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Dry Needle Acupuncture - A Scientific Medical Approach
First, please allow me 2 definitions. Acu is Latin for needle and Puncture is rather obvious... means to puncture, so acupuncture is to puncture with needle.
While the word Acupuncture really just means to puncture with a needle it had been used to define a larger entity that is actually called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). TCM includes the use of many very specific combinations of herbs (used something like we use pharmaceuticals in the US) as well as the use of Acupuncture to balance the energy within the body. It also includes manual body work somewhat like massage and even Tuina which is similar to chiropractic. Long ago the Traditional Chinese system of health care was actually somewhat similar to ours today. It hasn't actually changed and remains very similar to how it was 2000 years ago. Many people believe it is sort of a problem not to grow with the knowledge we have gained about the human body in the past 50-100 years.
In the past 20 years much has been published about the mechanisms of Acupuncture, some scientific, some not so much. Of the objective scientific publications Dr. Janet G. Travell, MD & Dr. David G. Simons, MD were the developers of the trigger point techniques that are used widely today by everyone from massage therapists, physical therapists and chiropractors (trigger point therapy pressure based techiniques) to pain management physicians ( trigger point injctions). Also Dr. C. Chan Gunn, MD who dedicated his career to relieving patients pain through the use of his spinal segment techniques based on the dermatomes and myotomes which are recognized by everyone in medicine as the pathway of the sensory and motor nerves. The use of acupuncture needles in all these points has been part of all of their research and it has always worked to a degree!
Enter - Dr. Yun-tao Ma, Ph.D.
Dr Ma received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of South Carolina for research in the field of pain mechanism and neuronal rehabilitation. He is a renowned international authority in acupuncture pain management and trauma rehabilitation and has more than 40 years of experience practicing and teaching throughout the world. Dr Ma believes that science advances through our disagreement with each other as far as what "we think" we know. Because of this he is a humble man and credits all who's work has helped him put together his ideas of what works, along with the why & how. In that spirit I credit Dr. Ma and his lovely wife Mila for most of what I know and practice every day as far as the use of dry needling acupuncture is concerned. I have studied under many teachers since 2004 when I began using Acupuncture in practice and I respect and appreciate you all but Dr. Ma's work has and will continue to revolutionize the way dry needles are used to treat pain. Thank you Dr. Ma and Mila for teaching me.
Because of Dr. Ma's revolutionary work in the field of pain management people like me (chiropractors, physical therapists and medical doctors) are able to help people like you (in pain) all over the world, without administering drugs or performing surgery. With the use of what Dr. Ma calls "Dry Needling". Dr. Ma specifically excludes the word Acupuncture I believe it is due to his attempts to explain the difference in TCM based Acupuncture and his Dry Needling approach. While both dry needling and TCM based Acupuncture use the same type of tiny almost hair thin needles, that is where the similarity stops.
I continue to use the word acupuncture in my practice because technically it is correct and patients really need not worry about the words so much as the efficacy of the treatment they receive. Dry Needle Acupuncture is how I will refer to it from now on. (2-22-2011)
Dry Needle Acupuncture - what is the "Biomedical" approach?
Unlike most acupuncture practitioners I do not need to try to explain the traditional oriental methods and convince you that I must balance the energy meridians for you to heal yourself. All I have to do is treat your painful muscles and treat the areas where the nerves innervate the muscles and I'm done. It is the nerves and blood vessels that carry the healing "energy" and it is the small traumas made by the acupuncture needles that stimulate electrical impulses known as the energy of healing. It is now believed that these traumas from the needles and the energy of healing that follows has always been the mechanism of dry needle acupuncture success stories.
I utilize this special system
of acupuncture created over the last 30-40 years by Dr. Ma Ph.D. called
"Biomedical Acupuncture". It is based on the experience of
generations of acupuncturists as well as modern medical neuro-anatomy. Because
of this system, I am able to target your pain very specifically on your first
visit to my office. Let me clearly explain that I target the specific nerves
responsible for transmitting your pain signals to your brain and I do so at
three different levels.
This system allows me
to evaluate your overall "health" (really your lack of health and your
likely response time) utilizing a very quick and precise evaluation method. Then
on that first visit I can target the first set of points that you and I find to
be tender and that relate to your overall health. Second I target the segmental
levels of the spinal nerves at what I determine to be your level of pain as well
as the levels above and levels below. That is because those
particular sets of nerves spread out and effect the discs, dermatomes and
myotomes both above and below
so several need to be targeted to be sure the level we are trying to effect is
truly maximally affected. Finally I target your specific area of pain. For
example if yours was low back pain that radiated down the leg then needles would
likely be placed all along the painful area at specific sites that we find to be tender.
If you have read any
websites that discuss acupuncture then you realize that what I have just
described is a stark contrast to almost every other practitioner out there. All of them
give an explanation about the chi and energy flow and the meridians and leave you
wondering about this mystic thing called acupuncture. Well it really isn’t
mystical at all. In those old times they had to use stories to be sure the
younger people remembered the acupuncture medicine, the points and the methods
of finding the right points to treat. The “string and pearls” is the term
that describes the art of using a story (string) to hold the information (pearls
of wisdom and knowledge) together so that it is not easily forgotten. I have
great respect for the acupuncturists that spend many years learning to read the
pulses necessary in proper acupuncture diagnosis and I respect their ability and
readily admit that few who practice acupuncture can match the skill of the
seasoned acupuncturist.
Fortunately I don’t have
to match that skill because I already have the medical knowledge to know where
pretty much every single muscle, nerve, major artery and vein is in your body
and I can safely place the needles so that your pain is relieved. It was not an
extremely difficult skill for me to master since I already knew the anatomy.
Acupuncture
Without Any Needles!
Yes I can treat the same points, called acu-points when needles are not being used to treat. I have the benefit of having several very expensive and very specific pieces of equipment for performing Acupuncture without needles. One was specially designed by the same fellow that invented the pager – remember the pager? Dr. Wang helped to create micro-current technology, which operates at an electrical frequency very close to that of the human body. This highly specialized piece of equipment (the Mens-o-matic) allows me to stimulate your acu-points with that specific electrical current WITHOUT ANY NEEDLES. Another new addition to our list of available treatments is called Low Level Laser Therapy and I have a special laser head that allows me to treat specific acu-points with it. So if you hate needles and want to give this type treatment a try just tell us when you call us that we can put the needles back in the closet while your in the office... This type of non-needle, electrical treatment is usually reserved for the needle phobic and some older more frail patients, the needles work much more effectively.
It is best to use
the sterile acupuncture needles! Many patients get the greatest benefit from a
simple acupuncture treatment and don't need any fancy machines, the emphasis on
the non needle acupuncture is mainly to make the benefits available to everyone,
even those scared of the "tiny as a human hair", "absolutely
sterile", " one time use" needles we use for acupuncture
treatments.
Acupuncture of the Ear
aka: Auricular Acupuncture or when done without needles called Auriculotherapy.
A complete system of acupuncture exists on the auricle (ear). Like traditional acupuncture, Auricular Acupuncture offers a complete system of acupuncture points on the ear that actually effect things all over your body. For example I can treat three points in your ear that might help your low back pain, one is more for acute pain, one for when the pain is more chronic and another when it has been there for many years. A couple of other examples that have become quite popular are treatment to help one stop smoking or to lose weight, we offer all those treatments and I am certified by the ACI and quite skilled in performing them.
A note here: I am
working on a research project to help those who have lost a limb or limbs and
experience phantom limb pain. If you or anyone you know is interested in
participating in this research a significant discount on treatment is offered
for their participation. Please when you call tell the office staff you are
calling about the Phantom Limb Pain Research Project.
The auricular points can be located and treated using highly specialized micro-current equipment WITHOUT ANY NEEDLES. Most people who claim to offer this sort of treatment actually have a cheap $50 or $100 TENS frequency point stimulator – not Microcurrent specifically designed for treating Auricular Acu-Points! When I was going through the process of becoming certified in Auriculotherapy (which by the way no one else in the Tyler/Athens/Longview area is certified in) I purchased the best piece of equipment offered anywhere in the world at any price, the Electro Medical - Stim Flex 400A. I have that machine available for your treatment every day here at my office.
One
of the keys to Auriculotherapy (without needles) is the Dual Tip Probe that can
both locate active points and treat them at the very small and specific location
where they exist. Single tip probes offer very little specificity for locating
points but can be good for stimulating points when the practitioner uses another
method to locate the active points. Needless to say the Electro Medical - Stim
Flex 400A is one of only a few units made that offer the dual tip probe.
Auricular Acupuncture (with or without needles) treats your pain or addiction but it doesn't restore function. That is one thing that real dry needle acupuncture does that other therapies don't. The tiny lesions actually increase healing function in he areas we treat and in the areas the nerves we treat are connected to!
We have 2 completely
private dry needle acupuncture relaxation
rooms for your comfort. This gives you an incredible stress
relieving treatment and often in less than thirty minutes your back to your day, with
a lot less stress! Same is true for those interested in help with any addiction
from smoking to overeating or even just anxiety. Dry Needle Acupuncture is a simple
treatment and is awesomely powerful!
Don't forget that football players need Acupuncture too!
Check out this awesome football article!
