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Tag Archives: acupuncture
The sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the body, when inflamed sends shooting, hot, electric pain down the leg–sciatica. It is aggravated by humid, heavy weather which makes joints swell and pinches nerves. A rich diet (cheese, grains, meats, alcohol or food allergies), springtime humidity and sedentary habits make it feel worse. Here is a complete, successful treatment of sciatica with Acupuncture by Dr. Lili Wu who is located in Brooklyn and in Manhattan at 420 West 24th street #1D. Phone: 212 741 6674.
Sometimes science is slow to catch up with reality. Forget endorphins, forget placebos, a new study verifies acupuncture treatments for pain–finally. During the 1963 President Nixon visit to China the Western world saw the pain-killing effects of acupuncture when a member of the Nixon staff required surgery and was given acupuncture treatments as the anesthesia. The study presented evidence to the press this week: The results “provide the most robust evidence to date that acupuncture is a reasonable referral option,” wrote the authors, who include researchers with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and several universities in England and Germany.”
Acupuncture engages the neural pathways and lymph system to help regulate body functions. It can be used to ease muscle tension and pain. But following surgery, stroke, and accidents traditional Chinese acupuncture can also be used to ease anxiety, improve digestion, and facilitate breathing and circulation. In this video you see Vermont acupuncturist Glynn Pellagrino give me acupuncture in Mt. Ascutney Hospital Rehab Center to help overcome the sedating effects of total hip replacement surgery, including shortness of breath, constipation, low vitality and a feeling of being cut in two.
Above is Large Intestine 4 (LI 4) often used for head or tooth pain or in combination with other acupoints for various anti-inflammatory treatments. As early as the 1950s, publications in China reported that acupuncture effectively reduced BP in hypertensive patients. In 1975, it was found that acupuncture produced a significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure BP in 24 out of 28 patients with essential hypertension. A number of acupoints are effective in reducing BP, including pericardium 5, 6 (P 5, 6), stomach 36 (ST 36), large intestine 4, 11 (LI 4, 11), bladder 18, 20 (BL 18, 20), and gallbladder 34 (GB 34). ((My comment: Note the location of these points: at he inner wrists, mid-back, down the arms to hands, around the elbows, knees, and ankles bringing inflammation (congested qi) downward. The same principle applies to massage treatments.)) Here is summary of the clinical study recently done at Department of Anesthesiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles,CA., and Department of Medicine, University of California in Irvine, CA.
According to the most recent report from the National Center for Health Statistics, Americans spent $33.9 billion on integrative therapies in 2007 — with most of the money coming out of their own pockets, since the majority of these treatments aren’t covered by insurance. That figure includes fees for about 354 million visits to complementary and alternative medical practitioners, and it represents about 11% of total out-of-pocket expenditures on health care. Hospitals offer most of their integrative therapies on an outpatient basis, usually at designated centers at or near the hospitals. The treatments are typically aimed at relieving symptoms of serious or chronic illness: A physician might prescribe acupuncture to a patient battling nausea caused by chemotherapy, for example, or recommend massage or meditation to help reduce anxiety and stress. Although research supporting the efficacy of complementary therapies is increasing, “hospitals wouldn’t have much to offer if they confined themselves to procedures supported by [American] medical evidence,” says a senior health policy analyst at the Rand Corp. in Santa Monica. So hospitals choose based on what they judge to be most effective and what they believe most patients want.
Large Intestine Acupuncture Meridian. For tennis elbow stimulate LI 11 and 10 near the elbow. LI 11 is at the fold of the elbow at the outside of the arm. Bend your elbow to find the point. LI 10 is about one inch below LI 11 towards the wrist. This shows the lung meridian. For tennis elbow combine LI 11 and 10 with nearby Lung 5, located inside the crook of the elbow. Epicondylitis, an inflammation of the muscles and tendons of the forearm better known as tennis elbow results from repeated twisting of the forearm and can cause considerable pain even with simple movements such as lifting a cup. Rest, warmth, stretches, and anti-inflammatory injections from a doctor may help temporarily, but the only treatment found to permanently relieve pain is acupuncture.
I went over to my favorite acupuncture doctor Lili Wu in Chelsea today. Time for my spring energy alignment. I want my Qi to flow smoothly to start the season right. She took my pulses, looked grave and said, “Your Qi is low. Damp weather in Florida has made your joints rusty.” I must admit I have been feeling creaky and rusty. She recommended a couple of Qi tonics: Chinese ginseng, ginger tea and red beans. TCM doctors consider aduki beans (AKA adzuki beans) to be warming and yang. Just what I need for my rusty, damp swollen joints and low energy. She placed warming lamps over my abdomen and legs and placed needles in points where Qi is stored–the top of my head, between the eyes a needle pointed downward to bring yang Qi down to a point for stomach in my abdomen, in my arms and hoku between the thumb and pointing finger. Also points at my knee St. 36 and a point for phlegm (AKA dampness) St. 40. Soon I felt warm and centered in my Qi. Tomorrow I will go to Chinatown to buy aduki beans to make a soup. Here is a recipe taken from a book I am writing about natural treatments for pain.
It’s amazing the healing that is possible when energy and circulation are brought back into proper alignment, when the subtle flow of vitality moves in the right direction through acupuncture meridians. Have you ever tried to pet a cat, from the tail to head, against the natural direction of fur? You might get scratched. There is a healthy direction to circulation following natural pathways. Re-establishing that comfortable direction brings many benefits. I recently gave a massage to a man who has had a stroke. He can neither speak nor move his arms and legs, but he can hear me. His TMJ trigeminal neuralgia makes it impossible for him to speak or make sounds without violently twitching his cheek muscles. His pain and tension cause insomnia. Doctors have prescribed drugs to help revive consciousness, but he could not speak partly because of spasms and pains in the jaw. After the massage he relaxed and fell asleep. Slowly his body will learn to speak and move again as neural connections are re-established.
My first ever lunch time walking tour of Koreatown New York is this Thursday beginning at the brand new New York Open Center 22 E. 30th street. I could spend years walking down 32nd street between 5th Avenue and Broadway, the area now called Korean Way, and not see it all. Koreatown is vertical. Look up and find a BBQ restaurant above a clothing store and a hair and nails salon or karaoke bar above that. It’s jammed with everything to enjoy for Korean tourists and fascinated New Yorkers. At the corner of Broadway and 32nd look up and see COSMOS, since 1979 a designer clothing and jewelry shop (think: Cartier, Chanel, Piaget etc.) open by appointment only. Koreans have money and like labels. Walking toward 5th Ave. on the south side of 32nd street at 34 W. 32nd. on the second floor is Seoul Garden restaurant, a popular lunch place for Koreans and others brought by Korean friends. I asked for a simple lunch special of Vegetarian Soon Tofu (soft tofu) and, typical of Korean restaurants, I also got many tasty side dishes: sauteed sliced mushrooms, braised watercress, tiny dried anchovies, sprouts, kimchee (pickled spicy cabbage), chicken and potato stew, white rice, a steaming delicate egg custard with scallions, a sizzling bowl of tofu and vegetable soup and a raw egg, which I quickly broke into the soup–just like my Hungarian grandmother. The white rice and mild barley tea are there to cool the burning hot spices. You have to tell the wait person “mild, medium spicy or spicy” but spicy is meant for Koreans who like having their mouth burned to a crisp. On a scale of 1 – 10 for lunchtime restaurant noise: Little India is 2 or 3 — everyone is so yogic; Chinatown is 6; and Koreatown is 8 or 9 — bustling to almost deafening.
CHICAGO (Reuters) May 11, 2009 – Acupuncture brought more relief to people with back pain than standard treatments. For many patients, that benefit lasted for a year, the team reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The team, wanted to study the effects of different types of acupuncture in a large, carefully controlled study of 638 patients with chronic low back pain. They divided patients into several groups. One got seven weeks of standardized acupuncture treatment known to be effective in back pain. Another group got an individually prescribed acupuncture treatment. A third group was treated using a toothpick in a needle guide tube that did not pierce the skin as regular acupuncture does, but targeting the correct acupuncture “points”. A fourth group just got standard medical treatment, which included medication and physical therapy. After eight weeks, 60 percent of the patients who got any type of acupuncture reported significant improvement in their ability to function compared with those who got standard medical care alone.
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