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Trigger point acupuncture and sports injuries-exciting new developments!

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, July, 2003 by Stephen J. Kaufman

Abstract

In recent years, many physicians, particularly in Britain, have added to the understanding of acupuncture. Instead of mystical, vague and energetic theories, they have focused on pragmatic, results-oriented techniques. This has resulted in new styles of acupuncture that are much simpler, scientifically defensible, and highly effective. They are also practically painless. A new technique developed by the author, Eight Needle acupuncture, is described, which often gives superlative results in any musculoskeletal disorder, especially tendonitis or bursitis. These concepts have led to the development of osteopressure, a new way to effectively do acupuncture without needles (a type of acupressure) with improved results.

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Introduction

Jim is a 45 year-old male who badly sprained his ankle hiking. It was swollen, extremely painful, and had very limited range of motion. He had iced it for several days but expected that it would need much more time to heal. Trigger point Eight Needle acupuncture, as described in this article, was applied to the most tender area of the injury. The treatment caused no pain at all. Within a few minutes the swelling was almost completely gone, the pain was much less and the range of motion was greatly improved. Several months later he was treated for a painful neck of several days' duration with limited range of motion. Osteopressure was applied on several tender areas of the cervical spine. He had immediate relief of pain and restoration of normal movement.

Daniel is an active team athlete in his 30's. He has sustained many spinal injuries and has a very long history of chronic low back pain. Previous chiropractic care had not helped much; applied kinesiological care had helped a great deal but he still had periodic flareups of bad pain. Several treatments of Eight Needle acupuncture caused an immediate and remarkable disappearance of the back pain. This improvement has lasted for several months with no further pain.

Matilda is an 80 year-old woman who has had pain in lower rib cage and diaphragm area for many years. It is always exacerbated by bending forward. She also has chronic heartburn. She has had much previous chiropractic and acupuncture treatment from several practitioners. She was treated with trigger point acupuncture to her lower abdomen and a large surgical scar on her posterior scapula. Within a few treatments her presenting complaints were almost totally relieved.

Mary is a 68 year-old woman with a long history of lung disease. She developed pleurisy, was in great pain in her chest and back, and barely able to walk, in spite of being on antibiotics. Osteopressure without needles was applied to reflex areas along the infraspinatus muscle. She experienced immediate and lasting relief and a quick resolution of all her symptoms.

I began studying acupuncture in 1973. At the time there were less than a dozen books available in English, so one could at least convince oneself that he was an expert fairly quickly! (This was before the founding of formal acupuncture schools and training in America.) All of the teachings that I was exposed to then were TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) acupuncture. It is my understanding that the situation is the same now, in that the vast majority of teaching in acupuncture schools and American practice consists of the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach. TCM was/is based on a theory of Yin/Yang, Five Elements, energetic root causes of disease, etc. While these concepts may or may not be true, they are difficult to apply scientifically. Chi energy is impossible to objectively measure, even though many acupuncturists may feel they can subjectively perceive it. Unquestionably, then and now, acupuncture is an extremely effective, solid therapy. It can be very good at relieving symptoms.

In recent years, Western and especially British physician/acupuncturists have stripped away a lot of the mysticism and dogma of traditional acupuncture in favor of a completely evidence based approach. I would like to sum up this approach here as a series of redefined concepts. These are extracted and based on the works of Mann, (1) Baldry, (2) Travell, (3) Campbell, (4) Gunn, (5) and Seem, (6) and others, (7) as well as my own observations.

This discussion does not intend to replace the 5,000 year-old approach of TCM acupuncture, but rather to streamline and improve results in treating musculoskeletal pain. Treatment of visceral disorders is also amenable to this new approach, but it's a little more complicated. I will limit the discussion here to treatment of musculoskeletal pain. These approaches can be used together; they are certainly not counterproductive. The more tools a physician has, the better. One can practice trigger point acupuncture along with TCM, as Mark Seem does. One need never abandon previously successful protocols for new ones. It would be silly to throw away techniques that have been useful for 5,000 years.

Discussion

Essentially, there are really only a few important issues in acupuncture. They are:

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Trigger point acupuncture and sports injuries-exciting new developments!

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, July, 2003 by Stephen J. Kaufman

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