Treating Pain

Approximately 50% of my practice is treating pain of some kind or other. http://abdominalacupuncture.net/in can be debilitating and comes in various different guises, ranging from acute sports injuries or back sprains to chronic pain from rheumatism, arthritis or other causes. Acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine offers many different methods of dealing with pain.

In my practice I always ask my clients to observe their pain when they first come in and to rate it by giving it a score of 10 as it is at that moment. As I begin the treatment I will check with my client how the pain has changed, my particular preference is to use abdominal acupuncture or Dr. Tan acupuncture techniques, usually I can reduce the pain down to a score of 1 or 2 and often the pain disappears completely. The look on a person’s face as they’re pain leaves them is incredibly satisfying and often it is coupled with a little bit of confusion as to how a needle in a totally unrelated area can exert such a powerful result. I have had the pleasure of seeing my clients become pain-free after years of suffering. I have often treated clients who have suffered with debilitating digestive problems as a result of the long-term medication they have been prescribed to treat the pain. Acupuncture offers a huge number of possible techniques that can be used to treat all kinds of problems. Painful conditions are particularly rewarding as you can see the result of your treatment almost immediately.

Case 1; Bob the builder

I first saw Bob the builder after he had been suffering excruciating back pain due to slipped disc which had occurred 18 months previously. Bob was a fit and strong 35-year-old who after a night out on the town with his friends decided to lift one of his mates up and slipped a disc in his upper back at T3. Bob had pretty much been off work ever since he tried physiotherapy, chiropractic treatment and was on large doses of very strong pain medication, as a result he had frequent digestive problems. On his first appointment he indicated that he was nervous about having acupuncture as he had collapsed from having acupuncture on his back from his chiropractor. He indicated that his pain was definitely at a score of 10 at that moment, I started the treatment using abdominal acupuncture and within five minutes his pain had reduced down to 1 or 2. This was on Thursday evening and when Bob returned to me on the following Tuesday he informed me that he had been able to go and watch the Sunday game with his mates and enjoy a few pints as he was no longer in need of any medication. We continued his treatment using abdominal acupuncture for seven more sessions and to date his pain has not returned.

Case 2; A shoulder to cry on

Recently I had a client who attended me with chronic neck and shoulder pain which was radiating down his right arm, this was the result of a car accident two years previously and caused him pain on a daily basis, sleep was also disturbed as it was difficult to find a comfortable position. On this occasion I decided to use a different technique as he was only comfortable in a seated position. I asked him to show me exactly where the pain was and decided to use Dr Tan mirror imaging techniques I noticed a blue discolouration almost like Indian ink, just below his knee (on the left side) an area that often reflects shoulder problems, this point was extremely tender and after needling this point the pain was almost totally gone. I used one more point on his left ankle which was painful to touch and this resulted in him being totally pain-free. A further five sessions were used to treat this chronic condition and now J is pain-free with the full mobility of his neck and shoulder.

Case 3; Jill’s wry neck

Just last week I had a visit from a client I hadn’t seen in approximately 2 years, I had treated Jill previously for some anxiety issues but last week she came to me in excruciating pain as a result of sleeping in a draft. She had little or no movement in her neck and could not turn her head from one side to the other and movement up and down was very restricted. Once again this was an ideal opportunity for me to test the power of Dr Tan’s acupuncture after locating exactly where the pain was emanating from I used 2 points on her right hand and one on the left and within moments she once again had full range of motion in her neck and was pain-free. She smiled with amazement as she acknowledged the power of acupuncture and she said ” I can’t understand why other people don’t try acupuncture when they are in pain “.

These 3 cases are just a small sample of some of the clients I have treated with painful conditions. I hope they highlight the versatility  and power of acupuncture.  If you would like some more examples please feel free to check out my website www.abdominalacupuncture.net