Condition

Pain Relief

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.”

Pain drives a person to withdraw from harmful circumstances, to prevent further damage. Pain often goes away once the stimulus is taken away and the body has healed, but some pain may continue. Pain can occasionally appear in the absence of any visible stimuli, damage, or illness[1].

Acute vs Chronic

Acute pain usually comes on suddenly and is caused by something specific. Acute pain often subsides within six months. When there is no longer an underlying cause for the pain, it goes away.

Chronic pain is pain that is ongoing and usually lasts longer than six months. Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months or years[2].

There are eight common chronic pains: Headaches, Musculoskeletal pain, Neurological pain, Cancer-related pain, Arthritis pain, Psychogenic pain, Visceral pain, Chronic disease.

Scale of Problem

Based on information from the most reliable published studies, between one-third and one-half of the adult population in the UK, or slightly under 28 million people, suffer from chronic pain. With an ageing population, this number is projected to rise much further[3].

Evidence Based Studies & NHS Recommendations

NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has published guidelines recommending the use of acupuncture for chronic pain[4].

Quote from “ACUPUNCTURE: REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF REPORTS ON CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIALS” published by World Health Organization:

“The effectiveness of acupuncture analgesia has already been established in controlled clinical studies. As mentioned previously, acupuncture analgesia works better than a placebo for most kinds of pain, and its effective rate in the treatment of chronic pain is comparable with that of morphine. In addition, numerous laboratory studies have provided further evidence of the efficacy of acupuncture’s analgesic action as well as an explanation of the mechanism involved. In fact, the excellent analgesic effects of acupuncture have stimulated research on pain.

Because of the side-effects of long-term drug therapy for pain and the risks of dependence, acupuncture analgesia can be regarded as the method of choice for treating many chronically painful conditions.”[5]

Traditional Chinese Medicine holds the view that “Obstruction and/or Malnutrition causes pain”.

Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine can treat pain by unblocking the obstruction and nourishing the body which lead to the body’s own healing response.

Acupuncture works well for pain caused by muscle or soft tissues injury. Most chronic pain needs the nervous system to be treated at the same time. The TCM practitioner will check your meridians to find the appropriate healing points (obstruction points) to unblock. The TCM practitioner will not only treat the local pain area but will also focus on the overall state of the body to find out unbalances and try to adjust it, which will make affection last and help the problems such as fatigue, insomnia etc caused by the pain.

At Yue Acupuncture Clinic, the most common pain problems we see people seeking help are: Neck Pain, Frozen Shoulder, Back Pain, Sciatica, Tennis Elbow. Acupuncture, Tui Na, and herbs help alleviate these problems.

‍Study & Research References:

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