Acupuncture: Challenging Pain

Each of my visits to Beijing, China, has been a refinement to explore how acupuncture is utilized in that country's modernizing society. I am always reminded very politely that, several thousand years ago, acupuncture was found to be useful for treating pain. Despite the fact that Chinese clinicians are very impressed with American clinical trials on use of acupuncture for pain, I venture to say that Chinese uses for acupuncture in the areas of internal medicine, prevention, self-care, psychiatry, etc., are inspiring. I would cautiously agree—as I had the opportunity to discuss this with several Chinese clinicians involved in the fields of endocrinology, dermatology, cardiology, etc.—about their patients successfully responding to acupuncture. One Traditional Chinese Medicine expert I heard about routinely treats cardiac dysrhythmia with acupuncture. Of course, my hesitancy for belief in this is that the real evaluation comes from appropriate clinical trials, and we also do quite well with Western medicine. However, I think it is important that Western medicine does not become too dogmatic with respect to beliefs; now I read in the June 23, 2014, edition of TIME magazine ¹ that the medical community may be wrong about fats in our diet. We can now eat butter! Perhaps it should be acceptable too to venture outside the Western paradigm and use more acupuncture. The experts who believe it does not work are also probably going to stop eating margarine.

I still remain challenged by pain as it is the most frequent complaint that I encounter in both my military and civilian acupuncture clinics. Pain will always be with us in our profession. Many clinicians ask me how I treat pain. Here is my advice: I always do a history and physical. If I am satisfied with the diagnosis, I confirm whether the patient has received the Western standard of care (unless the patient objects) and I always obtain a signed written consent form. I would like to make a few suggestions: Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) is a 5-point ear technique that works very well on pain. ² BFA is fast and efficient. It can be used to address many pathologic etiologies of pain. The other ear points are worth trying for additional pain reduction. They are very handy and I would not be without them; in particular, I use the red nucleus and other Nogier points. I also utilize a variety of electroacupuncture techniques, ranging from mA to μA, square-wave and sloped square-wave outputs. There are many devices on the market that meet these various specifications. Piezoelectric devices are great for treating trigger points and frozen shoulder.^3,4 Electroacupuncture is a must to learn, and I thank William F. Craig, MD, and Joseph M. Helms, MD, for their mentoring. I particularly find electrostimulators that sweep frequencies very efficient for addressing pain challenges. These devices permit stimulation over a frequency range of, for example, 20 Hz–6 Hz (up and down the range). This is the spectrum for those long-lasting neurotransmitters that bring about pain relief. Why spend time thumping away at 5 Hz when it is possible to sweep through a range of long-lasting frequencies for achieving pain relief? I use green lasers often, and my favorite frequency is 520 nm. That seems to work best for me, and I use lasers from 5 mW to 200 mW. Take a laser course that includes theory, safety, and clinical application and you will be amazed how quickly this modality will become part of your practice; especially, if you apply it to various microsystems. Clinicians should educate themselves about the use of ion pumping cords. ⁵

I trust this will motivate readers to explore other possibilities when confronted with the challenges of pain. Oh yes, do not be afraid to use an ice bag on some local pain challenges. It will not matter whether it is natural spring or tap water as long as it is cold. We do not talk too much about this technique any more do we? Now after all these years I will go back to butter. It may be good for your health. That is what my grandmother said. But I have to confess I cheated all these years not using margarine. Thanks granny you were right!