This is what the patient has to say:
"After enduring over 12 months of chronic pain, and experiencing a severely reduced amount of range of motion with a torn rotator cuff, Josh Zimmer has produced amazing results within only seven weeks and eight treatments. By utilizing Tuina massage, acupuncture, and electro-acupuncture, he has reduced my chronic pain from the previous continual level of a "7", down to a "2." I actually go through whole days without any pain in the affected arm. I have also achieved almost 80% of a full range of motion.
"As an avid yoga enthusiast, golfer, and arm-weight lifter, I look forward to the remaining treatments that I know will restore my full range of motion and alleviate my pain. Josh also took the time to investigate the myriad reasons for this injury and suggested exercises that went beyond my physical therapy routine of several months ago. I also found the acupuncture treatments helpful in relieving stress and I noticed I enjoyed a more sound sleep. I commend Josh Zimmer at Harmony Health for his dedication in finding relief for my health crisis and my chronic pain management."
C.H. Sarasota, FL
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Rotator Cuff Problems - Try This First
Don't accept an underperforming rotator cuff as a fact of life.
There's a lot that Chinese Medicine can do to restore your motion and sense of independence. My recent experience with an active, healthy 48-year-old female patient is a case in point.
This patient hurt her shoulder last year while sailing. She's still not sure how - or why - it happened. But like a lot of people who suffer unpredictable motion injuries, she was enjoying life one minute and all of a sudden found herself in excruciating pain. Over the coming months, the problem in her right shoulder didn't get any better. Everyday tasks like putting on a bra and shaving her underarms became unwelcome challenges. A natural righty, she began using her left arm in new ways. She had no choice.
Coincidentally, she said many women suffer from rotator cuff issues. Maybe she's hit on something that deserves a further look.
The rotator cuff consists of four muscles, commonly referred to as "SITS". They are the:
Supraspinalus
Infraspinatus
Teres Minor
Subscapularis
Together, they connect the shoulder bones, form a shield around them and enable joint movement. Problems in this muscle group make regular movements difficult and painful, such as placing one's hand behind their back, moving one's arm to the side and raising it above parallel and crossing one's upper chest with full extension.
In a world of pain killers, surgery, physical therapy and chiropracty, what can Chinese Medicine do then?
The answer is a lot.
I began by checking this patient's range of motion, which was severely restricted - not just in the shoulder joint but in the shoulder and neck muscles, as well. So there was an obvious connection between all the muscle groups in that area. It immediately told me that massage would be key to breaking through all the tightness and stagnation that had built up over time. I already knew acupuncture would help loosen up all aspects of the joint by improving blood circulation, reducing inflammation and lowering the pain threshhold through the release of natural opioids that I felt optimistic about improving her condition in a major way.
That's what happened in fairly rapid fashion.
Over 6-8 weeks, we managed to improve her range of motion and decrease her pain. Sometimes I added electro-acupuncture and moxibustion to the treatments. Now she believes her overall function is up to 80%. That's still not 100%, but she's patient enough to see just how much better she can get. Already, life has changed for the better. She feels more like her old self and is more optimistic.
That's what chronic pain does to people. It chips away at their happiness.
The good news is there's no reason these techniques, with minor variations, can't work for a wide variety of shoulder issues.
There's a lot that Chinese Medicine can do to restore your motion and sense of independence. My recent experience with an active, healthy 48-year-old female patient is a case in point.
This patient hurt her shoulder last year while sailing. She's still not sure how - or why - it happened. But like a lot of people who suffer unpredictable motion injuries, she was enjoying life one minute and all of a sudden found herself in excruciating pain. Over the coming months, the problem in her right shoulder didn't get any better. Everyday tasks like putting on a bra and shaving her underarms became unwelcome challenges. A natural righty, she began using her left arm in new ways. She had no choice.
Coincidentally, she said many women suffer from rotator cuff issues. Maybe she's hit on something that deserves a further look.
The rotator cuff consists of four muscles, commonly referred to as "SITS". They are the:
Supraspinalus
Infraspinatus
Teres Minor
Subscapularis
Together, they connect the shoulder bones, form a shield around them and enable joint movement. Problems in this muscle group make regular movements difficult and painful, such as placing one's hand behind their back, moving one's arm to the side and raising it above parallel and crossing one's upper chest with full extension.
In a world of pain killers, surgery, physical therapy and chiropracty, what can Chinese Medicine do then?
The answer is a lot.
I began by checking this patient's range of motion, which was severely restricted - not just in the shoulder joint but in the shoulder and neck muscles, as well. So there was an obvious connection between all the muscle groups in that area. It immediately told me that massage would be key to breaking through all the tightness and stagnation that had built up over time. I already knew acupuncture would help loosen up all aspects of the joint by improving blood circulation, reducing inflammation and lowering the pain threshhold through the release of natural opioids that I felt optimistic about improving her condition in a major way.
That's what happened in fairly rapid fashion.
Over 6-8 weeks, we managed to improve her range of motion and decrease her pain. Sometimes I added electro-acupuncture and moxibustion to the treatments. Now she believes her overall function is up to 80%. That's still not 100%, but she's patient enough to see just how much better she can get. Already, life has changed for the better. She feels more like her old self and is more optimistic.
That's what chronic pain does to people. It chips away at their happiness.
The good news is there's no reason these techniques, with minor variations, can't work for a wide variety of shoulder issues.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Mapping Acupuncture's Effects On The Brain
Just how does acupuncture work?
Modern brain imaging techniques are helping us understand the science behind this ancient practice.
The work, much of it out of Harvard University, involves a variety of technologies, including functional MRIs and Positron Emission Tomography. The results are considered the first step in determining why acupuncture is so effective.
An early - and logical - focus of this research is the nervous system, according to Vitaly Napadow, PhD. Napadow, a licensed acupuncturist and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, wrote about this hot field in a recent article for The American Acupuncturist, the official publication of the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I would be glad to e-mail copies of this fascinating article.
Studies, he says, show acupuncture acts upon many areas of the brain. Not surprisingly, it stimulates somatosensory regions that pertain to our ability to consciously sense and respond
to environmental stimuli. However, studies make clear that acupuncture stimulates unconscious parts of the brain located in the brain stem, limbic system and cerebellum.
Acupuncture - Chinese Medicine in general - attempts to bring balance and harmony to the body. A modern medical term for this homeostasis. The nervous system is responsible for maintaining homeostasis throughout the body by maintaining hormonal levels, gaseous diffusion, water balance and nutrient absorption.
Writes Napadow:
"From the very early days of acupuncuture research, the brain was a prime target of investigators ... Since acupuncture has been applied to many different disorders, it is tempting (and logical) to think that acupuncture somehow taps into an overarching system in the body, which holistically mediates and regulates proper homeostasis in all the body's different organs. Thus when disease subverts this homeostasis, acupuncture can be used to restore proper bodily function. From decades of scientific research, the leading (but, of course, not only) candidate for such an overarching system of homeostasis is in fact the nervous system, which permeates or influences every organ and tissue in our body."
[In the article, Napadow says some of the best acupuncture have been achieved when the needler obtains the "deqi" sensation. This is the Chinese term for the zone - the moment - in which the Qi is accessed through acupuncture. It's different in every person. The reluctance of many American students and practitioners to access a real Qi sensation for fear of scaring patients is a pet peeve of mine. We must be careful not to cause pain. This takes practice. But if we are using Qi to treat people we have to learn to activate it for maximum results.]
Napadow himself points out that this research may be purely academic if it is not somehow compared to real life clinical outcomes.
He seems to be saying that through technology we can learn how the brain responds to acupuncture. What's most important, however, is understanding how the patient responds to the acupuncture and how this knowledge can be used to achieve results.
"Unfortunately, the relationship of this brain response to clinical outcome measures has been less readily studied, an important questions future studies need to address," he writes.
On a promising note, he says preliminary studies are already looking at acupuncture's neurological impact on stroke, fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome patients.
Modern brain imaging techniques are helping us understand the science behind this ancient practice.
The work, much of it out of Harvard University, involves a variety of technologies, including functional MRIs and Positron Emission Tomography. The results are considered the first step in determining why acupuncture is so effective.
An early - and logical - focus of this research is the nervous system, according to Vitaly Napadow, PhD. Napadow, a licensed acupuncturist and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, wrote about this hot field in a recent article for The American Acupuncturist, the official publication of the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I would be glad to e-mail copies of this fascinating article.
Studies, he says, show acupuncture acts upon many areas of the brain. Not surprisingly, it stimulates somatosensory regions that pertain to our ability to consciously sense and respond
to environmental stimuli. However, studies make clear that acupuncture stimulates unconscious parts of the brain located in the brain stem, limbic system and cerebellum.
Acupuncture - Chinese Medicine in general - attempts to bring balance and harmony to the body. A modern medical term for this homeostasis. The nervous system is responsible for maintaining homeostasis throughout the body by maintaining hormonal levels, gaseous diffusion, water balance and nutrient absorption.
Writes Napadow:
"From the very early days of acupuncuture research, the brain was a prime target of investigators ... Since acupuncture has been applied to many different disorders, it is tempting (and logical) to think that acupuncture somehow taps into an overarching system in the body, which holistically mediates and regulates proper homeostasis in all the body's different organs. Thus when disease subverts this homeostasis, acupuncture can be used to restore proper bodily function. From decades of scientific research, the leading (but, of course, not only) candidate for such an overarching system of homeostasis is in fact the nervous system, which permeates or influences every organ and tissue in our body."
[In the article, Napadow says some of the best acupuncture have been achieved when the needler obtains the "deqi" sensation. This is the Chinese term for the zone - the moment - in which the Qi is accessed through acupuncture. It's different in every person. The reluctance of many American students and practitioners to access a real Qi sensation for fear of scaring patients is a pet peeve of mine. We must be careful not to cause pain. This takes practice. But if we are using Qi to treat people we have to learn to activate it for maximum results.]
Napadow himself points out that this research may be purely academic if it is not somehow compared to real life clinical outcomes.
He seems to be saying that through technology we can learn how the brain responds to acupuncture. What's most important, however, is understanding how the patient responds to the acupuncture and how this knowledge can be used to achieve results.
"Unfortunately, the relationship of this brain response to clinical outcome measures has been less readily studied, an important questions future studies need to address," he writes.
On a promising note, he says preliminary studies are already looking at acupuncture's neurological impact on stroke, fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome patients.
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