical homeostasis in the body. In addition, by keeping the patients on their current medication, the study once again showed that acupuncture need not replace a patient’s existing care.

Typical of holistic practitioners, Chinese Medicine physicians believe they can reduce many peoples’ drug loads. But they also know that, except in rare cases, acupuncture doesn’t interfere with Western medical care. In fact, as this study once again proves, it only makes Western Medicine better.

More On Treating The Flu With Chinese Medicine

With colds and flu, you often have two obstacles to overcome.

First, there's the cold or the actual flu virus. Then, there's the hyper-inflammatory reaction to them.

Some sick, unhappy patients have visited my office lately. I was glad to see how Chinese Medicine - in my first flu season as a practitioner - was able to help. The combination of acupuncture and herbs (along with some classic cupping) addressed the initial symptoms of fever, chills, sore throat, aches, fatigue, lack of appetite. And once those dissipated, they helped treat both the reduced viral symptoms and the hyper-inflammatory response to the virus characteried by lung and nasal congestion.

I relied on several classic herbal formulas: Yin Qiao San, Gan Mao Ling and Qing Qi Hua Tan Wan.

Patient names are changed to protect the innocent.

Achieving steady results was crucial because both patients work. They're school teachers. As you'll see, monitoring the patient is crucial because taking the right herbal formula for too long can make things worse.

Yin Qiao San appeared in a previous blog entry regarding flu. It's a classic sore throat formula with anti-viral and anti-bacterial qualities that make it ideal for treating the flu. Qing Qi Hua Tan Wan addresses breathing difficulties and chest oppression that come with the accumulation of thick yellow or green mucous in the lungs. Normally, it's hard to cough up.

In early September, Diana came in with cold symptoms that added up to a probable flu diagnosis. She was achy, feverish with chills, sported a headache in the back, had low energy, was making weak, little coughs and felt nauseous. You're never sure if the immunity-boosting formul I recommended two to three weeks before would have prevented the flu, but chances are her odds would have been better. But since paying for herbs is a sometime issue, I treated her with a series of classic acupuncture points (mostly located on the arms and hands) designed to clear heat from the body. We agreed to review the situation when I returned from a long seminar weekend.

As it turned out, Diana couldn't fend off the inevitable. After feeling better for a day or two, she got deathly ill over the weekend. I was left kicking myself because I didn't insist she take the Yin Qiao San. She rushed to the emergency room that Saturday night, took her Tamiflu and returned home to suffer through a bad case of the flu. In fact, she was so achy the western doctors gave her a pain killer, which didn't make me happy at all. You want to boost the body's natural immune system during colds, not suppress it!

My bad for not being there to treat her. However, once her course of Tamiflu was over, she remained far from 100 percent. But we were able to bring her around using acupuncture, along with Yin Qiao San and Gan Mao Ling.

The Yin Qiao San addressed the most acute stage. Once she began to feel better and the congestion in her body was clear - and not green in the chest - we changed to Gan Mao Ling, which is a classic early-cold stage formula. Many of the points remained the same: the lungs are considered the first line of defense against cold and environmental disease, so I treated the channel without the heat points. There are really effective points. We continued to cup the back with a combination of moving cupping, which opens the pores to release heat and achiness from the upper back, as well as stationary cupping over the back lung points for sustained relief.

I only see Diana once a week, but two weeks after her flu outbreak she felt much better. In the course of two treatments and a steady protocol of herbs, she'd overcome the worst symptoms. She was feeling more energetic, had an appetite and was sleeping better. She looked healthier in general. We began talking about other issues again.

Joe hung on longer than Diana, though both shared similar fatigue and pathogen exposure in their daily interaction with students. Much to Joe's chagrin, many students weren't staying home despite their own depleted immune symptoms! Like Diana he was loath to miss class, though that's eventually what he had to do too.

In mid-September, Joe said he felt fine, though a little bit tired. It was hard to tell where that came from because being a teacher is so demanding. But by the end of the month, just as Diane was getting over her bout of flu, Joe came down with a likely case of his own.

He didn't have all the symptoms - no achiness or nausea - but enough fever and chills, sore throat, coughing, sneezing and congestion to diagnose a serious cold with the possibility of flu. His lack of energy was not a good sign either.

This would be a challenge. After the first treatment, Joe didn't feel much better. That could have been due to continuing with the Yu Ping Feng San. While an excellent immune system builder, it also contains herbs classified as warming, which may have reinforced the heat already brewing inside his body.

We slowly got back on track during an emergency treatment two days later. In retrospect, that may have prevented him from feeling worse. Meanwhile, his chest had grown tight and his nasal passages were filled with yellow phlegm. Once again, workplace pressures hadn't helped as he's reported feeling better after the last treatment. This time, we began treating lung congestion as well.

In addition to cupping and some new acupuncture points, I prescribed Qing Qi Hua Tan Wan to loosen up the hard-to-cough-up phlegm that was causing so much discomfort in his chest. I also used a heated moxibustion stick to both loosen the dry out the phlegm.

A day later, he said he was resting and could feel the phlegm loosening in his chest.

That was good news. Serious colds - or the flu - take time to overcome. Frequent treatments is the best approach. But my patients can't always do that. Even when spaced out, success is still possible.