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I’m not a person drawn to alternative treatments. Western medicine has been good to me. So when a friend suggested acupuncture to treat the chronic pain that shot from the middle of my shoulder up the side of my neck, I was skeptical.
This miserable ailment had been with me for years, limiting my ability to turn my neck and interfering with my sleep. I’d tried stretching, physical therapy, massage and prescription muscle relaxants. Nothing had solved the problem.
Figuring I had nothing to lose, I gave acupuncture a try. Finally, I am pain-free. And humbled.
Calling acupuncture “alternative,” let alone “new age,” ignores the fact that the practice has been around for more than 3,000 years. Acupuncture originated in China, and gradually spread across Asia.
Once dismissed by Western medicine, acupuncture has gained increasing acceptance over the last decades. Today acupuncture has been incorporated into large teaching hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of California Health System.
Clinical studies, including those conducted at Northwestern Health Sciences University and the Mayo Clinic, have provided evidence that acupuncture helps alleviate symptoms for many conditions, including pain, nausea and vomiting (both post-operative and related to chemotherapy).
As a woman in her 60s, I was delighted to learn that acupuncture offers relief for several conditions that tend to affect my demographic. Various studies have shown the practice’s efficacy in treating menopause symptoms, urinary incontinence, insomnia and anxiety.
“Many medical conditions that affect older women can potentially benefit from acupuncture,” says Dr. Edward Hui, a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA’s Center for East-West Medicine. He listed pain syndromes, including neck pain, headaches, spinal diseases, lumbar pain, osteoarthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia and several other conditions that acupuncture may treat.
The practice involves inserting thin needles into specific points on the body. I didn’t relish the idea of becoming a human pin cushion. Though for me, I found acupuncture to be uncomfortable at worst, and painless most of the time. Acupuncture needles are thinner and more flexible than the kind used for injections and blood draws.
The Chinese philosophy maintains that energy flows through the body’s meridians and that blockages can be removed by stimulating specific points, restoring balance. The first time I went for treatment, I asked my acupuncturist, Masha, why she was putting needles in my foot when it was my neck that hurt. She told me to think about the problem as a traffic jam that had begun elsewhere.
When she gently tapped a needle into the top of my wrist, I flinched for a second and then began to feel like I’d been given a powerful sedative. The relaxation circling through my body was palpable. I was amazed.
According to the National Institute of Health’s Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH); “How acupuncture works is not fully understood. However, there’s evidence that acupuncture may have effects on the nervous system, effects on other body tissues and nonspecific (placebo) effects.”
Was that relaxation all in my head, due to a more balanced energy flow, or had the needle gone into a trigger point, releasing muscle tension? I don’t really care. I just know my neck pain is gone.
Dr. Hui noted that views about acupuncture in this country have changed over time. In the 1980s and 90s, acupuncture and other unconventional practices not taught in medical schools were labeled “alternative medicine.” The term “complementary” appeared later, acknowledging the fact that many of these practices were used alongside conventional biomedicine. Today, the accepted term is “integrative medicine.”
“Integrative medicine encompasses all approaches to get patients better,” Dr. Hui said. “Most people use non-traditional methods, including acupuncture or traditional Eastern medicine, alongside conventional medicine. Certain treatment modalities work better on different things. We can blend approaches to maximize safety and effectiveness.”
Janet Shaffer, a licensed acupuncturist at Duke Integrative Medicine in North Carolina, works with a team that includes doctors, psychologists and nutritionists. These combined efforts mean she can create a “portfolio” of treatments to treat pain, which helps patients with recuperation after surgery, physical therapy, weaning off medication and other health challenges.
Carolyn Covalt, 56, tried acupuncture to treat her migraines after the medication her doctor prescribed didn’t help. The impact was “huge” on the quality of her life.
“With acupuncture, my migraines didn’t go away completely but they were greatly reduced," she said. “Do I believe acupuncture can address absolutely every health concern? Well, no. If I break my foot, I’m not calling my acupuncturist. But once I’ve gone to the hospital to get treated, then I know acupuncture can help me when I’m in recovery.”
When Sally Fri, 67, was trying to quit smoking, she decided “to throw everything at it.” She joined a no-smoking support group, meditated and got a nicotine patch. When she tried acupuncture, “I was able to cut in half the time I needed the nicotine patch,” she said. Fri smoked her last cigarette more than 20 years ago.
Paying for multiple sessions can be problematic because insurance coverage is uneven at best. Medicare did not cover my treatment, which costs $150 for each private one-on-one session. However, Medicare Part B does cover a dozen sessions over 90 days for chronic back pain, and an additional eight sessions if the treatments worked.
When provided by a licensed acupuncturist or a trained physician, acupuncture is generally a safe procedure. The most common side effects are pain, minor bleeding and some bruising at points of insertion. The needles are single-use and disposable.
“It’s actually very safe compared to many commonly used medications, especially those used for pain that can worsen heart disease, result in gastrointestinal bleeding or increase the risk of physiological and psychological dependence,” Dr. Hui says
Acupuncturists also tend to have more time to spend with a patient and treatment is often done in a relaxed setting. My sessions took place in a softly lit room with soothing music playing. Sometimes, Masha applies scented oils and sounds a gong. Just having someone’s full attention on your body for an hour feels healing, adding to the effects of the procedure.
My neck pain is gone and I’m sleeping better, though I still get other aches and pains. Just last week, I was at the orthopedist with a frozen shoulder. The doctor prescribed steroids to treat the inflammation. A few days later, I scheduled an acupuncture session with Masha. Whatever she did, it calmed my reaction to the drugs. Blending East and West medicine feels like the best of both worlds.
Please consult with your doctor before trying any new type of treatment.
Have any of YOU tried acupuncture? How did it go? Let us know in the comments below.
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