Have you ever considered acupuncture for back and neck pain? It may not be one of the more common pain treatments, but acupuncture does have a lot to offer. If you’re a little intimidated by the prospect, or you want to learn more about how acupuncture can help you with neck and back pain, read on to find answers to your questions.

Back and neck pain: What you should know

Literal pains in the neck can be just as bothersome as the metaphorical ones. Some causes of back and neck pain can be obvious, but some can surprise you. The sensation of pain also isn’t the only thing that you can expect to feel, as there are other sensations that may accompany it.

The usual causes

It can be difficult to determine the cause of back and neck pain, even with the technology available to us now. It also doesn’t help that there is a plethora of possible causes. This kind of pain can result from things like overuse, lifting heavy loads, and improper posture while sitting down for long periods. Arthritis can also affect your back and neck, aside from other joints.

Injury, muscle tension, sprains and strains, and a pinched nerve can also be the source of pain in the area. The effects of a poor lifestyle, such as obesity, can also put a strain on the back and neck. Smoking, while not as obvious as the other causes, can also lead to pain.

Symptoms

Aside from pain, there are also other symptoms that may arise from back and neck pain. If the pain is in your back, you may also experience some tingling or numbness in your leg. You may also feel shooting pains go from your back all the way down the back of your thighs, calves, and even toes.

As for neck pain, you may also experience headaches, numbing or tingling in your arm, and shoulder pain.

However, there is also the possibility that the symptoms won’t simply stop there. If your life is significantly affected by pain, or if that pain is accompanied by other symptoms, please consult with your doctor before seeking out alternative and complementary treatments like acupuncture.

Acupuncture for back and neck pain

There are a number of ways to treat back and neck pain, including the use of hot or cold packs, exercising, stretching, medications, and braces. While these solutions can be effective, you can also consider undergoing acupuncture. After all, acupuncture doesn’t just just relieve pain. It can also help you improve your health from the inside out.

The Santa Barbara Herb Clinic can provide you with acupuncture as well as other services. Our owner and Licensed Acupuncturist, Tram Pham, has been running the clinic since 2016. She also has years of experience in the long-standing practice of acupuncture and herbal medicine, and has a Master’s Degree in Chinese Medicine from Yo San University.

How acupuncture works

Acupuncture is quickly becoming more and more recognized in the US for its abilities to help treat a variety of ailments. However, it’s been practiced in for thousands of years in China, where it originated. The rest of the world is catching up, though perhaps just a tad late to the party.

So how does it work? Basically, an acupuncturist inserts fine needles into the patient’s skin. However, these needles have to be situated in acupuncture points for them to be effective. Licensed and experienced acupuncturists will be able to have the skills necessary to pick out the correct acupuncture points based on the patient’s individual needs.

Massage vs acupuncture

When it comes to back and neck pain, we can’t say that acupuncture is the only option. But is it the best option? There are other things you can do to relieve back and neck pain, and most of them don’t include needles. A common way to deal with body pain is massage, which can also be quite effective. The question is, which is one is better? Acupuncture or massage?

This, actually, is probably an unfair comparison. Both can be effective in relieving back and neck pain. Research on which one is more effective than the other has mixed results, and it may be safe to say that both options can be equally viable. Those who have a fear of needles, or have health conditions that may make undergoing acupuncture impossible, can experience pain relief through massage.

The acupuncture points for back and neck pain

Tram practices the balance method of acupuncture, also known as distal healing. She learned it from its creator, Richard Tan, during the last years of his teaching. Distal acupuncture never involves putting needles where the pain is. Thus, your acupuncturist will insert needles into the  dorsal aspect of your hand and along your forearm to treat back pain, and in the ankle and wrist to address neck pain.

Acupuncture at the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic

The Santa Barbara Herb Clinic has been providing Santa Barbara and nearby areas with holistic health care since 1986. Customers can come to the clinic for acupuncture, herbal medicine, and other treatments that fall under traditional Chinese medicine. Tram, our owner and licensed acupuncturist, has experience in various holistic and age-old therapies that can help with a number of ailments.

If you want to make an appointment with the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic, you can call us at 805-563-0222 or email us at info@santabarbaraherbclinic.com. Tram also offers consultations over the phone or via video call. Contact us now and begin your journey to better health.

References:

https://www.healthline.com/health/acupuncture-for-back-pain#benefits

https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/acupuncture-pain-killer#1

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healthlibrary/conditions/physical_medicine_and_rehabilitation/back_and_neck_pain_85,P01162

https://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20010629/acupuncture-may-be-best-to-ease-neck-pain#2

https://www.uclahealth.org/spinecenter/neck-and-back-pain

http://www.modernreflexology.com/acupressure-points-to-treat-shoulder-and-neck-pains/

http://acupressurepointsguide.com/most-important-acupressure-points-for-back-pain/

Muscle strain is a common occurrence. It’s almost an accepted reality with athletes. It can also result from everyday activities, like lifting heavy objects or simply sitting on an office chair for hours on end. As such, most people think that they should just endure mild to moderate pain. If the pain becomes too great, some people also think that simply popping painkillers will erase the problem. However, acupuncture for muscle pain may be a more viable option.

But the latter only deals with the symptom, it does nothing for the root cause of the condition. For example, pain killers don’t directly address the internal tear or the overstretched fibers within the muscle. Thus, the inflammation which painkillers or other first aid methods like RICE alleviated can return. If a person persists on using that body part despite the injury, it could only worsen the condition and may result in chronic strain.

Muscle strain: can acupuncture help?

Pain management and relief is one of the top reasons why more and more people worldwide seek out acupuncture. In China, however, traditional healing modalities have been an integral part of medical practices for several millennia already. It’s what martial arts practitioners have been employing for the aches and injuries they accumulate from their respective disciplines. Acupuncture has also been known to help improve their body’s movements and thus can enhance their performance. Acupuncture for muscle strain, meanwhile, can help with more specific issues.

Traditional Chinese medicine and, in particular, acupuncture’s momentum couldn’t have lasted to this day and age if it didn’t deliver a measure of the results that people hope for, and those who want more tangible evidence would find no shortage of research conducted on the efficacy of acupuncture, not just for managing pain but also for a whole range of physical, mental, and emotional concerns.

A brief on using acupuncture for muscle strain

How exactly can acupuncture for muscle strain help you? Generally speaking, the licensed acupuncturist would first need to perform a thorough consultation and examination in order to pinpoint the nature and location of the injury. Tram Pham, L.Ac., the clinic’s owner and lead acupuncturist, performs acupuncture at the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic. She practices the distal healing system known as the Balance Method, which she learned directly from its pioneer, Master Richard Tan, during the last years of his life. This distinct acupuncture system is then what the acupuncturist would employ, along with a seamless blend of other traditional healing modalities, to commence treatment.

The Balance Method involves inserting ultra-fine needles in acupuncture points that seemingly have nothing to do with the injured site. For instance, if the injury is on the right elbow, the Balance Method practitioner would stimulate the distal points of that injury. This often means that the needles could be inserted anywhere on the left side of the body.

This can indeed appear counterintuitive to the layperson. However, distal healing puts a heavier emphasis on holistic healing. The more common acupuncture technique of inserting needles in or around the actual injury isn’t as important. This is largely because the Balance Method of distal healing seeks to treat not just the specific injury. It also seeks to treat other possible issues within the body.

How acupuncture works

What happens next may be familiar to most. Stimulating acupuncture points would activate the flow of “Qi” throughout the body’s meridians or energy pathways. Qi blockages may be the root of muscle strain and other things that cause injuries. Practitioners open up these blockages in order to restore proper energy flow and return balance throughout the body. Having this happen can result in the promotion of the body’s own self-healing mechanisms. Other than this, acupuncture can also directly improve the patient’s mental and emotional states.

That last benefit might just prove invaluable for professional athletes who have suffered critical injuries that may require surgery. Acupuncture for muscle strain can greatly aid in the rehabilitation process by speeding up recovery and giving a much-needed boost to the athlete’s morale. Fortunately, the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic has vast experience in this issue. Our lead acupuncture practitioner has treated many athletes, both on the local and the international stage.

About acupuncture in Santa Barbara Herb Clinic

People seeking relief from pain might find the prospect of having multiple needles pricking their skin more than a little daunting. This type of pain might be nothing for athletes who accept pain as a regular part of their regimen. However, it’s a different story for children and perhaps the elderly as well. Acupuncture treatments here in Santa Barbara Herb Clinic use premium Japanese acupuncture needles which are sharper and thinner—patients would feel them a lot less than they would regular needles, and their use comes at no extra cost.

The clinic also offers other traditional Chinese therapies, including fire or dry cupping, moxibustion, and tui na or acupressure. You can experience all these along with acupuncture for muscle strain, the clinic also operates an Herbal Pharmacy which stocks a wide range of powders, pills, teas, and therapeutic herbs. Herbal remedies are highly recommended for recovering patients and athletes as well, and the clinic offers the options of receiving your prescribed herbs through mail and of consultation via phone or video calls for those living outside the Santa Barbara and Goleta areas.

References

https://www.spineuniverse.com/treatments/alternative/acupuncture/acupuncture-effective-help-or-reduce-back-pain-safe

http://www.acupuncturebydawn.com/conditions-treated/pain-relief/

Most types of sports involve strenuous physical activities on the pitch, ring, court, track, and even water. As such, injuries can happen anytime, whether during a competition or while training. It’s also not limited to professional athletes. People who run regularly or lift weights as part of their regimen can also develop chronic pain or suffer an activity-related accident. Even with great care, repeated movements using specific parts of the body could still result in problems. These can include strain, sprain, inflammation, and at times outright injuries. While an athlete battling through pain might still be able to perform well, it comes at the cost of aggravating the condition.

Often enough, the pain could become simply too great to be endured, and it’s imperative that professional and amateur athletes alike take time off from exertion until they recover. For such driven and competitive individuals, that can be yet another blow altogether—this time to the mind and spirit—because taking too much time off could mean sacrificing some of the strength and skills they’ve already earned through sheer persistence.

How acupuncture can help with sports injuries

In sporting circles, managing pain and treating sports injuries using acupuncture has become increasingly popular over the decades, but the practice has actually been around for centuries already. Acupuncture is what martial arts practitioners have been employing not only to reduce pain and to facilitate a faster recovery but also to help improve their performance. Modern-day professional sports clubs, and even national teams, have warmed up to the idea of drug-less pain management through traditional Chinese healing modalities, many of whom have an acupuncturist as an integral part of their staff.

There are instances wherein the exact nature of their sporting injury isn’t clear to the patient; they only know that they’re in pain. After a thorough consultation, the acupuncturist would make a diagnosis and proceed to stimulate oxygen flow through the body by inserting ultra-thin Japanese acupuncture needles into specific distal points. Santa Barbara Herb Clinic and its lead practitioner Ms. Tram Pham, L.Ac. specializes in the acupuncture system known as the “Balance Method” which was pioneered and taught by Dr. Richard Tan.

Distal points refer to areas which are seemingly unrelated to the points of pain or injury, with heavy emphasis on “seemingly.” These points are all interconnected through the body’s pathways. Distal healing through the Balance Method focuses on achieving results by correcting the balance of a person’s body. It also improves blood circulation which could lead to reduced inflammation and a faster recovery.

Learn about how acupuncture can help relieve pain in the joints.

Promoting mental and physical harmony

Aside from helping promote quicker healing of sports injuries, acupuncture can also have a direct effect on an athlete’s mentality. Acupuncture can induce the release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is responsible for regulating mood, sleep, and pain. Thus, acupuncture could simultaneously relieve possible side effects of a given injury, including insomnia and emotional disturbances. It also releases endorphins and other chemicals that are the body’s natural pain killers. Unlike taking medications for managing pain and treating injuries, athletes won’t have to risk an increased tolerance and other adverse side effects from this traditional treatment.

Managing pain from sports injuries using acupuncture can prove especially beneficial, and the Balance Method can be more so. Often, it’s possible that a particular body part is responsible for the chronic pain in another body part. Leg injuries in a runner, for example, can trace its origin to an ineffective posture or the misuse of the hips. Acupuncture can thus not only target the injured areas. It can also stabilize the functions of different body parts and harmonize the body as a whole to enable it to perform to its fullest potential.

About acupuncture in Santa Barbara Herb Clinic

Tram Pham, L.Ac. is one of Master Richard Tan’s last students. She has taken over the practice and ownership of the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic from the late Dr. Henry Han. She has performed acupuncture on many professional athletes, including some of the most prominent ones on the international stage. She combines a highly effective and fast-acting system of acupuncture techniques with a range of other traditional Chinese therapies, including fire cupping, also known as dry cupping, and tui na, which is more commonly referred to as acupressure.

The clinic’s Herbal Pharmacy also offers a substantial range of medicinal herbs, powders, teas, and pills. These offer holistic wellness while also helping to target specific types of pain and ailments. You can experience the clinic’s exceptional services even if you live outside Santa Barbara. Set an appointment and you can consult with us through a phone or video call. We can even mail prescribed herbal remedies to your door.

References

https://www.pacificcollege.edu/news/blog/2014/12/18/acupuncture-treatment-sports-injuries

http://physiologicnyc.com/can-acupuncture-used-treat-sports-injuries/

https://www.premierortho.com/sports-injuries/acupuncture-sports-injury/

https://www.kiacupuncturecanberra.com.au/sports-injury-treatments/

https://innerlight-wellness.net/dr-tans-balance-method-for-almost-any-disease/

Around 12% of the world’s population suffer from migraines. Many more experience frequent headaches that range from mild to severe. There are various factors, symptoms, and indications that differentiate headaches from migraines. Migraines typically occur at least five times in a given month and last for hours or for days. They can also involve a “trigger,” which sufferers can recognize and feel on localized parts of the head. Headaches, meanwhile, have a frequency and intensity that can be just as terrible as or sometimes even worse than migraines. There is usually no perceivable pattern to when they occur or why.

How acupuncture could help relieve migraines and headaches

The medical community hasn’t yet arrived at a consensus on what truly causes frequent headaches and migraine attacks. Its opinion is divided as well on whether or not sufferers should seek alternative treatments like traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, which might better serve their situations. On the other hand, there are organizations made up of people dealing with migraine on a monthly basis who advocate acupuncture. The Migraine Trust and the American Migraine Foundation in particular recommend that members and non-members alike should try acupuncture for their migraines and headaches. These treatments can be an alternative or complement to conventional treatments.

Research results back this up. There had been many clinical trials conducted over the years on whether acupuncture for migraines and headaches could be made an option for sufferers. Several researchers conducted a systematic review of these separate studies. What they found was that making acupuncture an integral part of treatment could significantly reduce the attacks’ frequency per month. As a bonus, there are also fewer side effects, and acupuncture’s overall impact is at least as effective as conventional medications.

The mechanics of acupuncture

It is thought that stimulating the body’s immune and circulatory systems could help root out the main cause of migraines and headaches. Acupuncture can help the body find the source of the pain and could eventually enable it to release natural painkillers. There’s a theory that one of the reasons people suffer chronic pain is that it is unable to perform that painkilling function properly, perhaps because of blocked signals in the brain and body’s pathways.

You can choose to subscribe to the “meridians” and “energy” concept of acupuncture popularized in the West. You can also subscribe to the more medical Ancient Chinese understanding that these energy pathways are actually the blood vessels, and that this energy is the chemicals being transported through the blood. Whichever one you believe, it doesn’t affect the bottom line. Stimulating specific and individually relevant points along these pathways could have major effects on the human body as a whole.

Pain is the brain’s signal that something is wrong somewhere in your body. While it may manifest as headaches or migraines, the root cause could be another thing altogether. Because of this, holistic healing through acupuncture can prove crucial. It can reduce the pain felt during an attack as well as shorten its duration. It can also address the possible underlying issue that causes these attacks.

Learn about how acupuncture can help treat other common types of body pains.

About Acupuncture in Santa Barbara Herb Clinic

Tram Pham, L.Ac. is the lead acupuncture practitioner and the owner of the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic, formerly run by Dr. Henry Han. She is a proponent of the distal healing technique known as the Balance Method, which she learned from its pioneer and Master Dr. Richard Tan during the last years of his life. In order to help patients achieve their optimal health, she combines this highly effective acupuncture system with other traditional Chinese medicine modalities (such us moxibustion, tui na or acupressure, and fire cupping), as well as with herbal remedies, which are readily available in the clinic’s Herbal Pharmacy.

The clinic also offers long-distance consultations through telephone or video calls. Whether you’re in Santa Barbara or Goleta area or farther away, you can benefit from the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic’s range of herbs, teas, powders, pills and more. We can mail all of these straight to your doorstep.

References

http://cochranelibrary-wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001218.pub3/abstract

http://www.cochrane.org/CD001218/SYMPT_acupuncture-preventing-migraine-attacks

https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/understanding-migraine/acupuncture-and-migraine-finding-a-combination-that-sticks/

https://www.migrainetrust.org/living-with-migraine/treatments/acupuncture/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/148373.php