5/4/2019 1 Comment Acupuncture for Period Pain![]() Acupuncture is more effective than anti-inflammatories in the treatment of period pain according to a meta-analysis of 17 randomised controlled trials. (In plain English, that means that some people have taken the trouble to have a look at 17 different respectable clinical trials and pulled all the results together to form a conclusion.) I guess, though, that some women will still prefer to just pop a pill or two to try to deal with their pain at period time, since this is quicker than going to the trouble of having some acupuncture, and maybe cheaper too if they don't have to pay for the drugs. But on the other hand anti-inflammatory medication is not free from side effects; less likely to be a problem perhaps if you only take them once a month. But then suppose you have some other aches and pains as well? The advantage traditional acupuncture has is that, apart from being such a safe form of treatment, it looks at a woman as a whole being, and not just at her reproductive organs in isolation. In this view, period pain is maybe just the major, or one of the major, manifestations of an underlying disharmony which is not being dealt with at all by just taking a painkiller, convenient as that might be if it works. For example, consider a woman who has painful periods, who also tends to get a bit irritable running up to her period, who sometimes has migraines and who has irritable bowel syndrome. From the point of view of traditional acupuncture, all of these symptoms are part of a package, all of them are branches of the same tree, and what the woman really needs is some treatment which treats the tree as a whole, and not just one branch or another - one medication for the period pain, one for the migraines, one for the bowels etc. In this example the root of the problem, the disharmony which underlies the various symptoms, is likely to be what is called Liver Qi Stagnation. (This could perhaps be confirmed by asking a few more judicious questions, and perhaps taking the woman's pulse.) Liver Qi Stagnation, of course, is not a term that has any meaning in the context of the form of medicine we are used to, but it has plenty of meaning within the context of the 2,000 years plus of Chinese medicine. In short, it means that things in our system are not flowing freely, transitions are not smooth; as far as the menstrual cycle is concerned, it means that the transitions from one part of the cycle to the next is not happening quite as nature intended, one consequence of which is pain. Live,r Qi Stagnation usually arises as a result of frustration, stress, even repressed anger and might be said to be the characteristic malaise of the modern woman, and the modern man as well, reflecting a way of life which involves a fairly relentless pursuit of ' success' at the expense of some of our deeper needs and nature. (What we are doing to the planet, we are also doing to ourselves.) From this point of view, acupuncture is a way of restoring the free flow of Qi, releasing built up tension and loosening us up a little, supporting the natural cycles of our being and, in the case of the monthly cycle, promoting a smoother transition from one stage to the next. As well as thus relieving the pain at period time, it can start to open a door to a way of being in which we are more in harmony with our own bodies, with the natural world around us, and are as a result happier, freer and more content. (Comparative efficacy and safety of NSAIDs-controlled acupuncture in the treatment of patients with primary dysmenorrhoea: a Bayesian network meta-analysis. J Int Med Res. 2018 Nov 30:300060518800609.)
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4/7/2019 1 Comment Headaches and ComplexityPeople are complicated, sometimes more so than we would like to think. When it comes to health problems, for example, we often want to look for the one thing that has caused us to be ill; we have a headache, perhaps, because we didn't get enough sleep last night, or we have a headache because we haven't eaten enough; or maybe we have a headache because we are stressed out, or maybe it is the weather which is to blame. But quite often I think it is not that there is one thing behind our being off colour, but an array of factors which taken together add up, perhaps, to a headache or whatever the problem is.
In the case of headaches and migraines, one of these factors is surely to do with our neck and shoulders. When I treat someone who has headaches or migraines, I always have a look at their neck and shoulders. And in fact I have more than a look, I use my hands and examine them. And I almost always find some knots of tension. Often these knots are what are called Trigger Points, small areas of tightness which cause pain. And the thing about Trigger Points is that the pain is usually felt some distance away from the point, as what is called referred pain. So for instance a Trigger Point in the trapezius muscle on top of your shoulder can cause pain on the side of your head, circling round the ear to the temple, a typical kind of pain for some tension headaches and some migraines. So whatever else we do for you in this scenario, we need to gently work on this muscle, releasing the tightness with acupuncture, and maybe with massage or cupping. As I say, this muscular tension may not be the only factor predisposing you to headaches, and we also need to think about why the tension is there in the first place (hunching our shoulders as a stress response maybe, long hours using a keyboard or driving maybe...) So we need a fairly comprehensive approach, which is why I think acupuncture is such a useful treatment given that it can not only release muscular tension, but it can also promote an overall feeling of relaxation affecting both the body and mind, initiate some of the body's intrinsic pain killing mechanisms, and promote a more harmonious and balanced state of being. This is backed up by the research; for instance, a recent systematic review of 62 clinical trials, including 4,947 patients in total, found acupuncture to be effective in both the treatment and prevention of migraines, and superior to medication. (The Effect of Acupuncture on the Quality of Life in Patients With Migraine: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front Pharmacol 2018 Oct 26:9:1190) |
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