Effectiveness Of Accupuncture, Question on treatment for martial arts injuries Options

I have been seeing a new acupuncturist recently for some elbow pain without much sucess. This seems to be the norm for anything I show up with from martial arts. Other things, stress, energy blocks, fixing my qi gong screw ups, cold flue, muscle pain, and most anything that is not trauma acupuncture has been very good for me. For strains, sprains, bruises, fractures, over use injuries, and other injuries arising from combat leaves my back account thinner and that's about all. I have a theory that structural damage is better treated with herbs and NSAID, but several acupuncturists say it is just as effective to use acupuncture.

I know nothing about acupuncture, so I was hoping someone here could help me understand this. Is there something about trauma which acupuncture is not good at healing or perhaps I need a specialist.

I have been seeing a new acupuncturist recently for some elbow pain without much sucess. This seems to be the norm for anything I show up with from martial arts. Other things, stress, energy blocks, fixing my qi gong screw ups, cold flue, muscle pain, and most anything that is not trauma acupuncture has been very good for me. For strains, sprains, bruises, fractures, over use injuries, and other injuries arising from combat leaves my back account thinner and that's about all. I have a theory that structural damage is better treated with herbs and NSAID, but several acupuncturists say it is just as effective to use acupuncture.

I know nothing about acupuncture, so I was hoping someone here could help me understand this. Is there something about trauma which acupuncture is not good at healing or perhaps I need a specialist.

Depends on the nature of the damage. The purpose of acupuncture is to reassert the nature harmony of the chi in the body, which often manifests as chronic ailments. Acute ailments can be treated as well, but injuries don't arise from an imbalance, per say. Acupuncture can help you be less prone to injury, but this assumes that you are using the advantage of properly flowing chi to strengthen your bones and other tissues. Although acupuncture might allow your body to heal an injury - say, a broken bone - slightly more efficiently and, more importantly, correctly, it shouldn't be a replacement for a cast/splint of some sort. With joint injuries the same thing is true - the purpose of acupuncture here is to help the joint/tendon/ligaments heal correctly. When there is injury, imbalance arises if not corrected through some means, most times.

Getting into how acupuncture can help prevent injury is getting very esoteric into taoist medical theory. If your chi is both strong and harmonious, you will have better balance, clearer breathing, more awareness, so accidents are less likely. Most injuries arise from impatience, lack of awareness, or pridefulness, all of these arise from imbalances, lack of harmony.

You may want to find out what tradition of acupuncture you are being treated with. Some are more indepth and holistic than others. TCM is basically a western version of the original chinese traditional medicine, which is based on taoist science. It was developed because the chinese government under chairman Mao wanted to become more westernized, but found that they were short on qualified western trained doctors - so TCM was the middle ground. It is symptom based, eastern-allopathic medicine and it is the most common form of acupuncture. The more esoteric schools are starting to gain some ground, but the education is more involved so it discourages many western students. If you can find someone practicing five-elements traditional acupuncture that would be my recommendation. If your current acupuncturist is such a practitioner, then they should be telling you the above already.

Acupuncture works best when you work with it. A very thorough practitioner will need to know about your eating habits, your moods, any meditation or spiritual practices, past traumas, affinities and aversions, and will construct a profile of your chi based on your consequential expression of it. From there the appropriate treatment should commence with no real focus on the actual symptoms you currently have, but towards the overall goal of restoring harmony throughout your entire system, which will resolve the symptoms naturally. This is what I mean by TCM being an eastern-allopathic medical approach - although it's an eastern system, it is still allopathic and symptom based. Treating symptoms with acupuncture is fine, and often useful, but it is not the real strength of acupuncture. Going to a TCM practitioner is not consequently more effective than taking a medication, but includes no additional chemicals. However, because the acupuncture is superficial you will keep seeing them continuously.

Hope that helps a little bit.

peace

Generally speaking, for chronic, long term conditions I would seriously consider acupuncture and TCM. But for a broken arm I would go to my family doctor and have it set, and for wear-and-tear injuries such as tendonitis, or other soft tissue injuries I would see a massage therapist or a physiotherapist, depending on the exact kind of injury. Massage therapist training varies considerably from place to place especially in the USA, but I imagine that most know how to treat tendonitis with frictioning and such. Massage therapy's hands on approach is considered to labour intensive to fit into how physiotherapists manage their time, but is often far more useful in rehabilitation of the client than the methods favoured in physio. Essentially, physiotherapists don't want to spend half an hour on one client when they can use the same amount of time to treat half a dozen and charge money to the half dozen. However, physio clinics may have equipment that isn't available to the massage therapist.

Making money is a factor in healthcare. There is nothing wrong with making a living, but you should be aware of this and consider it when a therapist such as the acupuncturist feels that they can treat your condition effectively. I'm sure that acupuncture has a treatment for all major conditions, but it will work better on some conditions than others. Therapists may or may not suggest that you be referred to another form of therapy. They have to weigh the money they might make from treating you themselves on one hand with your best interests. They may also have been brainwashed into believing that their therapy is a panacea. Therefore it comes down to you deciding for yourself, doing some research and weighing the options.

I can tell you that I've been doing martial arts probably since before most here were born and have had plenty of injuries. Being a massage therapist I usually treat myself, but I sometimes ask for help and sometimes avail myself to the equipment in a physio clinic I work at part time. I've never used acupuncture for those kinds of injuries. Generally self treatment, physio or cranio-sacral therapy combined with qigong.

Generally speaking, for chronic, long term conditions I would seriously consider acupuncture and TCM. But for a broken arm I would go to my family doctor and have it set, and for wear-and-tear injuries such as tendonitis, or other soft tissue injuries I would see a massage therapist or a physiotherapist, depending on the exact kind of injury."

I have thought about massage therapy but everyone I found wants a prescription from a doctor before they do anything, and without insurance a trip to the doc providing I can find one willing to take me without (and then then mandatory x-ray) will cost too much.

I'll also state I have not broken any bones, for that I would see a doc, insurance or not. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Depends on the nature of the damage. The purpose of acupuncture is to reassert the nature harmony of the chi in the body, which often manifests as chronic ailments. Acute ailments can be treated as well, but injuries don't arise from an imbalance, per say. Although acupuncture might allow your body to heal an injury ... slightly more efficiently and, more importantly, correctly, the purpose of acupuncture here is to help the joint/tendon/ligaments heal correctly. When there is injury, imbalance arises if not corrected through some means, most times.

Right, so acupuncture works to treat imbalance underlying a condition and trauma is not an imbalance but can lead to it.

Getting into how acupuncture can help prevent injury is getting very esoteric into taoist medical theory.

You may want to find out what tradition of acupuncture you are being treated with. Some are more indepth and holistic than others. TCM is basically a western version of the original chinese traditional medicine, which is based on taoist science.

I heard something about this from the guy I saw in Hawaii some years ago. Apparently the very good acupuncturists come from doctors who went to Taiwan before the revolution. I have heard some mixed reviews about the five elements style as well. People ether think it is the essence of Chinese medicine or it is something silly white people came up with while studying in Taiwan and does not represent a complete understanding. The guy I am seeing now is from a five element school, though he is less fanatical about it, he maintains acupuncture is a good treatment for trauma.

Wow. I was gonna add a response but, upon further reading discovered that everyone else was exactly right on. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ac42.gif)