Acupuncture, Anyone try it

[Hunter26]

I read your post to my wife who is a Physical Therapist and here are a few of her thoughts.

You have a lot going on with all the surgery’s and your joints are probably degrinerating faster than most people.

She does dry needling (which I thought was voodoo but it helped me significantly for my issues) and it can help if your issues are being caused by muscular tightness.

She recommends going to see a good PT to identify if you have any particular weakness in your body due to not properly working out or just overall weakness. If there is some part of your body that has a weakness it can cause or multiply your pain. She had done some testing on me for different stuff and it was shocking to see how different parts of my body where much weaker than they should be, specifically my hips and parts of my legs. If somebody had told me this prior I know I would have blown it off because I thought I knew more than I did about working out as a long time athlete.

Hope that helps and you find a solution so you can get back to a less painful life.

 

[ramsdude47]

All the research I did in nursing school indicated the efficacy of acupuncture does not exceed the efficacy of the placebo effect.

The mind is a powerful thing.

 

[260madman]

No to acupuncture but Dry Needling is awesome. Helped me a lot with back pain and spasming.

 

[Broomd]

All the research I did in nursing school indicated the efficacy of acupuncture does not exceed the efficacy of the placebo effect.

The mind is a powerful thing.

Well, that settles it, lol. Why wouldn't modern healthcare say that with billions in poison to peddle to the sheep..
Acupuncture has been used successfully for millennia in the Far East.

I was very sick in 2000; chronic fatigue, hypersensitivity to every pollutant out there. Extreme weight loss--I went from 6'5'' 225 and sheep-hunt hard to 175--skin and bones. I was in bad shape.
We sold our newly-built home which I suspected was full of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in interior Alaska (an area which was a toxic soup of diesel fumes, inversion and -40* air.) That sh t was was literally killing me.
I left my loving wife, and together with my son, headed in a small RV to warmer climates in AZ and California, organic foods, exercise to somehow find wellness. I was desperate.
It all felt better than Alaska but didn't fix my problem.

I then went to a man named Frank Campenalla in Redding, CA, one of the best-known acupuncturists in the world. I did one treatment with him, and also received homeopathic drops for under the tongue. He warned me that the effects could kick my ass. He wasn't wrong.
The result for me was life-changing. My adrenal glands which had all but shut down were opened, so much so that I didn't sleep for six days. That alone about killed me. The adrenalin released into my long-shut down system was simply unbeliveable. I typcailly don't do meds etc, but I did get a sleep rx, and realized over the next two weeks that my health had done a complete 180*.

I went back to Alaska a healthy man; put back on 50 lbs of muscle and have never looked back--lived there another 6 years problem free.
I remember ballin' at the Fairbanks athletic club after getting home from Cali and dunking on guys half my age, three-four times a game, They all looked at me like I was some kind of freak, and the truth is at close to 40 y/o, I was. The long-lost and new-found energy was crazy.
I owe my life to acupuncture and F.C. I wrote and thanked him shortly thereafter and he assured me that my story wasn't unique.

 

[Doghed]

Acupuncture-cupping-infrared sauna- in that order.

 

[TheGDog]

Off road motorcycle racing got my knees, one shoulder and L4 & L5.
In a good place now but between surgeries acupuncture and dry needling sure helped me keep my pain under control.
Agree sometimes worked better than others and length of relief varied....but nothing to lose if you ask me.

Hrmmph...Ok... this is what I needed to hear, someone into similar pursuits that rec'd benefit from it. RE: L4 & L5 stuff specifically... which procedures/methods helped most for that?

What's the difference between acupuncture and dry-needling though? Never heard the term dry-needling before.

 

[Vandal 44]

I read your post to my wife who is a Physical Therapist and here are a few of her thoughts.

You have a lot going on with all the surgery’s and your joints are probably degrinerating faster than most people.

She does dry needling (which I thought was voodoo but it helped me significantly for my issues) and it can help if your issues are being caused by muscular tightness.

She recommends going to see a good PT to identify if you have any particular weakness in your body due to not properly working out or just overall weakness. If there is some part of your body that has a weakness it can cause or multiply your pain. She had done some testing on me for different stuff and it was shocking to see how different parts of my body where much weaker than they should be, specifically my hips and parts of my legs. If somebody had told me this prior I know I would have blown it off because I thought I knew more than I did about working out as a long time athlete.

Hope that helps and you find a solution so you can get back to a less painful life.

I just finished up some PT for me left knee, trying to avoid another surgery. I work on the exercise that I was given by my PT. (She was amazing). I started doing more stretching and do the PT I learned for both shoulders and Knees at least 4 times a week. You are correct those stupid little muscles that we never use or even think about, he’ll I didn’t even know they existed. That’s where the band work comes into play.

Your wife is 100% spot on, my shoulders have a lot of bone on bone. My right should could be replaced but I am a little to young (52 years old) and way to active.

I have an appointment in a little over a week to get the acupuncture stuff done, I will ask about dry needling.

Once I do a couple sessions I will post what and how I am feeling pain wise


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[TexaninSconny]

If this doesn’t work, and you have the coin I highly recommend looking into buying an infrared sauna.

Alternatively, look into a gut microbiome test to see if you can isolate which foods might be adding inflammation to your body.


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[260madman]

Hrmmph...Ok... this is what I needed to hear, someone into similar pursuits that rec'd benefit from it. RE: L4 & L5 stuff specifically... which procedures/methods helped most for that?

What's the difference between acupuncture and dry-needling though? Never heard the term dry-needling before.

Dry Needling uses long “needles“ inserted into muscle groups and then a TENS unit applies shock to the needles. You leave the appointment feeling better than when you arrived and then your pretty sore the next day. A few treatments might be needed. Therapist gave me a LaCrosse ball to roll up the wall with my back to work out the spasms. Really helped. Even the cheap home TENS units on Amazon work well without the needling. Taking strain off the back will make other parts of your body feel better too.

 

[TheGDog]

My cheapie/amazon type home TENS unit just recently had the Micro USB port get jacked up. LOVE that thing! Glad you mentioned that, I need to order a new one.

I'm pretty sure in my case here, a very specific event caused injury/strain and I'm pretty sure it'll require outside intervention this time, unfortunately. Even lame-o hikes are killing me and making me limp. At least, before I can re-dope-up anyway.

 

[Poor Knight]

Acupuncture worked great for me! I thought it was BS but it completely cured my ITB issues. My wife swears by it. You need to find a real acupuncturist trained in radiational Chinese medicine though. I go to Dr Alan Chen in Plano TX

 

[Broomd]

Acupuncture worked great for me! I thought it was BS but it completely cured my ITB issues. My wife swears by it. You need to find a real acupuncturist trained in radiational Chinese medicine though. I go to Dr Alan Chen in Plano TX

Congrats, sounds like you both found what you needed!

 

[Marmots]

I had dry needling done on my shoulder for a torn rhomboid, rotator cuff, and bicep tendon.

I always felt significantly worse for the next few days. My shoulder did get better, but it's hard to say what role dry needling played in that because I was doing a lot of other physical therapy stuff at the same time.

If your insurance covers it, I don't think you have anything to lose by trying it.

 

[Abolt2]

By the 2nd or 3rd time that I had acupuncture, it was the most relaxed, tranquil feeling I’ve ever had. The first time that I went it was ok, I just was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. I would recommend trying it.

 

[Cameron.25]

Ive tried it a several times at a few different places, has never done a thing for me. But people swear by it and always tell me that im just not going to the right person yet. Im sure it works for some but its not for me i guess

 

[Satty141]

I havent but my buddy swears by it

 

[AeroNautiCal]

After I had a serious spine injury a friend of my wife's suggested that I consider trying Acupuncture.

Despite my skepticism, I sought out a Practitioner whom had good recommendations and booked an initial appointment.

The Practitioner was very honest about whether the treatment may work for me, given the severity of my injury, but I asked that we proceed.

I had an hour of Acupuncture on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and to say it changed me was an understatement!

Bearing in mind that I had absolutely no confidence in it and had no expectations whatsoever that it would benefit me in any way, I was really quite surprised when it did, right from the start!

The horrific, intensive and constricting pain in my spine eased off to the point that I was able to enjoy life with improved mobility and actually get to sleep at night instead of being kept awake by excruciating pains.

I benefitted greatly, but after about a year I could no longer afford to continue with the treatment.

Considering that I was absolutely skeptical and had no confidence whatsoever that it would in any way help me, I can say for sure that I wasn't experiencing the placebo effect.

From my personal experience I would recommend it, because if it doesn't work for you you've at least eliminated it as a potential beneficial treatment.

That being said, I would allow for up to four treatment sessions before deciding against it in case it needed more time to work for you than it did for me.

I found that if I breathed in as the needles were inserted I was more relaxed (the entire procedure was completely pain free from the perspective of the needles being inserted).